Civil Rights Crusade, Not Lawsuits, Against Black Violence

Civil Rights Crusade, Not Lawsuits, Against Black Violence

Civil Rights Crusade, Not Lawsuits, Against Black Violence
In a lawsuit against gun manufacturers in a New York court, the NAACP
parroted the National Rifle Association’s line that too many guns are
in the hands of criminals and they are wreaking havoc in black
communities. The NAACP claims that a handful of gun manufacturers and
distributors deliberately target black neighborhoods with their gun
sales and pitches, and that many of the guns used in crimes can be
traced back to these gun sellers. This is a big stretch. There is no
smoking gun link between the gun industry’s arketing practices and
the gun carnage in black communities. Yet, the NAACP has a point
about raging black violence. An African-American soldier in Iraq may
have been safer on the frontlines than in many black neighborhoods.
In New York City, young black males are ten times more likely to be
shot dead than white teens. Nationally, sixteen blacks are gunned
down for every white teen shot. Most of them are not gunned down by
racist white cops, or Klan hate mongers, but by other young blacks.
But even if a legal miracle happened, and the NAACP wins its lawsuit,
it would be a hollow victory. … if civil rights leaders won’t
launch that crusade, local black community groups should and in fact
are. In Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and other cities they have
staged anti-murder walks, marches, held vigils, and lobby city and
state officials for tougher gun laws, and more anti-gang intervention
programs, and increased funds for jobs, training, education, and drug
treatment programs for at-risk young blacks. They have also taken a
step that once would have been racial treason. They demand that
blacks break their code of silence toward the police and help them
identify the young shooters. The NAACP had good intentions in suing
the gun industry. But until civil rights leaders make black murder
the civil rights issue of this era, the bodies will continue to pile
up in inner city neighborhoods.
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