FREE ESSAY ON RACE ISSUES

RACE ISSUES

In the novel, No Hiding Place, by Valerie Wilson Wesley, the main character private
investigator Tamara Hayle faces many difficulties in her career in law enforcement.
Wesley explores the struggles of a black woman in a white-male dominated police force and
at the same time she also comments upon the constant struggle between inner-city blacks
and the oppression they face from the police force. The novel is set in the modern-day
and takes an introspective look at today's problems. Wesley also uses a few flashbacks
from the past in order to give insight into today's problems. 
As the novel opens Tamara is held up at gunpoint by a black youth. From the boy's fear
Tamara can tell that this is the boy's first time robbing somebody. Because he is
inexperienced, Tamara is able to escape by bluffing. She tells the boy that she is a cop
and that her partner is on his way. This statement in itself makes the youth very
nervous. She places the final blow by reminding the youth of the penalty for killing a
police officer-life in prison. She also adds that more than likely he will be tried as an
adult. This statement sends the boy running away. This situation which opens the novel
illustrates the extreme mistrust between inner-city youth and the law-enforcement. The
situation also illustrates the severe penalty the indigenous population must pay for
striking out against the law. This penalty is massively increased if the law officer
happens to be a member of the white race. The opposite, however, does not hold true.
White police officers can brutalize black youths and still walk away unreprimanded and
unaccountable. Through a situation of blaming the victim the officers can clear their
reputations in the name of self-defense. The hand of justice, which falls swiftly and
heavily upon the black youth who lashes out on white law enforcement, seems to take a
leave of absent when white officials are clearly guilty against minorities. This
situation is also comparable to the lynching of blacks which greatly increased in the era
after the Civil War. According to the book Racial and Ethnic Relations, White lynchers
were seldom punished for their crimes, and many lynchings took place with the
acquiescence of police officials...[After World War II] public lynchings had largely been
replaced by 'legal' and secret lynchings. Legal lynchings included numerous killings of
innocent blacks by white police officers (Feagin & Feagin 248). 
Tamara is very wary of going to the police and she finally decides not to report the
youth because she knows first hand the dangers that the boy will face in the hands of the
police. Tamara had once been a police officer herself, but she quit the force in part
because of the harassment she faced as a black woman, but mostly because of one
particular incident. Her own son, Jamal, and one of his friends had been walking through
a white neighborhood. The boys were stopped by Tamara's own partner. Then suddenly the
officer opened fire and killed Jamal's friend. Tamara had not even been informed of the
situation and only came to know about it later on. Another occasion in which the issue of
police brutality arises is when Tamara is reminiscing with one of her friends. They
remember Newark in its days of glory. It had once been a rich bustling town. White people
had lived in Newark, and businesses flourished. As more and more blacks came, the whites
left, and with them left the tax base. After the whites left, public funds dwindled.
Money was no longer allotted for the town's upkeep. The town was allowed to slowly waste
away. Besides the loss of tax money, greedy politicians also took advantage of the city.
The final heavy blow upon the city was due to the riots. The police had murdered a youth
and the riot erupted. The National Guard was sent in and innocent people were killed in
the streets and within their own houses as well. Finally the introduction of crack
toppled the town downward to rock bottom. Authors Joe and Clairece Feagin point out that
white officials have often created riots through their violence against minorities (251).
Police brutality against minorities is serious and quite wide spread within U.S. cities.
Of 130 cases of reported police brutality against citizens, ninety-seven percent were
directed against blacks or Latinos. Thus, Tamara Hayle's mistrust of the police force can
be directly attributed to the actions of those in power. A nations wide poll shows that
many other blacks share Tamara's view of police; three-fourths of black respondents said
that the police in most cities treat black citizens less fairly than white citizens
(251).
Later on in the novel Tamara is hired to find out who murdered a young black man named
Shawn Raymond-the father of the boy who held Tamara up at gunpoint. The police quickly
abandoned the case claiming that it must have been drug-related. In the course of her
investigation Tamara finds the police force very unwilling to cooperate. They berate her
and refuse to share what information they have found in their investigation. This
situation of the police force refusing to investigate the murder of a minority can be in
part explained by theories of the caste school-which falls under the heading of
power-conflict theories. In the social and racial stratification system of the U.S.,
basically a caste system based on skin color and class, blacks are considered to be
second-class citizens. Due to economic and social inequality blacks are barred from
certain rights-one being the right to be protected. The presence of this
institutionalized discrimination supports the existence of such a caste system within the
U.S. (46)
Another one of the power-conflict theories which can be used to explain the
aforementioned situation is that of internal colonialism. Historically, European
colonists greatly benefited from the exploitation of non-Europeans. Even today there are
many benefits in keeping minorities oppressed. One benefit is that wealth can remain
concentrated in the hands of the upper-class, rather than being dispersed. Therefore, one
way to continue oppression and maintain the hierarchy would be to allow those at the
bottom of the social ladder to become victims of crime. Statistics show that the poor are
more likely to be victims of crime. Furthermore, these crimes against the poor can be
easily ignored. This serves two benefits: the short-term benefit is that costly
investigations do not have to be carried out so time and money are both saved; the
long-term benefit is that this is an effective way to keep the oppressed in their state
of oppression. The final result is that the dominant group is able to secure it own
position (47).
In the course of her investigation Tamara Hayle comes across many barriers and we see
just how racism stands in the way of minorities. From outright violence, such as police
brutality, to denial of resources, such as lack of protection, oppressed people are kept
in their subordinate positions by those in power. Wesley's novel illustrates that such
incidents can be easily ignored, but ignoring them will eventually lead to serious
consequences for everyone.