Last week Debbra Wallace asked members of our community to place purple light bulbs on our front porch, as a symbol of peace and reconcilation–purple, as the mixture of red (the color of the Bloods) and blue (the color of the Crips). Her great-nephew is being threatened by a gang, and Debbra herself was confronted by four gang members in the middle of the night last week. They called for “the purple lady” to come out of her niece’s house, and when she did, they fired four shots in the air and told her that this was another warning to her niece’s son. (Read the full story at http://tinyurl.com/28c2kfs)
The Oregonian ran a story on Christmas Eve about Debbra’s courageous stand,as so many of us, ironically, were preparing to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace. Even as the lights on Christmas trees twinkled, and houses sparkled with the season’s cheer, Debbra was asking us to put up one more light, that the violence terrorizing the African American community might stop, and young lives might be saved. “We are losing our children!” she told me, in anguish. The daughter of a former minister, she believes that God is calling her to spread the light of hope and change in what often seems a hopeless, intransigent path of violence and death for young black men in her community.
Will purple light bulbs stop gang violence? Some say it’s foolish to think so. Note the following statistics:
- 56% of black males were working, as of October 2010
- 38% of the prison population is black, although blacks make up only 12.4% of the population
- nearly 1 in 3 African Americans aged 20-29 are either in prison, jailed, on parole, or on probation
- a black male born in 1991 has 29% chance of spending some time in prison
- the leading cause of incarceration for African American males is non-criminal drug offense
- only 47% of black males graduate from high school
It’s clear that we as a nation have a problem that’s not going to go away quickly or easily. It has to do with an underclass that has no way of being integrated into the larger society, and so takes the only way that is offered–the drug culture, a culture of violence, crime, and early death.
What the purple light bulb does do, however, is to call our attention to the problem as it is manifested–very personally and concretely–in our specific community. Sad to say, the white majority and the white political establishment really don’t want to concern ourselves with black on black violence. If white boys were being shot on a regular basis, families threatened by gangs shooting up white homes, how do you think citizens would respond? How do you think the mayor and the police department would respond? I think this city would be shaken to its roots, and resources would be focused on change and prevention.
We have to shift the way we are viewing gang violence: it is not “their problem,” not “those people” on “that side of town.” These are children killing children, and all children are our children. Until we see ourselves as one, accept our common humanity, the violence will only grow. Don’t think it will stay “over there.” It’s a huge and growing rip in the social fabric that will make us continue to pay more and more taxes to fill larger and larger prisons, trying fruitlessly to contain what we have neglected to heal.
Symbols are important. The flag is a symbol. So is the cross. So is the stand that Rosa Parks took when she decided to sit in the front of the bus. She had had enough. When will we have enough black on black violence, to make the changes in our educational system, our “justice” system, and the terrible economic inequity in this country that leaves so many desperate and hopeless?
So yes, light your purple light bulb. Wake up, Portland. The first step in healing a wound is knowing where it is and how much it hurts.
To write Debbra, to order a light bulb, or to donate, e-mail her at purplepassover@gmail.com