Nashville can lead in addressing racial injustice

The recent horrific killings of black men and white police officers in violent, police/community encounters indicate the depth of racial injustice and racial polarization in our nation. Sadly, these tragic events are not novel and echo the urban riots of the 1960s, Miami in 1980, Los Angeles in 1992, Cincinnati in 2001, Ferguson in 2014 and Baltimore in 2015. Riot research shows that most riots have been sparked by an instance of police brutality in a low-income black neighborhood deteriorating from decades of high unemployment, residential and economic segregation, inadequate education and housing, negative police-community relations and chronic poverty.

Since its non-violent lunch-counter sit-ins that dismantled Jim Crow in the 1960s, Nashville has stood as a city willing to break down social barriers and welcome new residents from all parts of the globe. Over 100 foreign languages are spoken by the families of public school students in this new destination city for global immigration and corporate investment.

With its robust local economy and excellent community assets, Nashville is now poised to tackle the underlying economic causes of violent racialized injustice. This will entail a comprehensive and coordinated effort to incorporate poor and working families into jobs that pay a living wage, and create mainstream employment alternatives to the underground drug economy of the metropolitan and outlying depressed rural areas.

Tackling racial polarization compels us to look into, and beyond, the criminal justice system. President Barack Obama’s 2015 Task Force on 21st Century Policing not only called for trust-building through community policing, but also for programs “that address the core issues of poverty, education, health and safety.” The task force reasoned that “the justice system alone cannot solve many of the underlying conditions that give rise to crime. It will be through partnerships across sectors and at every level of government that we will find the effective and legitimate long-term solutions to ensuring public safety.”

Recent police/community violence in the United States reflects a festering racialized, economic polarization accompanying income inequality that has sharpened since the 1960s. As the national economy transitioned out of manufacturing, a widening gap between haves and have-nots arose with the new two-tier service economy. The predominantly white, upper-tier comprises high-salary professionals, white-collar workers and corporate managers. People of color and women are overrepresented among the poor and working people in the lower tier. Absent corporate career ladders, educational opportunities and jobs that pay a living wage, achieving the American dream via a conventional career is an increasingly elusive goal for people in the lower tier.

Its several community assets already in place, Nashville is ready to implement an exemplary, coordinated initiative to end police/community violence. A vibrant sector of civil liberties and civil rights advocates pursues freedom of speech, equal protection, due process, privacy and criminal justice reform, and opposes discrimination, while grassroots community activists and anti-poverty advocates pursue economic empowerment and incorporation of marginalized Nashvillians.

A progressive Metro government and police department support equality of economic opportunity, positive community policing and effective law enforcement. Large global corporations not only engage in corporate philanthropy, they hire and train diverse workforces, pay living wages, put employees on career tracks, and provide them with health insurance and retirement pensions. Human services professionals — nurses, social workers and teachers — provide vital social and health services in schools and neighborhoods.

Job training agencies, union apprenticeship programs in the building trades, community schools with wraparound services and community colleges prepare individuals for productive careers and higher education. The creative sector of singer-songwriters and universities envision, express, design and track the progress made with new forms of human relations and community organization. A generous philanthropic community is committed to Nashville’s well-being.

With greater orchestration and targeted support of these important community assets, Nashville will continue to illuminate a non-violent pathway to justice and equality of opportunity.

-The Tennessean- Dan Cornfield