Crime

and
The Mama
Suzette M. Smart, BSW, MHA

Unfortunately, violence in the Lithonia, GA and Atlanta areas

are commonplace for the African American woman living in
poverty. One of the first most notable documentations of
verifiable and valid evidence of violence perpetrated against
African Americans by police was published in the United
Nations report (1951) "We Charge Genocide." This report
concluded that over half of the 500 cases of violence were
reported by women of color with incidences of beatings, rape,
and murder, all at the hands of someone honored with the title
of law enforcement (p. 5). Not until the published United

Nations Review of the United States on the Adherence to the

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination (2014) researched and authored by
Crista Noel and Dr. Olivia Perlow, has there been such
documented charges of cruelty against this population, with a
call for reparation in their behalf (Noel & Perlow, pgs. 1-24,
2014). Noel and Perlow conclude "Every day in America's
cities, counties and states, women of African ancestry, and other
women of color in the United States, are victimized and
betrayed by the very people who are sworn to respect our
constitutional, and innate human freedoms, while upholding the
law" (Noel & Perlow, p. 4, 2014).

The UN asserts the stereotypical views of the African American

woman as the hypersexual Jezebel "...[justifies] This
dehumanization process [which] has morally excluded women
of color from humane treatment, and this process has been
identified as a major social psychological precursor for
violence" (Noel & Perlow, p. 2, 2014).
The International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) (2014) charges the
United States with violations under the CERD treaty, in addition
to violation of the Constitution of the U.S., with violating the
rights of the African American women of America:

Violations
The right to equal treatment before the tribunals and all other
organs administering justice;
The right to security of person and protection by the State
against violence or bodily harm, whether inflicted by
government officials or by an individual group or institution;
The right to freedom of movement and residence within the
border of the State;

 The right to freedom of opinion and expression;

The right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association;
The right of access to any place or service intended for use
by the general public; such as transport hotels, restaurants,
cafes, theatres and parks.
(Reprinted from American Police Crimes Against African
Women and Women of Color, pgs. 15-16, 2014).

If the United Nations undeniably can substantiate such vicious

claims against the United States, should we not be able to as a
people start the process of finding a healing within our own
community first? Where do we begin to find the core of
violence against African American women in Georgia? In FFY
2014, the State of Georgia answered 61,415 calls to their
domestic crisis line, and 8,819 to their rape and sexual assault
crisis line (Georgia Coalition against Domestic Violence, 2015).
This organization served 2,525 adults, and 1,931 children who
were victims of sexual assault and rape (Georgia Coalition

against Domestic Violence, 2015). And, we have been told by

the Atlanta Victim Assistance, Inc. organization that "In
Georgia, about one adult in 13 is under some form of
correctional control, either on probation or parole, or behind
bars. This is the highest rate in the nation. The national
average is one in 31" (AVA, 2015). Unfortunately, of these
numbers, a large proportion of these figures do not reflect the
large Georgia registered sex offender data base, the sexual
perpetrators who are transient and cannot be located in the state,
and the unseen predators who prey upon women and children in
our community (Georgia Bureau of Investigation, 2015).

Most important, this data is not purely indicative of the many

African American women who do not report these heinous
crimes to law enforcement officials for whatever reason

Why are these crimes not reported?

Shamika
I had the opportunity to interview Shamika. This participant is a 20 year
old African American single mother of three children who has resided in
Lithonia, GA all of her life. She was hired by a local restaurant
approximately two miles from her home, which she makes the 2.5 walk to
every day she is scheduled to work. Unfortunately, over the last year, the
restaurant manager has reduced her hours, and she currently only works
approximately ten hours a week, not by any means a sustainable salary to
support her family. Shamika relies heavily on her babys daddy to help
her meet her financial obligations. On the day I met with this young
woman, her right eye was blackened, and she walked with a limp.

"When your man hits you, its considered a secret. Am I to lose

that little something that he sometimes gives me to take care of
my babies? Most time I just turn the other cheek. Bones heal. I
know that there will be a better place for me when this life is
over, I just hope he doesn't take me out sooner than I am ready
to go" (personal communication, 2015).

The National Coalition against Domestic Violence asserts that

over 1.3 million women in the U.S. have been directly affected
by domestic and intimate partner violence, and that it is a
leading cause of death for the African American woman. In
fact, Time Magazine (2014) provides startling statistics for our
women of color between the ages of 15 and 35 years old. Not
only are they three times more likely to die due to domestic
violence and intimate partner violence than White women, but
the rate of homicide stands at 22 percent for females in this
population (Jones, 2014).

Aleena
Aleena stands a little over six feet tall, and is a robust 56 year
old African American woman who lives in the Lithonia, GA
community. This participant has a total of 12 children, eight
which are males. Five of her sons are incarcerated for a variety
of felony offenses, one works at the local Big Box store full
time, one is in his third year of college, and her fourth son is
addicted to a variety of drugs, and lives on the streets. Aleena
states she has not seen this son in over ten years, but, she knows
that he is still alive.

My sons never had a chance in Georgia. From the day they

were born, there was always some White man knocking them to
their knees. So when we started fighting each other in the crib,
I did what I thought was the right thing to do. I called the
police for protection. But that backfired on me girl. We had
stupid fight that was fu**** up over something like him taking
out the garbage. He swung at me, and I called the man. Before
I knew it, they had him in handcuffs taking him off to the local
jail. His time was excessive, and I didnt see him again for
another two years! Half the time I couldnt even keep track of
where they were transferring him. (Personal communication,
2015).

It just kept downing from that point, each of my boys arrested

for stupid sh**. One was at a party at school; that was my boy
that I knew was gonna make something of himself, and get us all
out of this mess. He wanted to be a lawyer. He got into an
argument with a group of White kids, the police were called,
and the only one taken off to the jail was him. None of them
went. He lost all hope there. He never was the same again, and
as soon as he would get out, he was back in again within a
matter of months. They all ran with the Gs (gansta disciple
gang) they say they were representing for me. But, I never
asked them to (personal communication, 2015).

Thats when I learned to keep my mouth shut, and when we

fight I swing with the best of them. Why? Because I began to
realize that it is not so much about their dreams in life, but
about the color of their skin that stops them from achieving
those dreams. Someone has to help them, and I believe the only
one who can are our Black mamas (personal communication,
2015).

"Why Black Women Struggle More With Domestic Violence" (2014)

authored by Feminista Jones, argues that Black women hesitate to turn
over their Black men to law enforcement because of their belief these
men will be treated even worse than their counter White men (Jones,
2014). They also vacillate between "wanting" to seek help for
themselves, and actually seeking that help out of fear the police will be
racially biased towards the women of color and their needs as well.
Disturbingly, Jones also states African American women tend not to seek
assistance from law enforcement because they affirm "...when we do
speak out or seek help, we too often experience backlash from members
of our communities who believe we are airing out dirty laundry and
making ourselves look bad in front of White people (Jones, 2014).

Are the Mamas the Answer?

A young man simply who goes by the name of "Jose" gave his
reality and impression of his Lithonia, GA community in
public domain online, and who he believes should help resolve
the violent atmosphere:

Lithonia is a good city. BUT what people havent noticed

is the gangs that are in this city. The bloods and crips and
Gangster disciples. I go to school here and I realised how these
gangs "hit licks"/ break into people's home and take things.
These are just young people and these gangs are ran by older
people called OG's.

If yiu have probably got robbed then most likely they were kids
in a gang trying to earn stripes. I am sure u have heard gun
shots around your area or heard about some breakins. well
don't get me wrong its them. I am not sure if these gangs are
real because anyone can say they are in a gang and they jump
someone in and they think they are in that gang. So im not sure
if the gangs are, lets say legit.

Parents need to step up and get involved eith the police. Thats
the only way this can stop. Now like I said it is a veeery nice
city. Just don't let some out of control kids make it bad. I hope
people read and understand this and it is real i am not making it
up. I think who ever is in a gang should be aressted because
they are alresdy fellons because they need to earn stripes to get
in the gang. Im just trying to keep this good city from becoming
something its not (n.a., 2015).