Resist: How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America by Rita Omokha

Author:Rita Omokha [Omokha, Rita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, African American & Black, Social Science, Activism & Social Justice, Biography & Autobiography, Cultural; Ethnic & Regional
ISBN: 9781250290991
Google: 4MDpEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group
Published: 2024-11-19T15:44:50.126175+00:00

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On November 18, 1993, fifteen years before the Jena High clashes, Senator Joe Biden took to the Senate floor and admonished the nation’s rising violent crime rate, pointing squarely at one subset of the population. He warned, “It doesn’t matter whether or not they’re the victims of society. The end result is they’re about to knock my mother on the head with a lead pipe, shoot my sister, beat up my wife, take on my sons.”

America was experiencing an agonizing surge in crime, particularly in violent categories like homicide, robbery, and aggravated assault. The FBI, responsible for tracking such statistics, reported roughly 9.5 homicides per 100,000 people in the United States, which had resulted in an estimated 24,700 homicides in 1993, when the American population was about 260 million.

That same year, violent offenses, which consists of homicides, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults, soared to a rate of 747 per 100,000 residents, translating to a staggering 1.9 million instances nationwide. This marked a nearly eightfold increase compared to 1963.

Similarly, property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) in 1993 mirrored the escalating and troubling trend, peaking at 4,296 offenses per 100,000 residents, resulting in 11.2 million total incidents.

These grim figures represented a stark contrast to previous decades, when violent crime averaged about 10,000 total offenses per year.

While the crime spike had multifaceted causes, poverty played a prominent role in the initial upsurge during the sixties and seventies. Rapid urbanization—as people migrated from rural areas to cities—contributed to scarcer resources in certain parts of the country, which created a pressure cooker environment. The absence of access to quality education, decent housing, and essential resources crucial for social mobility further heightened the risk of criminal behavior. This perpetuated a cycle of limited job prospects, lower income potential, increased generational economic disadvantage, and a higher likelihood of engaging in street life. This social and economic upheaval created a breeding ground for the surge.

Those glaring and rising disparities in poverty and unemployment ignited a powder keg where crime flourished. Desperation drove people to criminal activity, seeking survival. The alarming ease of obtaining guns and drugs only further weakened the already vulnerable communities, making them easier targets for gangs to exploit. All of this engendered a cycle of crime that seemed impossible to escape and led to a drug epidemic.

Law enforcement’s response, often heavily focused on aggressive tactics, further strained relations with minority groups disproportionately affected by poverty. Addressing the root causes of poverty and inequality became essential, yet these very issues fueled social disorganization, weakened community ties, and eroded social institutions, making it even harder to tackle the very problems they perpetuated. This created a vacuum where criminal activity thrived, escalating year after year.

It was against this backdrop that Joe Biden sponsored the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. The proposed bill seemed a desperate antidote for a country unable to zero in on a resolution that was at once tough yet readily applicable. It also included the Violence Against Women Act, which funded programs to combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

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