Fear of fear and Risk of risk
“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but how it treats its lowest ones” – Nelson Mandela
You have probably heard of Andrew Wiggins, Canada’s top high school basketball player. But do you know Ayodele Olutayo? Olutayo who? Is he a basket ball player or rapper? Google the name and you find nothing. So, what makes Olutayo special? Nothing really, except that he won a Rhodes Scholarship the very same week that Wiggins announced he was joining the University of Kansas men’s basketball team. Two stories. Two male black youth. Two very different media responses.
Unlike for Wiggins, the media was silent about Olutayo. Like they are about most good-news, positive stories. However, the media continues to obsess over stories that feed public appetite for fear and perpetuate western images of hyper muscular, hypersexual, anti intellectual and criminal black masculinity.
Let’s go back to Olutayo. Chosen on the basis of exceptional intellect, character, leadership and service, the Rhodes scholarship is the oldest and most prestigious scholarship in the world. Since 1904 when Rhodes Scholarships were first awarded, there have been about 1,000 Canadian who received this scholarship. Olutayo joins this elite group which includes Bob Rae, Susan Rice, and Bill Clinton, noble laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Olympians and scientists. However, this is not a story that aligns with the negative image of black men. Stories of negative stereotypes are given prominence in the media, feeding our collective fear and risk obsession. Positive stories are obscured as dislike of certain groups is projected as fear and we make the group one thing, and one thing only, but this risk obsession hurts us all.
Fear of fear hurts us all because it enables objectifying of others and distancing from our common humanity. Believing we have nothing in common with those who are different and unlike us, we disenfranchise them but rob ourselves of our own humanity, empathy and compassion.
Empathy is good, but what of public safety? On the other hand, risk obsession never created true safety. The zero tolerance era is prime example. Black males and aboriginal youth were excluded from education in disproportionate numbers. The fear of fear bred more fear, young lives were impacted and many were pushed out of schools into vices and criminality. There are now more aboriginal children in jails and foster homes than were in the residential schools. We may deport immigrants, confine aboriginals, jail the undesirables, but our paranoia is not assuaged. Fear of fear hurts us all, wastes public funds and renders us calloused. It’s like the TV show, Criminal Minds; the suspect who feels threatened by imagined or real fears tries to “get them before they get me”. It is sad to watch the delusions and deranged conduct on TV but harder still to see our society under the grip of fear. Waterloo Region residents are good people, it would be sad to see us sacrifice our barn raising heritage, philanthropy at the altar of risk obsession.
It is not only sad, but dangerous as it leads us to ignore real problems. No one doubts that there are real problems in society among our youth, black and white. Most serial killers and school bombers are white but we ignore them until they explode and then pundits pontificate on their mental health. But we are quick to move on to more juicy stories and tales of fear. We dissociate criminality or evil from western society so we miss warning signs. Preoccupied with fear, we stigmatize and avoid mental health issues, underfund preventive and/or redemptive programming. Most of us believe it is only a passing phase for our own youth and busy ourselves with punishing the youth we consider “the other”. Collectively, society is trapped; fear mongering, sensational media, and politically motivated, nationalist and patriotic fervor is evoked and manipulated to keep us under siege.
The fear of fear reduces our humanity and enables us to justify our inhumanity and we are thereby diminished. If we can convince ourselves that black men or Aboriginals are criminals, then compassion towards them is unwarranted. The problem is that we are no longer dealing with actual criminals; every black man becomes criminal and unworthy of compassion regardless of whether they ever commit a crime or not. The reality is that criminals come in all colours, shapes and gender but we exploit systems and structures to criminalize certain ones and then act towards that group as though they were all criminals and nothing but criminals. Harsh laws, stiffer penalties, more policing dollars, profiling, surveillance and punishing become our preoccupation. We think nothing of killing black males in “self defense” because the black male, armed or not is criminal first in our minds. Preemptive self defense and “stand your ground” laws legitimize dislike of “the other”. We all become pitiable, projecting our fears on others, we spend more on policing but crime rates decrease and we become what we obsess about.
Risk obsession excuses our inattention to preventive, rehabilitative, redemptive measures towards our youth, the oppressed, immigrants and other vulnerable populations. Society constructs black boys, not as children, but as monsters, to be feared. Many black youth in this community are upstanding students at Conestoga college, Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo or our primary and secondary schools, but when we see them downtown at night, we see only black and immediately get into flight or fight mode, becoming hyper vigilant and projecting our fears.
The African Canadian Association of Waterloo Region & Area believes that the African male child is a child, a precious gift. Some of them are children in adult bodies, confused, fearful and self conscious. We the adults in their lives must not fail them simply because we fear and are obsessed with risk. The association’s activities are designed to respect, protect, educate, empower and nurture precious seed. Through our community gardens, homework club, culture camp, and “Bring on the sunshine” event we engage our children and youth. It takes a village to raise a child and all of Waterloo Region should be the village around all of our children.
This past summer six youth interns worked with our community gardens project, digging, planting, harvesting. There was nothing to fear about them. In our homework club we actually believe kids have brains and guess what we find; they do! Who knows if tomorrow’s Rhodes Scholar lives among us. During our 2013 summer culture camp, the camp meant for young children became a hangout for many tweens and teenagers. The coordinator quickly harnessed their strengths by forming them into a volunteer corp that helped to run the camp.
Strength, beauty, faith, hope and love abound in this community. It is who we are and I am a proud and happy resident of Waterloo Region who values our beautiful mosaic. We must eschew the fears that divide, maim and paralyze us by embracing our common humanity for we are better together and shall not let fear divide us. I hope adults, youth, community leaders, academics, the criminal justice system, schools, politicians, leaders and police services will collaborate to create humane responses that benefit all and elevate all.
“The scholarship of engagement means connecting the rich resources …….. to our most pressing social, civic and ethical problems, to our children, to our schools, to our teachers and to our cities… (Ernest L. Boyer, The Scholarship of Engagement, 1996.)
Funke Oba
Author: Funke Oba is the immediate past president of the African Canadian Association of Waterloo Region & Area. Funke teaches social work, is a diversity trainer/consultant and community based researcher with a focus on social justice, equity and social construction of complex phenomena.
Find more community responses about fear of crime:
- Fear of Crime: Perspectives from a Mayor by Carl Zehr
- Restorative Justice reduces fear of crime by Sue Klassen