The Counterpublic Papers vol. 1 no. 32

August 22, 2016

Blah.

….

Last week the Jacobin published my attempt to untangle the race and class dynamics embedded in Baltimore City policing practices. I’d argue, probably to the consternation of many black folk, that what’s happening in Baltimore and other cities like it isn’t quite a racial dynamic, but a race AND class dynamic. 

With one exception.

One of the least talked about findings of the study is its finding that rape cases go under-examined, and when they are examined, are treated with disdain. Victims (who tend to be women) are continually harassed by police officers, and police officers routinely belittle and demean victims in their private conversations. I think this dynamic is class independent…the class status of the victim likely has little to no bearing on how police officers treat their case. We know that sexual assaults are rarely reported, but what most probably don’t know is that many police departments don’t even have a line item in their budget that allows them to either test or even gather rape kits. Several years ago a Detroit area prosecutor stumbled upon a warehouse containing over 10,000 untested rape kits. While there is evidence that some sexual assault is shaped by class—certainly the finding that police officers routinely coerce sex workers for favors is deeply connected to class as the public sex worker population in Baltimore is poor—what we’re looking at is a deeply structural dynamic that affects women differentially.

I also talked about it for an hour or so with Lady Brion (2016 National Slam Poet Champion and local activist) and Jordan Camp (author of Incarcerating the Crisis and co-editor of Policing the Planet). on the Marc Steiner Show. 

…

I knew Barack Obama would be President in 2004. I didn’t think it’d be as early as 2008…I was thinking more like 2020. But I knew it. 

I don’t think I ever imagined that a story about Nat Turner would make it to the big screen. Largely because I couldn’t foresee the film market changing enough that someone would green light a Nat Turner project. 

It happened….but I won’t be seeing it.

Almost twenty years ago Nate Parker—Birth of a Nation’s producer, director and writer—was a co-defendant in a sexual assault case while an undergrad at Penn State. Parker was found not guilty, while the other defendant was found guilty (in a ruling that was overturned). The victim later committed suicide, and while there was no direct relationship, members of her family suggest there was an indirect one. In talking about the case Parker notes that he is no longer the man he was, and that he’s expressed profound remorse. 

I don’t plan to see the film, which interestingly enough modifies the Nat Turner story significantly, making a gang rape the signal move that pushes Turner over the edge. (Turner himself argues that an epiphany from God was the catalyst.) I don’t believe that we should simply believe the accuser when claims of sexual assault are made. But given the hurdles accusers of sexual assault face, I tend to give more weight to the accusers. Does my approach lead to circumstances in which the accused are wrongfully convicted? I don’t know how to get around this but yes. 

…..

I’m still working on the DuBois, Douglass, Baker piece. There are a couple of really good interviews conducted with Baker during the seventies. And on the last read I caught something I hadn’t before. 

 SUE THRASHER:

Was it through your activity in that group that you got drafted to go south?

ELLA BAKER:

I guess that could be a part of it, but I had been south before in '40 and '42. From '42 to '46, for the NAACP, I used to start in Florida and work all the way up. Once I started in February and got back to New York in June, the first time. They'll only come to somebody crazy, you know. [Laughter]

SUE THRASHER:

You didn't know that it was going to get worse in the sixties. [Laughter]

ELLA BAKER:

Well, by that time I was addicted. [Laughter] Every year, an addict, you know. [Laughter]

SUE THRASHER:

A civil junkie's right here. [Laughter]

ELLA BAKER:

You really don't even know. You think you're normal, and… [Laughter] Thank goodness the way the world goes.

And she does it one more time, jokingly referring to herself as a junkie. 

I wonder.

What if the adrenaline rush that comes with the type of work Baker and others have performed functions as a barrier to institutionalization? It’s clear that Baker is joking in this interview, but at the same time I think she’s getting at something we haven’t really taken that much time to think about.

…..   

I’m about 140 pages into the Angels of Detroit story. It’s possible my take on it will change after I’m done. But I was concerned that the author didn’t really know Detroit but rather was using Detroit as a prop. And so far my concern bears out. Although 90% of the story up to this point takes place in Detroit, we don’t know where. No matter how empty Detroit is now compared to its 1950 heyday, it still has schools, parks, neighborhoods, streets, and “sides” (like Baltimore, Detroit divides along an east-west axis). None of this appears in the book until page 130 or so and even then we’re talking about a single street (Bernadine street), that unless my memory (and Google Maps) fails, doesn’t actually exist. 

Let’s just say this doesn’t bode well. Particularly given the fact that the author worked and may still work at The University of Michigan press….which is only about 35 minutes from the city if you’re driving the speed limit.  

….

The alternative fiction genre is a mainstay in science fiction. But you’d be hard pressed to find alt-fiction books that tackled slavery and colonialism. So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Underground Airlines, one of the first books in the genre to ask a simple question:

What if slavery never ended?

I know what I’m reading next. 

….

I got asked to do a Ted Talk in October. Pretty sure I’m going to tackle policing, given my recent research. Which should be interesting given that I appear to be sharing the bill with former Baltimore Mayor (and Maryland Governor) Martin O’Malley, who among other things introduced “broken windows policing” into the city in the mid-nineties…to the detriment of hundreds of thousands of black lives. Should be a hoot.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to be guest-hosting the Marc Steiner show tomorrow. If you’re able, tune in.

See you next week.