Earlier this week, an article was published on WREG (an NBC affiliate in Memphis)’s website, which reported the Memphis police’s alleged crackdown on crime in the Binghampton area of Memphis.

Tuesday (January 26), court injunctions were placed on two gangs, the Vicelords and the Grape Street Crips.

To the uninformed masses, this would appear to be a noble deed committed by the Memphis police. On the contrary, gang injunctions have had a notorious history of singling out innocent Black males (just because they randomly knew of a gang member, for example), and often gives municipalities in urban areas across the U.S. reason to gentrify traditionally Black neighborhoods.

We will continue to keep you informed of further developments as it pertains to this story.

B. Clark

Today, it seems that Oakland–in conjunction with the natural effects that time causes–has changed drastically.

As suspected white supremacists continue to move into the area, many of them have resorted to being part of an online community, ran by nextdoor.com. The website, which was developed in nearby San Francisco in 2010, has seen a sharp uptick in usage of the web platform. 176 neighborhoods (and 20 percent of all households in the city) in Oakland have groups registered on Nextdoor. The site, which is known as “the private social network for neighborhoods”, allows people to report “suspicious activity.”

Of course, much of the reporting on Nextdoor involves reporting innocent Black people as being suspects for merely engaging in non-criminal/pedestrian activity, such as walking down the street. Many of the area’s Black door-to-door sales reps and mailmen have been labeled as “suspects”, according to the online company.

White members of Nextdoor have used the site to call the police and file complaints about Black residents nearby, which includes being “too noisy” at public parks and bars. Mitsu Fisher, a Black father of two, isn’t allowing his kids to play outside or roam the neighborhood free without his presence. The concern stems from a February 2014 incident in which a patrol officer working for a private security company chased down and shot a young Black teenage boy. To make matters worse, the private security company that  the race soldier worked for forbids their officers from carrying firearms. As a result of shooting the Black teen, the officer was rewarded by white members of Nextdoor.com and local neighborhood groups on Yahoo, with all of them collaborating to buy him a gift.

One Black Oakland native by the name of Leland Thompson has grown so weary of the rampant racism in theses local Internet groups that he has decided to stop wearing hoodies. After regularly browsing “Glenfriends”, a Yahoo group created by the Glenview (in Oakland) neighborhood residents, he has discovered that an overwhelming amount of the “suspicious activity” reports in the group described him. “Black man, five-ten, 160 pounds, bald,” Mr. Thompson says in reference to the typical descriptions given in the “Glenfriends” Yahoo group.

For more on this story, follow this link.

B. Clark

Ours isn’t the only place that has covered this topic. Other media outlets such as Black Enterprise, Huffington Post, and Forbes have all done the same.

While all of the dialogue and the news coverage of this issue have been extremely thought-provoking and informative, the burning question is: At this point in time, does it really matter where Black people choose to live and/or relocate to in the U.S.?

Nationwide redlining, unarmed Blacks being murdered (in places like Atlanta) by race soldiers, and being kicked out of night spots (in places like Houston) are occurring in areas that we have been migrating to in recent years…and it’s happening for no sensible reason other than the color of our skin..and the lack of solidarity in Black Society. Is it a safe assumption to make that white supremacy is far-reaching, and could care less about what new “Black Meccas” we attempt to move to (if there’s no sustainable economic base in place)?

Do you feel that there should be specific areas where Melanoid people reside in order to collectively build and thrive? Why or why not?

B. Clark

A memo littered with racist propaganda provides the call-to-action for the removal of the Melanoid citizens in Southfield by November, which is approximately 70% Black according to the 2010 U.S. Census report. The flyer also displays the photos of local politicians and law enforcement officials who all happenen to be white.

This is no coincidence that their projected time frame for the removal of Melanoid people from Southfield coincides with the election in November. Given the current climate of escalated white supremacy on all fronts, perhaps their goal may not be as far-fetched as we would want to believe.

B. Clark