We are very familiar with the term "black-on-black crime," because every year in America thousands of blacks assault and kill other African Americans. Over 90% of blacks are killed by members of their own race. Every year, more blacks are killed than were lynched in the entire twentieth century. We examine these statistics carefully and with lament. This is obviously not the freedom Dr. King sought.
Many leap to the conclusion that race and crime are related, that blacks are more dangerous and more likely to commit crimes. Some of the statistics can be explained away by structural racism perhaps, but the very hard statistics on murders and gun violence cannot be erased with that analysis. What explains the higher crime rates among African Americans? Is there a genetic predisposition to violence, more testosterone perhaps? Do poverty, lack of education and access to guns cause blacks to murder and suffer death? What role does the continuing deterioration of the family play? All of these are good questions to ask, but one thing is certain: the biological race of the criminal has very little to do with crime. The facts are these:
Before Emancipation, African American slaves were considered very safe individuals and had significantly lower crime rates than whites. Slaves did not typically have free access to alcoholic beverages. Some Southern states outlawed gambling by slaves. Slaveholders heavily discouraged fighting among slaves (boxing excepted), because slave owners did not want their valuable property injured. Slaveholders encouraged religious activity in the later antebellum period. Most slaves were married at young ages, usually informally by "jumping the broom," and had children early in life. Marriage and families are still significant deterrents to criminal activity. Slaves worked very hard, especially during the growing and harvest seasons, and had little excess energy for fighting and crime. Slaves could not own firearms and only used them when permitted to hunt by their masters. Slaves did not often leave their plantations, and thus status challenges were less frequent than those we see in modern urban life. The plantation regime governed to promote agricultural and industrial production, which necessarily discouraged violence.
In antebellum days, whites committed more crimes than blacks on a percentage basis and in absolute numbers. Antebellum whites had free access to whiskey and frequently gambled. Young white males could roam freely, encountering unfamiliar people and communities. White males might travel to the city or frontier where crimes were more likely to occur. While crime tended to decline in the 1800's, it increased in areas that industrialized.
Gun violence was both impromptu and organized in the form of duels. Dueling formalized the status challenge with deadly consequences in the upper portions of Southern society. Thousands of Southern men died in illegal duels, despite legislation eventually prohibiting the practice. In 1852, the State of Alabama added to the criminal prohibition by allowing the personal representative of a deceased's estate to sue the killing duelist in a wrongful death action.
When a Southern physician was on the road alone at night in antebellum days, the appearance of another white man gave the doctor some concern for his personal safety. If the doctor saw an African American at night, on the other hand, he was cheered up and glad to see them. This dramatic turnaround in perceived danger proves that race and crime are not truly related. Forget race. It all boils down to discipline.
To study racial role reversal, please look inside "Prison and Slavery - A Surprising Comparison," http://www.amazon.com/dp/1432753835. John Dewar Gleissner, Esq. graduated from Auburn University (B.A. with Honor, 1973) and Vanderbilt University School of Law (1977).
