Recently and in response to nothing anyone said, 23-year-old Luke Darnell pondered the implications of crimes committed toward black people by other black people.
“Sure, there’s still a bit of racism in this country,” said Luke, unprovoked. “And sure, white people commit hate crimes once in awhile. But what about black on black crime? Why aren’t we talking about that?”
Luke usually uses this thinly veiled rhetoric to derail conversations about racism that make him uncomfortable, but in this case, was bringing up his point entirely out of the blue.
“Black people spend a lot of time complaining about white people holding them back from making progress,” said Luke into the vast abyss. “But they never talk about how they’re holding themselves back.”
“They’ve got all these movements and coalitions that demonize white people but not one that tries to stop the crimes their committing against themselves in their own communities,” Luke added, seemingly unaware of the many organizations that address black on black crime and that he was speaking to, quite literally, no one.
For witnesses, this is business as usual.
“This is the racist white folks’ favorite talking point,” said Shaquana Perkins. “They really think they’re doing something when they bring it up, but it’s a basic, easily refuted argument. Does he think he’s the first person to ever think about this?”
But Luke stands firm in his decision to spout his elementary logical fallacies to no one.
“Look, I’m all for ending racism against blacks, but we have to acknowledge that most crimes against black people are committed by other black people,” Luke said to just himself, boldly and willfully ignoring that most crimes against white people are committed by other white people, too. “The sooner the black community does that, the sooner they can start to move forward in our society.”
“I just don’t see how we can have a nuanced discussion about racism without considering that,” he added. “I mean, just look at Chicago.”
