I can’t just say that I am not a racist. I am a sinner. That’s not a statement of Christian cover. It’s a fact. I have bad thoughts about all the deadly sins, wrath, gluttony, lust, pride, envy, all of them. But I can force those thoughts and impulses down, deep down, choke them out. I can refuse to be a racist, set a good example and believe that other people can look into their better selves.
There are many causes of today’s unrest, but skin color isn’t one of them. There is a causal racism in our criminal justice system, and it’s not the cops. Look at the disparities in the death penalty, absolute immunity, predatory plea bargaining, conditions of excessive punishment, and mostly prosecutorial abuse, which I have written and podcasted about in the past. These elements cause more pain in the black community than policing in general.
Racialization is dehumanizing. Why is it all about skin color? The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King would be furious.
The gap between the priorities of today’s black leaders and the needs of the community is a canyon.
No one can push back on BLM, the sentiment, not the organization. Of course Black Lives Matter, All Black Lives Matter, from children in the womb, the kid in the park, the teen trying to avoid gang life, the store clerk, shop owner, the harried single mom trying to keep daughters from predators, young men killing each other. Not just victims of bad policing.
If I am not allowed to disagree, then I am not equal. I am supposed to be okay with civil disobedience until it becomes uncivil. I have to bite my tongue. I can’t and I won’t.
I don’t think it’s about race as much as economic class and those tangents. More on that in a later post.
Let’s examine a couple examples of alleged systemic racism and inequality. Eric Garner died from suffocation after a cop used a choke hold on him. Garner was committing the mild offence of selling untaxed loose cigarettes. He didn’t deserve to die, but there were five cops there, one a supervising sergeant.
Then the Ferguson incident, when Michael Brown attacked a cop. The Eric Holder justice department found no wrong-doing. The whole hands-up-don’t-shoot canard was exposed as a lie. Why are these men lionized?
It is difficult to predict human behavior, but laws of nature and man can bring us closer to an understanding and likelihood. Cops who use deadly force are invariably afraid for their lives.
Race relations have been set back two generations, since the sixties, all three years after a successful black president of two terms. Why? Because the grievance industry isn’t getting its perceived due.
Joseph Epstein, in his article “America, Warts and All” in the July issue of National Review says :
“Amid the agitprop about “systemic” racism, America has never been more welcoming to its black population, and the number of true racists in the country may well be fewer than that of recently transgendered people. Because of political correctness, one dare not speak the truth about race, not even certain obvious facts: that the wider success of African-Americans will come about not by falling back on government programs, or through protests or reparations, but by relinquishing victim status and relying on one’s own efforts – in the same way that any other group in this country has managed to flourish, through strong family ties, hard work, saving, future-mindedness.”
Everyone knows Larry Elder, black author, TV personality, and commentator. He has just released an acclaimed movie “Uncle Tom.” He recently recited some commonly accepted facts: there are 50 million plus interactions with police every year, which result in over 11 million arrests. In that same period (2019) 600,000 cops were assaulted, one thousand people were shot, half were white and 250 were black. Of these, 19 were unarmed. These are the same ratios as being hit by lightning.
Additionally, 95% of black victims of shooting are shot by other black people. Blacks are 2.5 times more likely to be shot, but young black males are 8 to 10 times more likely to be shot by young black males.
What is the number one cause of preventable death of non-black males? Accidents, like drowning, car crashes, etc. The cause of preventable young black male death? Homicide by other black males.
There is an internet personality, Damani Felder, who among may things produces videos rated “T” for Triggering. Among many distinctions, Felder was the first home schooled student to play football for the Texas Aggies. He points out that kids consume media very early, and there is no counter-balance of scholarship. The victimhood mentality sets in and “it’s poison. Look at BLM. These people get in the face of black cops, a ridiculously hypocritical stance.”
Respect cuts both ways. Was that guy Jacob Blake respectful? Probably not, and he should not have been shot seven times in the back, that’s for damn sure, but he isn’t a hero. We need to stop lionizing these people.
Why are reasoned conservative black people of great intellect and a mighty heart being ignored?
People like Coleman Hughes, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Brandon Tatum, Glen Loury, John McWhorter, Shelby Steele, Walter Williams, Candace Owens, and of course Thomas Sowell, the greatest living American philosopher of the past two generations and a former Marine, are routinely dismissed and ignored.
A side note to insert here. Planned Parenthood is a racist organization, founded to end the black race. That’s a hard fact. 57% of African American pregnancies end up there, the child killed and the taxpayer picking up the tab. This is an outrage that no one should accept as necessary. It’s genocide.
Everyone hates racism. Everyone agrees Black Lives Matter. No one thinks rioting and intimidation is good. One thing that is really no damn good is appeasement to the extremists. That never works because it’s never enough.
Anyone surprised there are vigilantes? You know, regular law-abiding people who want to protect their property. Vigilantes are demonized but rioters are “mostly peaceful” except when harassing law enforcement and burning cars.
All these protestors are anti-Trump, and the left-handed threat is a vote for Biden stops the rioting and “unifies” us all. Agree with me and the division stops!
David French, in the same NR issue I cited above, states:
“It took white Americans and black Americans to end slavery – and not through a revolt of the Founding but rather a defense of the Founding. It took white Americans and black Americans to end Jim Crow. Again, not though a revolt against the Founding but rather through a defense of the Founding. Through appeals to America’s founding promise, every marginalized American community has muscled its way into more-competitive membership in the American family.
“It’s right to celebrate a nation that has – over time—combined courageous people with righteous principles to secure a “more perfect union.”
Pandemics can happen. Riots don’t have to. The left talks of unifying the country. Okay, as long as the control freaks get their way, but if a global pandemic can’t bring people together there’s little hope.
And that is bad.
We should strive to be colorblind, even transparent.
Remember King’s great axiom on the content of our character. He would be furious today. Is there another King to bring it together, another leader with real moral fiber, a person who can be colorblind?
A new leader who tells of a great future, not a complaint of the past, that better days are ahead. Not someone who plays the victim with a personal ax to grind that requires genuflecting to a lie.
Black Dignity Matters. Black Dads Matter. All Black Lives Matter.
Out of many, one.
We are all beautiful souls, wonderful individuals with our own hopes and dreams and loves. We are all bright clear stars in the galaxy, angels made by God.
One at a time.