A few weeks ago, the owner of Tulip Baroo Bakery, Matthew Finateri, decided to publicly post his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement. While it might seem laughable for a man of privilege to assume he can take a critical approach on oppression, he decided that the world would want to hear what he had to say. Well, isn’t that direct definition of privilege in a nutshell? A person not recognizing the true experience of others and believing their opinion (ahem, AKA racist views) is what is truly needed to properly educate society?
We wrote a response to his now deleted post:
Dear Matthew Finateri:
You truly believe you are the one and only person who tripped over the actualities of society? You truly believe that it is you and you alone who has to fill everyone in on the truth? According to you, systemic racism doesn’t exist, if everyone simply took a look at the hand picked stats.
In your now deleted post, you stated: “I’m a data- driven guy. Data doesn’t lie.”
Here’s is the thing with data though, sometimes the numbers can be factual, but the narrative attached to them can be intentionally biased. The “data” you precisely selected is skewed perfectly to suit a point, and in your case, a racist point. Facts can be biased if you use them manipulatively in your favour.
Let’s unpack those points, shall we?
You decided to compare white and black statistics regarding violent crime, stating that white people are killed 20% more than black people to be killed by police in violent crimes.
BUT the problem with this argument is that an arrest for violent crime is not the same as an interaction with a police officer. The BLM movement is focusing on black people’s interaction with police officers. Black people can’t live a regular life with human decency, that includes going for a freaking run, or wearing a hoodie without being targeted or being killed by a cop.
Being arrested for a violent crime is not the same as being killed for simply existing. ANYONE, of any race, should fear getting arrested for said crime, but no one should fear being killed for walking down the street and being targeted for the colour of their skin.
Here are some of the interactions (not violent crimes) with police that led to a black person being killed:
- Traffic stop
- Having their car stopped in the middle of the road
- Selling CDs
- Holding a cell phone
- Broken brake light
- Being twelve years old with a toy gun
- Allegedly selling loose cigarettes
- Walking down the street in a mask
- Allegedly paying with a fake $20 bill
- Asleep in your own house
So if you’re a data man, with all that bakery education backing you up, you really need to compare police killings of black people for interactions and car pullovers to white people being killed for the same type of interaction. Without these specifics, your stats don’t hold up in an argument against the BLM movement.
Here’s another stat to consider: you pointed out that black on black crime is an issue, that narrative assumes that the black community is not concerned about black on black crime. They are. They are deeply concerned. There are organizations working hard to address these issues. You know what’s crazy? People can care about more than one thing. You know what else is wild? White people only care about black on black crime, when Black Lives Matter is mentioned.
“In most black communities, the politicians, clergy, organizers, activists, etc. invested in reducing violence are black. The reality is black people in black communities are often the only people who care about black intra-communal violence beyond playing gotcha with the “black on black crime” card.”
-Joshua Adams, Medium
Here’s some real facts for your consideration: when black people kill black people, they go to jail AND they have longer sentences than white people, for the same crime. PLUS, when an officer kills a black person, he or she is rarely charged or likely doesn’t even lose their job (credit @summeroshea)
The “black on black crime” argument, disvalues the BLM movement and it doesn’t take away from the fact that black people are being killed by police officers. It’s simply a statement made to dissuade people from understanding that oppression and systemic racism exists.
Here is another issue with bringing up black on black crime: it’s not a race issue. Black people do not kill black people because they are black. The term “black on black crime” was a term made up by white people – because those acts aren’t acts of racism, and white people tried to make it a racial thing to strengthen the stigma and agenda we had created to remain in power. (credit @summerroshea and @conciousleespeaks)
I know you think that “Black Lives Matter is a divisive and race-bating organization that views our society through nothing other than the reductive lens of race, identity and collectivist victimhood mentality. I can’t think of anything more disempowering” – and it’s easy for you to say something like racism is a human construct and if we give it power, then it will only creates divisiveness. But that’s the thing, it is a human construct that white people created it. White people made race up to give themselves more power, and dismissing how much that creation affects the black people, the ones who were directly targeted to purposely oppress them, undervalues their experience. An experience which we forced on them. So we have to deal with the consequences of that creation. We divided people, and they are fucking sick of it. We made it a race issue – and we now have to see it as such, to fix it.
They are sick of it for all the reasons you mentioned: you said black people have the lowest rates of education, highest rates of crime, highest rates of poverty AND police killings. But you are using these statements to try and convince us that these underlying issues are the result of black people themselves. These systems are white systems, we created them, we are in power of them, we own them. We made these “stats,” so we could stay in power. Your argument is proof that the system is broken, and targets certain people to keep them oppressed for our benefit.
You need to reevaluate your own words.
As you state “empowerment is not found in the dark depths of victimhood – it’s found in the virtues of things like personal accountability, responsible decision making, and the ability to think objectively and rationally about one’s personal circumstance.” And in part of this statement is true – Matthew Finateri, you need to take accountability for being a racist, MAKE the decision to not take advantage of your privilege and think about the CIRCUMSTANCES that have been handed down to you.
Speaking of power, white people have only been able to be so powerful by making black people victims, and forcing them into that space. That was our choice. We empowered ourselves by continuing to push an agenda that victimizes others. That is where we need to be held accountable and consider our circumstances. We need to hear the “depths of victimhood” that we encroach on the black community and do better.
On that same note, police officers who have killed black people, also need to take personal accountability, responsible decision making and think objectively and rationally about their circumstances. A circumstance that is one of authority and one of privilege and in numerous cases, made the decision to kill innocent black people without consequence.
The BLM is not a screaming and destructive movement, as you have tried to state. I know you think you can throw out words in such a way that it may blindside people into truly thinking you have this all figured out, but you haven’t. Black people are literally asking for their lives to matter (too). TO MATTER. That’s it. Think about that and really take a look at the stats.
We will no longer be purchasing or supporting Tulip Baroo Bakery – there are plenty of local bakeries in Newfoundland and Labrador. Think about where you buy your goodies in the coming future. There are screen grabs available for Matthew Finateri’s posts, Tint chose not to publish them.
To support Black owned businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador, check out this list
Credit for information goes to @traylittle @shadowed_icon @summerroshea @conciousleespeaks
You can donate to BlackLlives Matter NL
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