In Durham, Who Speaks for ‘the hood?
DURHAM Over the last few days there has been a rash of shootings in the Bull City, however those who have made this town their home for years know this is nothing new. The scenario always plays out like a bad Tubi movie and doesn’t deviate from the usual script. Media outlets report a rise in murders, city leaders call for a state of emergency and nothing gets resolved..rewind..
This has left many Durham residents frustrated because we hear the same ole tune, yet the Bull City two step never changes.
Back in 1965, Robert Penn wrote the controversial book, Who Speaks for the Negro, where he interviewed leaders of the time to try to come up with a consensus of who was the official voice of the Black community. In Durham, the question that has faced us for decades is “who speaks for the hood?” While some may consider the term derogatory and just one step above “ghetto”, in context when you remove a sense of neighbor from the neighborhood, that is what you are left with, the proverbial “hood.” Unfortunately, in the Bull City the question of who rep’s these communities always remains subjective. It all depends on who you ask.
After Durham racks up four murders or more, there is the customary call from city leaders for a “community conversation” on how to heal our community. However, the cast of characters usually consists of the mayor, a few elected officials and the heads of a couple of nonprofits (the Grant Money Mafia) who rake in the big bucks, always attempting to solve problems that never get solved. Kinda like who Malcolm X called the “Big Six” civil rights leaders in his “Message to the Grassroots” speech.
But what about the everyday folk? The community activists who are in the streets , talking to the youth every day without even a penny nor a head nod from the politicians? What about the parents in the areas of Durham who are most affected by gun violence? Where is their seat at the table during these community discussions?
Although, Durham officials have invested millions of dollars in such anti-crime initiatives such as Shotspotter and out of state violence intervention programs, truth is, other than the folks who ,constantly, lobby for pickleball courts, bike tails and more trees on Main Street , they have turned a deaf ear to the everyday citizens of Durham. However, they are quick to gaslight us when Durham reaches Def Con 1, suggesting that the blood of our children is on our hands for not being engaged conversations to which we are never invited.
The solutions that Durham usually comes up with usually don’t go beyond the circa 1994 Bill Cosby-ish respectability politics, blaming young Black men for being born in a world where the socio-economic odds are against them as soon as they come out of their mothers’ wombs. Somehow, suggesting if they just pull their pants up and get minimum wage jobs at the local fast-food joint this would erase 400 years of systemic white supremacy, economic inequality and all would be right with the world.
If Durham officials really wanted to have a real discussion on so called “Black on Black” crime they would consult the works of unapologetically Black thinkers who have tackled these problems for decades such as Amos Wilson (Black on Black Violence), Joyce DeGruy (Post Traumatic Slavery Syndrome) or Bobby E Wright (The Psychopathic Racial Personality) instead of those whose only contact with the hood comes via of old Tupac records.
Our task in Durham must be to change the meaning of “hood” as a place of gloom to H.O.O.D. (Hope Out Of Despair).
And lastly, if we really want to stop the violence in Durham all voices, regardless of socio-economic condition, should be heard. Instead of , to borrow from the words of Ice Cube from the hood classic” Boys in the Hood” those “who don’t know, don’t show or don’t care what’s going on in “the hood.”
Min. Paul Scott is Minister of Information for the Black Hoodie Brigade. He can be reached at (919) 972–8305 minpaulscott@yahoo.com or Twitter/X @truthminista
