Don K. Literati

If any of you are interested in criminal justice-type readings, this is a great one to add to the collection. It's also very timely given the current narrative against Kamala Harris citing her history of tenaciously locking up black men in California.

I don't know much about Kamala's history as a DA or Attorney General, so I don't intend to absolve or condemn her. I would, however, like to give some context in the form of this book, "Locking Up Own."

James Forman outlines our contributions to tough on crime policies within our own cities, starting with the first cohort of black elected officials and law enforcement leadership to come out of the Civil Rights Movement. Mandatory minimums, the way we prosecute drug offenders, aggressive policing and more were enacted and supported by us at the municipal level (us as in black people, but more specifically the black middle class) and were a significant contribution to the wave of the wars on drugs, crime, etc and what is now the prison-industrial complex. We invented the term “Black on Black crime” two generations ago. Kamala Harris and many other black decision makers working now are a part of that lineage. Look at any judge show or news program where a black person in power refers to someone committing a crime as a traitor to our people, or blaming the individual without holding systemic factors such as poverty or urban decline into their invocation of punishment.

Be very deliberate with your Mondays. Rise early. Perform your morning routine actively thinking through each step. Give yourself extra time. Be methodical.

I’m currently reading Rise of the Warrior Cop by Radley Balko. The book quotes the following data:

 In 1969, 75% of Americans thought the Supreme Court was too soft on criminals

In 1968, 75% of Americans disapproved of interracial marriage

…and most of these people probably have grandchildren.

It brought some additional context to why the state of this country’s reaction to current black issues and black protests. If these were the thoughts of people who were voting age adults in the mid-to-late 60s, how many passed these ideas down to their descendants? I would assume a fair bunch.

From personal experience I remember some of the traits I picked up from my grandfather both directly and because I wanted to emulate him. My affinity for running track. My love for reading. My want to fight racism, either through words or fists. Now I didn’t inherit all of his traits, but grandparents are often the backbones of families, and if any families are like mine there are a lot of men and women my age who have similar experiences with their elders.

And racist or bigoted thoughts can come with the package.