At the moment, my research project is two-fold. I am interested in two very different (but perhaps, not so different) subjects that, like many things in the black community, are rooted in the history of slavery.

First, the issue, or shall I say, epidemic, of police brutality against black bodies has erupted in the media over the last few years. Of course, just because the media finally wants to pay attention doesn’t mean this hasn’t been happening since the 1800s…

This past summer, I looked at this issue from a US Policy perspective and tried to 1) establish whether or not the literature supported the lived experiences of literally every black person I’ve ever met (the answer is no). 2) What policies were in place that allowed these murders to continue happening with apparent impunity and 3) What policies could possibly be put into place to help eradicate this issue and promote communication if not trust between the black community and law enforcement.

I discovered that not only is there no “concrete” statistical proof that such an epidemic is even occurring (big surprise…) but that there aren’t even established ways to measure or document police brutality. This means that every single source, from the FBI, to the Justice Department to the Police Departments themselves had different stats and therefore different opinion about what was going on. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get to the bigger questions because I spent the rest of my report explaining how objectivity in these types of studies/reports is a myth. Every organization has a stake in what the results show OR are controlled/paid by people who do.

I would be interested in moving away from the the “objective” policy/statistical perspective of this issue and onto a more subjective view but how I will do this is still very much up in the air.

My second subject is much less developed but I would be interested in connecting it to the first. I have sung gospel my entire life and I know that gospel music is deeply rooted in the pain and suffering of American slaves and has now evolved into a much wider style of music that is apparently accessible to anyone. All kinds of people sing it now, laying claim to it because it “sounds cool” or is “entertaining” or is “powerful.” But the violence that created this sound is just as real as the violence that created hip-hop, and just as real as the violence that created Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout.”  Do you see where I’m going here? Still musing…