December 11, 2006

Chapter Sean Bell (continued): the nation of the dispensable

Posted by Adrienne Maree Brown at 1:39PM

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After reading my piece earlier this week about Sean Bell, a friend of mine in Detroit hipped me to the open-and-shut case of 18-year-old Chon Buri Xiong, 18, who was in his bed at home when police unleashed 27 shots on him on September 17. In light of the growing controversy around Sean, the 23-year-old bridegroom murdered on his wedding day in a moment of gun madness, it is important to take a moment to explore the slippery slopes of blame and justification. I have a few questions, and I wanted to share them:

Chon Xiong, Police said, was armed with a handgun and threatened the officers before he was fired on.

1. In Chon's case, the Hmong youth has been cast as a criminal who was engaged in violent behavior his whole life. This begs the question: does a violent history (real or alleged) justify his death? Would 27 -- or 50 -- bullets be understandable if Chon or Sean had been brandishing a gun?

2. What are the ways in which we allow the concept of a dispensible population to take hold in our minds? How do we learn to shrug off an unacceptable act of violence and can we deprogramme ourselves?

3. What are the ways in which we perpetuate the myth of wild superhuman men of color that must be gunned down like animals 10 times their size?

4. In a current sparsely political youth landscape, bookended on one side by increasingly violent media and video games and on the other end by national leadership infested with warlust, how are young people supposed to navigate their development as non-violent individuals?

When acts of senseless, gratuitous violence on this level occur, the media, friends, and family all have questions that may never be answered; that may in fact never even matter. Did the youth have a gun? (Sean Bell didn't the New York Times story reported today.) Did my son threaten the police? Was my best friend an out-of-control youth? Those who cared for the target hope the answer is no, because we understand that these are among the ways one becomes dispensible in today's society. Rarely is the search for answers focused on an analysis of what poverty and joblessness does to the hope so necessary to growth, stability, survival in any young person. Rarely is the documented, unchecked instinct for violence among those we -- willingly or unwillingly -- are supposed to be served by on the table for real discussion that results in justice for the impacted communities.

We will continue to see violence rising amongst and against our young as long as the outcomes of sustained inequalities are seen as the root of the problem, rather than a symptom of the problem. Understand: criminalizing youth is an act of violence.

Chon Xiong's family are now in need of financial support to cover the costs of burying their son and demand an independent investigation into his murder. Contact Detriot Asian Youth Project to offer support for Xiong family.

Join ColorofChange.org in demanding that Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Kelly begin a truly independent investigation -- with no ties to New York City law enforcement -- and institute systemic changes to provide real accountability in the NYPD.

Adrienne Maree Brown is executive director of the Ruckus Society and a board member on the advisory board of WireTap.