Dancing With the Devil… A Brooklyn Perspective on Gun Violence

by with 3 Comments CultureFeatured

[This is the third installment of a three-part series on American gun violence. Read part one here and part two here.]

“You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

This is the iconic question that The Joker, played by the legendary Jack Nicholson, posed to his victims in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, Batman. You see, what The Joker is asking Bruce is if he’s ever wrestled with fate. Moreover, did that tangle with fate deliver grief and sorrow to his life experience.

I sure have danced with that devil in the pale moonlight.

Late in the summer of 2011, I ventured out with my roommate to Queens (NY) on a school night in an attempt to lift his spirits as he was dealing with a breakup. I offered to be the designated driver for the night so he could take his mind off the emotions of the breakup and have a good time.

Coming out of the club that morning, as fate would have it, my roommate began to say that there were Angels all around us and that he could see them. I affirmed his vision to appease him and wondered to myself how much he had to drink. Seconds later each of us had the barrels of loaded guns pressed against our torsos. Our initial response was to push the guns away, to which our assailants threatened that they would shoot us. They stole our jewelry and then ran off into the night.

We quickly moved to the car and drove off towards flashing police lights in the distance. Thinking that we were trying to chase them, one of the robbers opened fire on our car eight times at close range. Similar to the photo above, I’ll never forget ducking down and looking back to see flames coming out of the muzzle of the gun. As I turned my gaze forward, the back windshield of the car in front of us shattered. Luckily the car was empty and we sped off towards the police lights. Thankfully, he was a terrible shooter and not one bullet struck our vehicle. The Angels that my roommate saw that evening and the availing prayers of my Mother had truly prevented us from being yet another fatality in America’s gun violence epidemic.

Hearing the gunfire, the NYPD acted quickly and ultimately apprehended the young men with our jewelry in their possession. We were a little shaken but the Officers asked that we return to the precinct to identify the shooters later that day.

The Officers had investigated the crime scene and determined that whoever was in the passenger seat would have been struck between the head and chest area – I was in the passenger seat.

With that in mind, the Officers then crammed six young black men into a small room and asked that I select the men who robbed us. Looking through a one-way mirror where they could not see me, I looked at these young men in the eyes and was overcome with strong feelings of empathy and sadness.

What could have transpired in the lives of these young men to bring them to this room? Was it low wages and poverty that brought them to this room? Was it the poor public education system that brought them to this room? Was it the American government backed distribution of crack cocaine to black neighborhoods that brought them to this room? Was it mass incarceration and the fatherless homes that those policies left in its wake that brought them to this room?

Having an understanding of the pitfalls in the area in which I grew up in Brooklyn, I had a surreal feeling knowing that there was a pane of glass separating me from an alternate life that I could have lived. In fact, I would later find out that one of the young men who robbed us lived in the neighborhood I grew up in. Here I was, a young black man working for American Express, living on my own, but wondering what I could do to prevent other young men from being in this room. In a way, I felt and feel a sense of survivors guilt. I walked away from that room muttering to myself, “there but for the grace of God go I.”

I know those young men went to jail and I think about them from time to time. I wish blessings on their lives and I hope that they can overcome the mistakes of their youth and the unrelenting punishment of the American prison system.

It has taken me a few months to complete this series on American gun violence and share my own personal experience with guns. Sadly, as time passed, I knew that before I completed this series that there would be another mass shooting. As I write this piece, I received yet another Notification of Death that ten people have been gunned down in a Texas High School.

Why do we need gun reform in America? Quite simply, too many Americans are having to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight… it needs to stop.

This article was originally published on 22 May 2017.

911… What’s Your Emergency?

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

The opioid epidemic in the United States is continuing at an exponential rate.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 28,000 people died from an opioid overdose in 2014.  In 2015, that number jumped to more than 33,000, then more than doubled to over 64,000 deaths in 2016.  At the current rate, more than 145 people die per day from opioid overdoses, with the majority of those affected living in rural, White America.

The beginning of the opioid epidemic started in the late 1990s.  During this period, pharmaceutical companies began marketing new opioid pain relievers, promising the medical community that opioids prescribed for pain relief were not addictive.  With such reassurance, medical providers began prescribing opioids at higher rates than the staple pain relievers of the time, Motrin and Tylenol. The increased amount of prescription opioids in circulation lead to the widespread misuse and abuse of prescription opioids, as well as an increased use of heroin.

In response to the opioid epidemic, America has funneled millions of federal funding to combat the crisis, with some of the funds directed towards law enforcement programs that assist those battling addiction and facing prison time.  The passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was one of the first measures to combat the opioid crisis.  The ACA required coverage of substance abuse treatment with all marketplace plans. In late 2016, Congress passed the 21st Century Cures Act, which created $1 billion in Opioid State Targeted Response (STR) grants to enhance states’ response to the epidemic.  In 2017, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency and rolled out HHS’s 5-Point Strategy to combat the epidemic.  A Traveling Opioid Memorial was also created to educate the masses on the effects of opioid addiction.

I can’t help but wonder where were all these resources and sympathy during the crack cocaine epidemic of the inner cities in the mid-1980s and early-1990s when the majority of faces affected were black and brown?  Instead of allocating funds to prevention and recovery of crack cocaine addictions, America used billions to fund the ‘War on Drugs.’ Congress enacted mandatory sentencing via the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, with harsher sentences given to offenders of crack cocaine as opposed to powder cocaine at a rate of 100-to-1.

Just recently, Demi Lovato was hospitalized for an apparent drug overdose. There has been an outpouring of support. Fans have even created a hashtag #HowDemiHasHelpedMe to showcase how Demi helped fans with their own struggles. Demi and those battling addiction now are offered rehab and protection from jail, while those who battled crack cocaine addictions were shuttled off to jail by the thousands.  I am all for shifting sentiment as we evolve as a society, but I can’t help but wish that Whitney Houston and Amy Winehouse had similar support during their battles with addiction.

The effects of criminalization and mass incarceration of crack cocaine addiction, rather than treating it as a disease, are still felt to this day.  Before the ‘War on Drugs,’ the number of people in the US imprisoned for non-violent drug offenses was well under 50,000. By the year 2000, this number increased more than 6-fold, with the majority of those imprisoned being Black men, according to the Bureau of Justice statistics.  Due to this high incarceration rate, there were more Black men in prison than there were in all of higher education across America. It wasn’t until 2010 when the Fair Sentencing Act was passed did the discrepancy between crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses reduce from 100:1 to 18:1; however, due to mandatory sentencing, many offenders are still locked up.  The economic setbacks caused by a lack of family unit and poor education will continue to impact the Black community for years to come as they struggle to catch up to their White counterparts.

In the end, I wish Demi Lovato well.  As a healthcare professional, I’ve understood for years that addiction is a disease with constant battles and many setbacks no matter how strong-willed a person is.  I’m certified to administer and carry naloxone, the drug used to temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and I do my part to ensure opioids are only prescribed for legitimate reasons.  The battle to conquer the opioid epidemic is far from over. In order to resolve this crisis, America needs to do a lot of self-reflection and figure out why are so many Americans self-medicating.

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(Feature image description: Len Bias, drafted by the Boston Celtics with the second overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft. Ironically, Len never got a chance to wear a Celtics uniform.  He unfortunately died from a cocaine overdose 2 days after the Draft.  Artwork by  TruArtist83.  Visit his Website or Instagram for more conscious art.)