Letter: Racism must end, symbols of racist past must be moved

This letter is in response to an opinion letter The Gaston Gazette ran on titled, “More Important Issues than the Confederate Statue,” written by Gaston County resident Bob Lancaster.

Our group, the Gaston County Freedom Fighters (one of the groups Mr. Lancaster references in his letter) is working to have the Confederate monument on the grounds of the Gaston County Courthouse relocated to a more appropriate location.

We will begin by thanking Mr. Lancaster for his service to this country, as he mentioned in his letter that he is a veteran. He mentions that he fought for our rights to protest, yet simultaneously makes disrespectful comments when we exercise those rights.

Mr. Lancaster stated that he believes racism does exist and that it is an issue of the heart. We wholeheartedly agree, but just because it is a matter of the heart, does not mean it must be tolerated. These two pleasantries are the only positive responses we have to Mr. Lancaster’s letter.

The overall thesis of his letter is that instead of worrying about where a statue sits, groups that are working toward relocating it should focus on other issues in the Black community, such as black-on-black crime.

He also implies that only people in the Black community are working to have the statue relocated.

However, Gaston County citizens of all races and ages want to see the monument moved, as evidenced by the members of the groups involved, those who spoke at the last commissioners’ meeting, and the diversity of signatures on the online petition for its removal.

Mr. Lancaster goes on to diminish the experiences and concerns of others as “symbolic silliness,” and claims that removing the statue “will not functionally help one single black person.”

The truth is that removing a reminder of hate and oppression will most certainly improve the mental health of those affected by its presence, especially in a place of prominence that should be representative and inclusive of all of its citizens.

One of our greatest questions from the letter is why Mr. Lancaster believes he is qualified, as a white man, to speak on issues within the Black community and efforts made within the Black community to combat said issues?

In our group alone, we have many educated, motivated citizens who are working on more than just this issue. Our group is highly active in our community and we have several current and upcoming projects dedicated to fighting police brutality, racial inequality in our justice system, bigotry, misogyny and homophobia.

In fact, there are multiple organizations in our county that work tirelessly to improve communities for people of color.

We would like to take this opportunity to respond to some of Mr. Lancaster’s points, specifically those on crime and systemic racism.

First, Mr. Lancaster used statistics that in multiple instances were biased, outdated or simply not supported by a reliable source in order to perpetuate the narrative that Black people are criminals. This tactic of focusing on “black-on-black crime” is often used to question the morals of Black people.

However, the truth is that most crimes are committed intra-racially because of simple proximity; what this means is that white people usually commit crimes against white people, black people usually commit crimes against black people, and so on. Interestingly, we never hear the phrase “white-on-white” crime.

This misguided focus on “black crime” is a common talking point to distract from the problem of police murders, which disproportionately affect people of color.

Secondly, Mr. Lancaster went on to list statistics from 2015 related to black homicides, but did not provide a source, or mention that these statistics likely do not include mass homicides or unsolved homicides, which in 2013 would have excluded 61% of all homicides committed.

Mr. Lancaster also refers to homicides committed by police in the same paragraph, but neglects to share the fact that in 2015, 26% of all lives taken by the police were African-Americans, twice their overall population representation. In addition, unlike when a white or black person commits homicide and is brought to justice, less than 1% of police who kill someone are ever charged with a crime.

We also noticed that Mr. Lancaster’s letter focuses only on homicides when discussing crime rates. We are not sure if he researched other crimes and their racial implications, so we did the work for him.

These statistics from 2015 show a large proportion of crimes are committed by white people:

• 70.4% of all people arrested in 2015 were white

• 60% of all people arrested for violent crimes were white

• 75% of all juvenile drug violations were committed by white offenders.

We could continue, but hopefully the point is made that crime is a problem across all races.

Thirdly, in one particularly odd reference, Mr. Lancaster mentions that Planned Parenthood kills “more black people than anything” and that the majority of abortion-providing clinics are in black neighborhoods.

This is unequivocally false. According to a study reported in NPR conducted by the Guttmacher Institute, 60% of all abortion providers are in majority-white neighborhoods.

Lastly, we take great issue with Mr. Lancaster’s statement that systemic racism is a fraud. He blames “black family breakdown and fatherless homes” for high crime rates among African Americans, and claims that racism and poverty have nothing to do with crime.

However, racism and poverty are directly related to crime rates, because systemic racism affects all of the following areas: the quality of education children receive in school, mass incarceration that disproportionately affects Black people and Black fathers, underemployment in the Black community, difficulty buying homes, voter suppression, and more.

Mr. Lancaster admits only that individual racism exists, but fails to realize that individual racism (such as that of Confederate vice president Alexander Stephens) creates racist policies and systems that continue to affect Black people to this day.

Below are some statistics about systemic racism:

• During the 2015-2016 school year, black students only represented 15% of total U.S. student enrollment, but made up 35% of students suspended once, 44% of students suspended more than once, and 36% of students that were expelled.

The U.S. Department of Education states that this disparity is “not explained by more frequent or more serious misbehavior by students of color.”

• From 2013-2017, white patients in the U.S. received better quality health care than 40% of Black patients.

• Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested. Once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted, and once convicted, they are more likely to receive lengthier sentences.

• Black and white Americans use drugs at similar rates, but Black Americans are six times more likely to be arrested for it.

• On average, Black men in the U.S. receive sentences that are 19% longer than those of white men convicted for the same crimes.

• In the U.S., Black people are twice as likely to be unemployed than white individuals. Once employed, black people earn nearly 25% less than their white counterparts.

• In one U.S. study, job applications and resumes with “white sounding names” received 50% more callbacks than those with traditionally black names.

• In the U.S., black workers are less likely than white workers to be employed in a job that is consistent with their level of education.

In closing, we hope it is now clear that systemic racism is real, and the misguided tactic of focusing on black crime is just that: misguided.

Finally, we would like to address the comment made by Mr. Lancaster regarding our efforts to relocate the monument. He stated that these efforts make racism worse, and that we need to “give a little.”

In truth, we are being very diplomatic in asking for the statue to be relocated to a museum or a Confederate cemetery, instead of asking for it to be destroyed.

We have not resorted to violence or destruction. Our goal is not division, but unity. If Mr. Lancaster, or anyone who is interested, would like to have a kind, open-minded conversation with us, we welcome anyone to come to one of our protests or reach out to our group by following the Gaston County Freedom Fighters page on Facebook.

This type of conversation is far more productive than volleying insults at one another, as some have done in calling us “animals” or “terrorists.”

The relocation of this statue would be a fitting decision for our county and country, and would show that our commissioners value and support all of their constituents. This statue represents a dead confederacy whose main objective in going to war was to continue and expand slavery. This fact is corroborated by the

American Civil War Museum, not to mention the vice president of the Confederacy itself, Alexander Stephens, who said: “Our new government is founded exactly upon the opposite idea: its foundations are laid; its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition.” - Alexander Stephens, Cornerstone Speech in Savannah, Ga., March 21, 1861.

We hope this letter addresses your concerns within the Black community, Mr. Lancaster, and we look forward to a meaningful conversation with you about what truly matters in today’s America: liberty and justice for all.

Letter submitted by Emily Parker with The Gaston County Freedom Fighters.