A Critique of the Caring Men March
This is a quick overview and critique of a march that took place on December 27, 2020 to address gun violence and the spike in homicides.
Overview of the Caring Men March
The Caring Men March took place on December 27, 2020. It was focused on gun violence and the role that men play in childhood development. The march itself was very short, going from 699 Travis street to the Government Plaza. Most of the event took the form of speeches and sermons by pastors, P.I.P.E organizers, and relatives of homicide victims. One of the main speakers, Tee Winn, spent 30 years in prison on homicide-related charges. Now he works to make sure children do not try and go down the same path he took.
The messages of the speeches vary from person to person. The first speech came from a pastor who talked extensively about his past and the role that god should take in solving the homicide problem. He also talked about the role that the entire community plays in the rearing of children, becoming a central message through the entire rally. Another notable speaker was a man in a Rastafarian hat and an Egyptian necklace who talk about the role of women, cultural problems, and his six pillars of the community: spirituality, economics, culture, politics, etc. The bulk of his speech was dedicated to the dangerous effects of consumer items, rap music, and social media and the role they play in promoting asocial behavior among young men. The last notable was an army vet who talked extensively about family, the role of women, and the fault of parents in child behavior. Many others spoke, six more, but they either talked about personal experience with homicide or repeated the message that others were saying.
Critiques of the Caring Men March
The three speeches that were picked were the most ideological and developed out of the others. They picked up on the role of men and women, spirituality, culture, the role of police, and some talk of economics. Though this was supposed to be a march that jumps started the talk of possible solutions, there was no substance throughout the march for anyone who attempts to think of solutions to latch on to. The entire rally was cultural-deterministic. There was no analysis of mass incarceration, racial wealth inequality, material and political conditions of the black community, nor any material problems that are connected to the homicide rate. There was also a prevailing idea that this is a uniquely black problem, specifically to blacks within the American empire. I believe that to best understand the homicide rate, we must do a political-historical analysis of other peoples and countries who are experiencing high rates of homicides and see what the underlining connection is. The three best examples are Haiti, Brazil, South Africa, and El Salvador. All three countries are deeply impoverished, have high-density population centers (cities), and, except for El Salvador, very unequal in wealth distribution. Like the black community, there is deep poverty and the typical systems of social belonging (family, church, unions, political groups, etc.) have been destroyed and replace by more socially destructive elements. All this is to say we are not alone in this problem of homicides; many other peoples and countries are gipping with this problem. Posing the homicide problem as specifically an African in America question is not just unhelpful, but harmful to solving the problem, along with maintaining a cultural deterministic line and not focusing on the historical-political-economic aspects that affect it.
There are practical critiques I have of the Caring Men March. The main problems I find are with size and information. The size of the march was extremely small, with only a dozen people coming out. The length of the march was also extremely short as well with it only being a few minutes. It was mostly us walking down the street in an isolated part of downtown. I believe a lot of this was due to the rushed nature of the event. The message that there was going to be a march/rally on Sunday didn't get through to most people in the city. Only a select few people in a couple of circles knew about anything. Compare this with the BLM march that took place during the summer. Despite my critiques of many aspects of how it was organized and of 45 days of protest organization, the march this summer was very well mobilized. The event circulated around many circles for a few weeks, giving enough time for everyone to prepare, it was in a more visible section of downtown Shreveport and the march itself was long and loud enough to demand to be heard.
The homicide problem is one we will be grappling with for a long time. It is a very complex problem, like all social phenomena, that requires very complex and detailed analysis to get an understanding of. I won't try to pretend as if I have all the answers nor know the exact response we should take, but I do know that whatever we must do will be long and difficult.