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The Criminalization of Black Men: The Darrin Manning Story

The Criminalization of Black Men: The Darrin Manning Story

The Criminalization of Black Men: The Darrin Manning Story

Darrin Manning!There is a systemic widespread assumption concerning young black men in America. This assumption is that black men are naturally more prone to violence and crime. It leads to a disproportionate level of fear and an overreaction by law enforcement personnel. The issues that surround this phenomenon are quite complex, but they lead to an unfair stigmatization of black men. It is important to understand that this natural assumption is not by accident. It is the result of the systematic criminalization of black men.

It is many of these assumptions that lead white teachers, especially white female teachers to assume that their black male students will have behavior problems and learning disabilities. It is these type of assumptions that lend to the eventual categorization and the designation of special education tags for a disproportionate number of black boys.

To paint a lucid portrait of just what our men are facing, I want to share a story of a young black man from Philadelphia — Darrin Manning.[1] Manning is an honor roll student from Philadelphia, who was chased down and assaulted by cops, and ultimately had a female cop frisk him with such force that she ruptured his testicle. Manning was sixteen at the time. However, to truly understand the criminalization of black men, you must view this incident while framed in its proper context.

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Manning and some of this high school basketball teammates were exiting a Philadelphia subway on the way to a basketball game. It was so cold, that the boys’ principal had given them hats, gloves and scarves to wear. As they exited the subway, they noticed several police officers that they claim is “staring them down,’ and manning suggests that one of the officers may have said something smart. The police involved say that they saw a dozen young men running in “ski masks,” so they gave chase. The truth is that they were not wearing ski masks, they were wearing ski caps. While the other boys ran, manning determined that running implied guilt, so he stopped.

According to Manning, he had not done anything wrong, but he was tackled by the police. During this initial accosting by the police, Manning says that a female officer frisked him so ferociously that he ended up having to have emergency surgery to repair a ruptured testicle.

Police claimed that Manning hit an officer several times; however, there were no injuries to corroborate the claim. Nevertheless, manning was charged with assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. There were numerous eyewitnesses on the scene that corroborate Manning’s account of the police using excessive force.

What happened to Darrin Manning was simply the manifestation of the criminalization of young black men. Much in the same way that Trayvon Martin was targeted without cause — ultimately costing him his life — Manning was targeted for no other reason that the fact that he was black. There is a widespread assumption that any group of young black men that are hanging out together must be up to no good.

The emasculation of black men in America has often been used as a metaphorical expression that explains the constant assault on the masculinity and power of black men; however, in this particular case, it is both figurative and literal. Manning’s doctors are not certain of whether this young man will ever be able to father children as a result of this incident.

This particular incident, like so many like it, presents many issues and questions. Since when does wearing a ski mask — which they were not — in freezing cold weather constitute a crime? This incident provides a lucid explanation of why so many parents are perplexed concerning what to tell their children about encounters with the police. When consideration is given to what happened to Darrin Manning, it is hard to tell your children not to run from the cops. Not only is there a chance of physical harm, but there is a greater chance that they will end up in the criminal justice system. There is a routine criminalization of young black men in America that exceeds anything that can be considered a statistical aberration, reaching more into the realm of a systematic abomination. The United States has more people imprisoned now than did the Soviet Union during the gulag, and more than 40 percent of the prison population is made up of black men.

According to Think Progress.org, the United States not only has the largest prison population per capita, but it has the overall largest prison population by number and percentage in the entire world. Black men represent a highly disproportionate number of the U.S. prison population, and that is by design.[2]

Darrin Manning’s mother’s response to the incident brings a great deal of illumination to just how dark things have become.

“I’m just grateful that they didn’t just kill him.”

This statement speaks volumes in so many ways. What type of society are we living in where a mother whose son has been mutilated by those who took an oath to protect him, and his mother’s response is that she is simply grateful that he is alive? Unfortunately, this does not only speak to the darkness of the times as far as the infliction of racist machinations upon blacks, but it also speaks to the defeatist mindset of blacks who have taken on a just survive mentality.

To create an even stronger context to this story, and more importantly, this issue of criminalizing black men. When this story initially took place, there was a great emphasis placed on the remarkable character and accomplishments of this young exceptional student. And while the accomplishments of Darrin Manning are remarkable, they should not be used as a determining factor of whether or not these white police officers were justified in profiling, assaulting and mutilating him. Raving about the fact that he was an “A” student with such a promising future lends to the postulation and the mindset that the “C” student, or the child with a troubled past, could somehow justify this sort of treatment by law enforcement. The truth is that they should not be allowed to do that to any child under any circumstance. He was unarmed and he did not pose a threat. He is sure to have psychological scars, and it is possible that he will be physically impacted for the remainder of his life because this nation has chosen to criminalize its young men of color and give its law enforcement personnel carte blanche to attack, mutilate and kill young black men at their discretion.

Although accentuating the good character of the victim may be a great individual strategy, it does not serve us well on a broader scale, because it allows the media to criminalize kids like Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown. Trayvon Martin shooting the middle finger on YouTube or Michael Brown allegedly strong arming some cigars in no way justifies their murders. They were no more deserving of what happened to them than Darrin Manning.

Actually, the point being made here is far less esoteric than it may appear at first glance. With more than 50 percent of young black men under the age of 23 having an arrest record, it is apparent that there is a systematic force at play to drive them toward the Private Prison Industrial Complex — placing them at greater risk of being murdered by cops in the process.

It is our responsibility to effectively engage this issue. One of the first things that we must do is to engage our responsibility of educating and preparing our youth for success in a system that is hostile towards them. We must also begin the process of building and owning our own, which will allow us to provide greater insulation and protection for our progeny. The less we expose them to this system, the less damage that can be done.

We have to give up this mindset that our enemies can be trusted, and we must abandon the almost inherent need to be accepted by them. We must be willing to shift the importance assigned to everything white to the building of everything black.

[1] Murdock, Sebastian, Darrin Manning, Pa. Teen, Allegedly Has Testicle Ruptured by Cop, Huffington Post, 2014

[2] Flatow, Nicole, The United States Has The Largest Prison Population in the World — and It’s Growing, Thing Progess.org, 2014

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