On May 25, 2020, a citizen of these United States by the name of George Floyd, died while in police custody, even though he was apparently not resisting the officers responsible for his well being while in custody. This tragic event was captured on the cellphone cameras of bystanders and immediately went viral. Unless a true sociopath, no human being could watch that video and fail to be absolutely horrified by the apparent disregard displayed by the officers present at the scene, as Floyd’s life ebbed away right in front of them and without their intervention.
For the first time in a very long time, all points on the political spectrum were united in outrage about the same thing and for the same reason. We were and remain outraged at such a blatant and callous disregard for human life. The day after the incident, citizens demonstrated that outrage by taking to the streets in protest and to “petition the government for the redress of grievances.“ This, a classic case of why the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution exists at all.
Then something changed. The demonstrations became about a lie. The demonstrations became a protest about Systemic Police Brutality based on racism. It became about police far and wide, “deliberately hunting down and killing” Black men. Groups intent on the destruction of America, or with other nefarious political purposes, began to take advantage of this misplaced outrage and began to foment full-blown riots. Out of control crowds began destroying property, maiming and killing people, looting and burning to the ground the businesses of the very people they purported to be outraged on behalf of. In some locales, police were told to stand idly by while this happened, shades of “allowing them space to destroy.”
It’s still going on, despite all of the officers being charged, one with 2nd Degree Murder and the others involved, for Aiding and Abetting. And it’s all based on a lie. Almost no one has had the courage and fortitude to publicly admit this. For, to do so, would invite accusations of racism or being indifferent to the suffering of minorities. However, noted columnist and author, Heather McDonald, is a standout exception.
In her recent Wall Street Journal article The Myth of Systemic Police Racism, Ms. McDonald tears apart the lie, piece by piece. She writes
This charge of systemic police bias was wrong during the Obama years and remains so today. However sickening the video of Floyd’s arrest, it isn’t representative of the 375 million annual contacts that police officers have with civilians. A solid body of evidence finds no structural bias in the criminal-justice system with regard to arrests, prosecution or sentencing. Crime and suspect behavior, not race, determine most police actions.
When apologists for criminal behavior claim that Blacks are killed at a higher rate by police than Whites, that is just not true. McDonald, citing a study by the National Academy of Sciences, claims with proper justification and analysis, that based on the ratio of fatal police shootings to total police encounters, the types of crimes by race and the racial composition of the police force itself, Blacks are not being shot by police in greater numbers than any other race. It’s just not happening. Here are the findings from that report (format changes from the original are mine to help readability
We report three main findings:1) As the proportion of Black or Hispanic officers in a FOIS increases, a person shot is more likely to be Black or Hispanic than White, a disparity explained by county demographics;2) race-specific county-level violent crime strongly predicts the race of the civilian shot; and3) although we find no overall evidence of anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparities in fatal shootings, when focusing on different subtypes of shootings (e.g., unarmed shootings or “suicide by cop”), data are too uncertain to draw firm conclusions. We highlight the need to enforce federal policies that record both officer and civilian information in FOIS.
Put another way by McDonald
The researchers found that the more frequently officers encounter violent suspects from any given racial group, the greater the chance that a member of that group will be fatally shot by a police officer. There is “no significant evidence of antiblack disparity in the likelihood of being fatally shot by police,” they concluded.
As a cross-checked, I looked at some other sources. On Statista, I found some interesting numbers. It turns out that, as of March 30, for 2020, the numbers show that Blacks are 13.6 percent of police shootings and 14 percent of the US population — 86.5% of the shooting victims are not black.
Of course, this puts paid to any justification, no matter how slim, that the anger of the rioters and looters is somehow understandable. What it actually reflects, is that people are using a preventable tragedy to stoke the fires of racial animus. This race-baiting is not helping advance any legitimate cause, rather it is bringing real and measurable harm to innocent people.
Worst of all, it is shifting focus away from the real problem, which I believe, is inept and/or corrupt Democrat governance at the city and state levels. As I indicated previously, the death of George Floyd was a perfect storm, whereby a city governed by Democrats for over 40 years, recruited, trained, and employed, but failed to properly supervise (likely due to police union influence) an officer. That same city sanctioned and trained its officers on the use of an inherently dangerous restraint technique, a technique long abandoned by the vast majority of police agencies in these United States.
Having frank, open, and honest discussions about race seems to be very difficult for many Americans. We make it even more difficult when we are unwilling to face uncomfortable facts. The very first step in the problem-solving process is to properly identify the problem. Given provable and proven data showing equal rates of police-involved shooting of Blacks and Whites and that minority police officers shoot minorities at the same or higher rate as do their White colleagues, it would seem that these continued protests and the accompanying violence, are based on a lie. It’s time we refocus on the real problem — the problem of long time Democrat governance in the cities.
"Peaceful Protest" Turned Violent When Rioters Went to Police Officers' Homes to Set Their Cars on Fire
"Peaceful Protest" Turned Violent When Rioters Went to Police Officers' Homes to Set Their Cars on Fire
These riots are an exercise in political intimidation. Their goal is to break the police and turn over entire cities to the thugs who can then blackmail the political authorities and the citizenry into meeting any of their demands through violence and intimidation.
This is not a protest.
Three protesters are in jail Thursday after being arrested for trying to set police cars on fire with Molotov cocktails.
Police say the vandals tracked those officers down at their homes and tried to torch their cars. Both fires were put out quickly, leaving minor damage to the vehicles.
Ebuka Chike-Morah, 21, Alvin Joseph, 21, and Lakaila Mack, 20, all face multiple charges.
“I’m just trying to get the message across,” Chike-Morah said during the protest outside Sugarloaf Mills Mall. “We’re going to continue walking until we don’t feel like walking no more.”
Chike-Morah told Channel 2 Action News that he wanted to peacefully protest and go home, but a few days later he had other plans.
“They unloaded the bus trying to catch us but I’m not getting got. I can speak for myself. I don’t know what they got going on. I’m just trying to go home and go to work tomorrow,” Chike-Morah said.
Another peaceful protester turned violent.
It was a peaceful protest and then we started throwing bottles and rocks, shooting bullets, and setting things on fire. Funny how that happens.
The Left's Defense of Arson and Looting as Weapons Against 'Institutionalized Racism'
These riots are an exercise in political intimidation. Their goal is to break the police and turn over entire cities to the thugs who can then blackmail the political authorities and the citizenry into meeting any of their demands through violence and intimidation.
This is not a protest.
Three protesters are in jail Thursday after being arrested for trying to set police cars on fire with Molotov cocktails.Police say the vandals tracked those officers down at their homes and tried to torch their cars. Both fires were put out quickly, leaving minor damage to the vehicles.Ebuka Chike-Morah, 21, Alvin Joseph, 21, and Lakaila Mack, 20, all face multiple charges.“I’m just trying to get the message across,” Chike-Morah said during the protest outside Sugarloaf Mills Mall. “We’re going to continue walking until we don’t feel like walking no more.”Chike-Morah told Channel 2 Action News that he wanted to peacefully protest and go home, but a few days later he had other plans.“They unloaded the bus trying to catch us but I’m not getting got. I can speak for myself. I don’t know what they got going on. I’m just trying to go home and go to work tomorrow,” Chike-Morah said.
Another peaceful protester turned violent.
It was a peaceful protest and then we started throwing bottles and rocks, shooting bullets, and setting things on fire. Funny how that happens.
The Left's Defense of Arson and Looting as Weapons Against 'Institutionalized Racism'
Once again, progressives maliciously elevate nationwide violence and anarchy.
Massachusetts Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey hailed the acts of arson occurring across the country as some sort of symbol of regeneration. In a speech she delivered to the Boston Chamber of Commerce on June 2nd, Healy said, "Yes, America is burning, but that's how forests grow." She later tweeted that “we must seize the opportunity we have right now to build anew in ways that rid us of the institutionalized racism that’s led to America burning today.”
Healey’s first duty as attorney general is to uphold the laws of her state and prosecute criminal violations. Arson is a serious crime. Arsonists must be arrested and prosecuted, whether they are agitators of the left or right. There is no legal defense that excuses arson because the arsonists believe they are fighting “institutionalized racism.” What’s next - that looting is a legitimate form of wealth redistribution to combat what some social justice advocates have called “racial capitalism”? It’s time to send Healey packing for inciting violence and dereliction of duty.
Massachusetts Republican Party Chairman Jim Lyons struck the right chord with his response to Healey’s outrageous forest fire analogy:
“By choosing to highlight this insane analogy, it should be clear to Massachusetts residents that no matter what else Democrats like Attorney General Healey say, they will always condone mob tactics. The Radical Democrats, led by the likes of Attorney General Healey, sat back and watched as cities went up in flames over the weekend, and are now openly admitting that this is all part of their plan to fundamentally change America by any means possible. This is no way to honor the memory of George Floyd, or correct the problems that led to his unjustified killing.”
Some in the media also make excuses for the rioting. CNN's Chris Cuomo, for example, questioned the notion that the protests need to be peaceful. He should read the text of the First Amendment, which protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (Emphasis added)
New York Times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones, who undeservedly won a Pulitzer Prize for her contribution to the historically inaccurate New York Times ‘1619 Project,’ went further. She said not to worry about the destruction of property by rioters. “Destroying property which can be replaced is not violence,” Hannah-Jones told CBS News Tuesday. “I think any reasonable person would say we shouldn’t be destroying other people’s property. But these are not reasonable times.” In an interview with CNN, Hannah-Jones referred to looting as justifiable “symbolic taking” because black communities “have been looted for decades.” She said, “I think I would not describe looting as violence.”
Apparently, it never occurred to Hannah-Jones that both black and white looters have been exploiting the George Floyd tragedy and peaceful protests to enrich themselves with stolen property. There is nothing “symbolic” about such selfish criminal acts.
What does Hannah-Jones say to the black business owners who have seen their shops go up in flames or looted? For example, Kris Shelby, who is black, owned a store in Atlanta. “A lot of people don’t know the blood, sweat and tears that go into being a business owner and the type of sacrifices we had to go through to be where we’re at right now,” he said. Shelby sympathizes with the peaceful protesters demonstrating over George Floyd’s horrendous death at the hands of a rogue policeman. “But as a black man, and this is a black-owned business, it’s just sad,” he said about the looting. “It really leaves a bad taste in our mouths, to be honest.”
Derrick Hayes put up signs in the windows of his restaurant in downtown Atlanta that identified it as a black-owned business. That made no difference to the looters who smashed his windows. “Honestly, I was in disbelief,” Hayes said. “If we’re all in this together, let’s show that we’re all in this together.”
The dreams and livelihoods of individual black and other minority small business owners have been destroyed all over the country. But Hannah-Jones is indifferent to their plight. For her, there are no black individuals with their own individual aspirations. She believes that “black people are a collective.” Following this absurd premise to its “logical” conclusion, an individual black who may have lost his or her life savings from wanton looting and arson should be willing to take one for the team.
Hannah-Jones said that “collective grieving for the desecration of black life is a regular, daily experience for black people in this country,” Does her “collective grieving” extend to the black retired St. Louis police captain, David Dorn, who was shot and killed while attempting to protect a neighborhood store from looters? All that Hannah-Jones did in noting Dorn’s murder was to retweet, without comment, a CNN report. She would have shown more respect for Dorn if she at least had retweeted this statement by the Ethical Society of Police, a black police union in St. Louis, which it wrote on Facebook: "Looters murdered him at a pawnshop last night. He was the type of brother that would’ve given his life to save them if he had to. Violence like this is not the answer, whether it’s a citizen or officer."
Hannah-Jones is provided a regular platform at the New York Times for her viewpoint, most notably the 1619 Project, which posits that American history and exceptionalism can only be understood through the lens of slavery. Yet she and other New York Times writers were aghast at the newspaper’s publication of an op-ed column by Republican Senator Tom Cotton that excoriated the criminals “simply out for loot and the thrill of destruction.” Senator Cotton suggested that if necessary federal troops should be used to stop them. Hannah-Jones tweeted, ”As a black woman, as a journalist, as an American, I am deeply ashamed that we ran this.”
After first defending its decision to publish the op-ed article in order to provide its readers with a different point of view, the New York Times surrendered to the leftwing mob mentality within its own staff. It apologized for its “rushed editorial process” and running the op-ed article that “did not meet our standards.” Those standards are now dictated by the “woke” ideology under which whites must atone for the sins of past generations going back to the first white slaveholder. They must purge their white privilege by submitting to the dismantling of a society built completely on institutionalized racism, according to this ideology. Progressive Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has chosen to embrace this ideology in lieu of her fealty to the rule of law. She has plenty of company in academia, the media, and Hollywood.
Blacks who don’t bow down to the "woke" rulers are pilloried. Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina has spoken out strongly against racial profiling from his own personal experience. But he chooses to be an individual with his own opinions rather than a cog in the black “collective.” As a result, he has been called Uncle Tom and far worse by the “woke” left.
On June 3rd, Senator Scott tweeted, “My heart is broken over the events of the last week, from the needless murder of #GeorgeFloyd, to the tragic death of retired St. Louis police captain #DavidDorn. When it comes to race and justice in this nation, solutions are needed now.” The senator tweeted on May 31st, “For those who believe that violence is a way to react, this is selfishness, and we do not tolerate this. Protest, be heard, be seen, and be peaceful. Stand for justice for #GeorgeFloyd, but please do it in order. How we conduct ourselves creates a path for the future.”
Senator Scott stands with the large mainstream of Americans of all races who are capable of distinguishing between peaceful protests decrying the brutal murder of George Floyd and acts of looting and destruction that serve no purpose but self-gratification. The “woke” progressives live in their own perpetual nightmare of an inherently evil, racist United States that is leading them to inflict destruction on our nation's ordered liberty and the institutions that preserve it.
* * *
Barack
Obama’s race hustling criminal coddling set the more recent tone where state
and local law-enforcement officers were routinely attacked, accused of serial
hate-inspired killings of suspects; where civilized norms were declared the
illicit fruit of white privilege; where the epidemic of black-on-black
homicides was either ignored or blamed on unresolved racial grievances. GEOFFREY P. HUNT
Watch:
Rioters Use Forklifts to Smash into Best Buy in California During Daylight
Hours
The Truth about Interracial Violent Crime
John Perazzo is the author of Betrayal: The Democratic Party's Destruction of America's Cities.
Pin the Tail on Champions of Lawlessness and Anarchy
This
mindset not only ignores the blacks who do just fine without these would-be
masters, it parades the helped group as mascots to be forever reminded that
their lives are only possible due to the tireless effort of their white
benefactors. It is an overlay of weapons-grade condescension atop the stench of
rank bigotry. Because what else can it be but bigotry when the pathological
altruist essentially says “you’re nothing without me” to the minority
individual while claiming “they’re as good as anyone else” to the rest of us.
“Black
Christians should protest the Democrat party's anti-Christian agenda which has
led to the moral decay of the black community; fatherless households, gangs,
crime, generational poverty, incarceration, and record-high black on black
homicides.” LLOYD MARCUS
Blacks are only 13% of the population. White America
gifted its first black president two terms. And yet, far too many blacks
absurdly believe Democrats' and fake news media’s lie that white America did
not want a black man in the White House. If America is such a hellhole of
racism, how did Oprah Winfrey, a dark-complexioned stout black woman, become
one of the wealthiest and most influential persons on the planet? The myth of
America's racism is evil, destructive, and must end. LLOYD MARCUS
Barack
Obama’s race hustling criminal coddling set the more recent tone where state
and local law-enforcement officers were routinely attacked, accused of serial
hate-inspired killings of suspects; where civilized norms were declared the
illicit fruit of white privilege; where the epidemic of black-on-black
homicides was either ignored or blamed on unresolved racial grievances. GEOFFREY P. HUNT
BLACK LIVES MATTER? OR BLACK LIVES LOOT???
Watch:
Rioters Use Forklifts to Smash into Best Buy in California During Daylight
Hours
CBS Sacramento
2 Jun 20201,347
2:31
Vandals
participating in the widespread riots in response to the killing of George
Floyd commandeered at least one reach forklift to break into a Best Buy in the
city of Fairfield, CA, during daylight hours yesterday, several videos show.
13% of the population in the USA is black
BUT THEY COMMIT 85% of all violent interracial crimes, 80% of all shootings, 79% of all robberies, 59% of all murders, 52% of all violent juvenile crimes, 45% of all drug offenses..
49% of all murder victims are black. 42% of all cop killers are black.
99% of all major riots involving property damage, looting and civil disobedience are committed by blacks as opposed to ANY OTHER minority in America.
BUT THEY COMMIT 85% of all violent interracial crimes, 80% of all shootings, 79% of all robberies, 59% of all murders, 52% of all violent juvenile crimes, 45% of all drug offenses..
49% of all murder victims are black. 42% of all cop killers are black.
99% of all major riots involving property damage, looting and civil disobedience are committed by blacks as opposed to ANY OTHER minority in America.
93% of all black murder victims are murdered by another black.
33% of all crimes in America are committed by 3% of the population; blacks between the ages of 16 and 36
8% of America’s population are black men, yet they account for 40% of America’s total prison population.
33% of all crimes in America are committed by 3% of the population; blacks between the ages of 16 and 36
8% of America’s population are black men, yet they account for 40% of America’s total prison population.
40% of blacks are on welfare
Only 59% blacks graduate high school (Detroit, only 20%)
Over 60% of black households have no fathers present
72% of black mothers are unwed!
Blacks account for 38% of abortions (only 13% of population and contraceptives are FREE)
Over 60% of black households have no fathers present
72% of black mothers are unwed!
Blacks account for 38% of abortions (only 13% of population and contraceptives are FREE)
(STATISTICS FROM Dept.
of Justice, Dept. of Commerce, FBI and USA Census (ALL and sect.5 Law
Enforcement))
The Truth about Interracial Violent Crime
Debunking the Left's pernicious lies.
Thu Jun 4, 2020
Prior to the May 25th death of
George Floyd in Minneapolis, a major focus of the media during the preceding
two weeks had been a video showing an incident where a young black man named
Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot by two white men in Glynn
County, Georgia. The killers say that they pursued Arbery, whom they suspected
of having been involved in some recent local burglaries, when they spotted him
running through their neighborhood – though some accounts claim that he was
merely out for a jog. Eventually a fight broke out, and Arbery was shot and
killed. After a video of the deadly altercation went public in early May, there
were massive protests in Arbery's behalf.
On May 8 – which would have been Arbery's 26th birthday – activist Al Sharpton
used the Internet to lead a “virtual rally” in the young
man's memory, drawing some 105,000 participants.
In an interview four days
later, Sharpton, exhorting members of the black
community to “sustain” their “indignation” vis-a-vis the Arbery case for as
long as possible, portrayed the Georgia killing as an extension of racist
American violence dating back to the epoch of slavery: “It was expected that if
you saw a black, that you would suspect that he was a runaway slave, and you
had the runaway slave laws that … they would use that to hunt down blacks for
vigilante groups, the KKK and others, all the way up until the modern era.”
Television personality Oprah Winfrey likewise characterized Arbery's death as a consequence of intransigent white racism: “He went out for a jog while being Black. I wonder what was he thinking in those last seconds of his life? Unimaginable to go for a run in 2020 and end up dead because of the color of your skin.”
Notably, there is no record of either Sharpton or Winfrey uttering even a single public word in memory of 34-year-old Zackary Randalls, 37-year-old Mark Gassett, or 58-year-old David Jackson. You've never heard of these individuals, of course, because they were merely three white men who were murdered three years ago in Fresno, California by Kori Ali Muhammad, a black racist who candidly sought “to kill as many white males as possible” – killings for which the perpetrator was convicted just six weeks ago. Regarding the Zackary Randalls murder, Mr. Muhammad has since explained: “When I walked up to the truck, I saw a Mexican driver and a white guy. I didn’t want to target the driver because he was Mexican, so I shot the white dude.” The media, for some mysterious reason, didn't find the story compelling enough to cover.
Neither is there any record of Sharpton or Winfrey lamenting the deaths of 86-year-old Paul Marino and his 85-year-old wife, Lidia, both of whom were murdered in cold blood by a black gunman on May 8 – the very day of Sharpton's “virtual rally” in honor of Ahmaud Arbery – while they visited the gravesite of their late son, Anthony, in a Delaware cemetery. To borrow Oprah's pithy maxim, we might say that Mr. and Mrs. Marino were just “visiting their son's grave while being white.”
Other victims whose recent murders were ignored by media outlets and camera hogs like Sharpton and Winfrey include:
Television personality Oprah Winfrey likewise characterized Arbery's death as a consequence of intransigent white racism: “He went out for a jog while being Black. I wonder what was he thinking in those last seconds of his life? Unimaginable to go for a run in 2020 and end up dead because of the color of your skin.”
Notably, there is no record of either Sharpton or Winfrey uttering even a single public word in memory of 34-year-old Zackary Randalls, 37-year-old Mark Gassett, or 58-year-old David Jackson. You've never heard of these individuals, of course, because they were merely three white men who were murdered three years ago in Fresno, California by Kori Ali Muhammad, a black racist who candidly sought “to kill as many white males as possible” – killings for which the perpetrator was convicted just six weeks ago. Regarding the Zackary Randalls murder, Mr. Muhammad has since explained: “When I walked up to the truck, I saw a Mexican driver and a white guy. I didn’t want to target the driver because he was Mexican, so I shot the white dude.” The media, for some mysterious reason, didn't find the story compelling enough to cover.
Neither is there any record of Sharpton or Winfrey lamenting the deaths of 86-year-old Paul Marino and his 85-year-old wife, Lidia, both of whom were murdered in cold blood by a black gunman on May 8 – the very day of Sharpton's “virtual rally” in honor of Ahmaud Arbery – while they visited the gravesite of their late son, Anthony, in a Delaware cemetery. To borrow Oprah's pithy maxim, we might say that Mr. and Mrs. Marino were just “visiting their son's grave while being white.”
Other victims whose recent murders were ignored by media outlets and camera hogs like Sharpton and Winfrey include:
·
Joyce Whaley, Patricia Nibbe,
and Nettie Spencer – three middle-aged white women
who were brutally stabbed to death by a black killer at a Tennessee truck stop in early April;
·
Heather Perry, a 21-year-old
white woman who was shot to death in a
Denver alleyway on May 9 by Cornelius Haney, a convicted armed robber who had
just been released from prison in order to protect him from contracting the
coronavirus;
·
Logan Allen Stacks, a
17-year-old white boy who was gunned down by two black teens
on March 27 in Lancaster County, South Carolina;
·
Dr. Beth Potter, a 52-year-old
white physician who dedicated her career to helping “underserved communities,”
and her husband, educational consultant Robin Carre, who were shot execution-style by a
pair of black teens on March 30 in Madison, Wisconsin; and
·
Kristopher Dacus, a 33-year-old
white man who on February 26 was shot multiple times and killed by four black teens in
the North Little Rock, Arkansas cemetery where he worked.
Let us assume for a moment that
Ahmaud Arbery – who quite obviously was a volatile
and menacing character with a criminal
history – was in fact the innocent victim of
a horrific, wholly unjustifiable murder. Even if that were the case, why should
his death garner more attention from American media outlets and civil rights
activists, than, say, the deaths of the 13 aforementioned whites whose lives
were mercilessly snuffed out by black killers in 6 different states? Perhaps a
case could be made in favor of such a double standard if white-on-black
killings were commonplace in American society – on the theory that the
condemnation of such occurrences might help raise people's collective
consciousness about the deadly ramifications of white racism. But in fact,
white-on-black homicides in the U.S. have been exceedingly rare for many
decades.
Conventional “wisdom” maintains that violent crime tends largely to be an intra-racial affair, where whites target mostly whites, and blacks target mostly blacks. This is certainly true for homicide, but much less true for other crimes of violence such as assault, rape, and robbery.
Let us look first at homicides that involved whites and blacks during 2012 and 2013. During those years, white killers nationwide chose to target white victims approximately 93 percent of the time, and black victims 7 percent of the time. Meanwhile, black killers targeted black victims 84.7 percent of the time, and white victims 15.3 percent of the time.
But violence in America crosses racial lines much more frequently when the crimes in question are rape, robbery, and assault. In 2012 and 2013, for instance, blacks in the U.S. committed an annual average of 560,600 violent crimes (excluding homicide) against whites, while whites committed a yearly average of 99,403 violent crimes against blacks. In other words, blacks were the attackers in about 85 percent of all violent crimes involving blacks and whites, while whites were the attackers in 15 percent.[1]
Those broad figures, however, do not even begin to tell the full story about interracial crime. To get a complete picture, we must also look at crime statistics from the perspective of the offender. That is, when a given violent offender chooses a victim to target for a crime, does he tend to target a victim who is a fellow member of his own racial group, or does he tend to go after a victim from another racial group? Here are the facts:
Conventional “wisdom” maintains that violent crime tends largely to be an intra-racial affair, where whites target mostly whites, and blacks target mostly blacks. This is certainly true for homicide, but much less true for other crimes of violence such as assault, rape, and robbery.
Let us look first at homicides that involved whites and blacks during 2012 and 2013. During those years, white killers nationwide chose to target white victims approximately 93 percent of the time, and black victims 7 percent of the time. Meanwhile, black killers targeted black victims 84.7 percent of the time, and white victims 15.3 percent of the time.
But violence in America crosses racial lines much more frequently when the crimes in question are rape, robbery, and assault. In 2012 and 2013, for instance, blacks in the U.S. committed an annual average of 560,600 violent crimes (excluding homicide) against whites, while whites committed a yearly average of 99,403 violent crimes against blacks. In other words, blacks were the attackers in about 85 percent of all violent crimes involving blacks and whites, while whites were the attackers in 15 percent.[1]
Those broad figures, however, do not even begin to tell the full story about interracial crime. To get a complete picture, we must also look at crime statistics from the perspective of the offender. That is, when a given violent offender chooses a victim to target for a crime, does he tend to target a victim who is a fellow member of his own racial group, or does he tend to go after a victim from another racial group? Here are the facts:
·
When white offenders committed
crimes of violence (excluding homicide) against either whites or blacks in
2012-13, they targeted white victims 95.8 percent of the time, and they went
after black victims a mere 4.1 percent of the time.
·
By contrast, when black
offenders committed crimes of violence against either whites or blacks in
2012-13, they targeted white victims a whopping 48.5 percent of the time, and
they went after black victims 51.4 percent of the time.[2]
If we factor into the equation
the relative sizes of America's white and black populations, we find
that, statistically, any given
black person in 2012-13 was about 27 times more likely to attack a white, than
vice versa.
In more recent years, the disproportionate prevalence of black-on-white crime has only gotten worse. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2018 there were 593,598 interracial violent victimizations (excluding homicide) between blacks and whites in the United States. Blacks committed 537,204 of those interracial felonies, or 90.4 percent, while whites committed 56,394 of them, or about 9.5 percent. Moreover:
In more recent years, the disproportionate prevalence of black-on-white crime has only gotten worse. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2018 there were 593,598 interracial violent victimizations (excluding homicide) between blacks and whites in the United States. Blacks committed 537,204 of those interracial felonies, or 90.4 percent, while whites committed 56,394 of them, or about 9.5 percent. Moreover:
·
When white offenders committed
crimes of violence against either whites or blacks in 2018, they targeted white
victims 97.3 percent of the time, and they went after black victims 2.6 percent
of the time.
·
By contrast, when black
offenders committed crimes of violence against either whites or blacks during
that same year, they targeted white victims 58 percent of the time, and they
went after black victims 42 percent of the time.[3]
City Journal also reports that according to
Justice Department data, blacks in 2018 were overrepresented among the
perpetrators of offenses classified as “hate crimes” by a whopping 50
percent—while whites were underrepresented by 24 percent.
These numbers are staggering. If America
were teeming with white racism, those guilty of interracial crime would be
disproportionately white. But instead, the
exact opposite is the case. Thus, the enormous amount of
attention given to white-on-black attacks – which are statistically rare in the
United States – is an obscene and senseless absurdity. The notion of ubiquitous
white racism manifesting itself in unacceptably high levels of white violence
against blacks, is one of the most destructive and monstrously evil lies of our
time, creating levels of racial mistrust and animosity that are wholly
unwarranted.
NOTES
[1] Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2012-13, Special Tabulation, Table 10.
[1] Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2012-13, Special Tabulation, Table 10.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization, 2018, Table 14.
[3] Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Victimization, 2018, Table 14.
This Black American Deems Floyd Protests Unnecessary
As a black American, Democrats and fake news media demand that I
agree with the George Floyd protests. I say the protests are unnecessary and
are totally politically motivated. The American people of all races including
President Trump have expressed their outrage over the wrongful death of Mr.
Floyd. The officer who killed Mr. Floyd has been charged with murder. The three
officers who watched the abuse have been fired and investigated. So, where's the beef? Why are opportunists looting stores, burning
businesses, and beating up whites in the name of demanding justice? Who is
opposing justice for Mr. Floyd? The answer is no one.
Therefore, what is the real purpose of the riots, hate, violence,
and chaos in our streets? The answer is politics. Democrats and fake news media
believe by generating racial hate, they can ensure that blacks will vote
against Trump in November.
Like a magician uses misdirection, Democrats and fake news media
hope to focus blacks' attention away from the fact that blacks have
experienced unprecedented
prosperity and record low unemployment since
Trump has been in the Oval Office.
Leftist political hacks say the killing of George Floyd reflects
America's systemic racism, a country dominated by white supremacists. They say
America was founded by racist white men for racist white men. Folks, such bogus
and divisive rhetoric is nothing more than leftist intellectual-sounding
gobbledygook. There are not enough white supremacists in America to elect
anyone to any public office.
In the real-world America, blacks are not suffering persecution. I
realize saying that will get me in trouble, but it is true. America is the
greatest land of opportunity on the planet for all who choose to pursue their
dreams. The perverted thinking of leftists has to make everyone a victim of
someone or something. Democrats and fake news media brand blacks who do not
harbor resentment for whites and America traitors to their race.
Blacks are only 13% of the population. White America
gifted its first black president two terms. And yet, far too many blacks
absurdly believe Democrats' and fake news media’s lie that white America did
not want a black man in the White House. If America is such a hellhole of
racism, how did Oprah Winfrey, a dark-complexioned stout black woman, become
one of the wealthiest and most influential persons on the planet? The myth of
America's racism is evil, destructive, and must end.
Racism along with every other sin will exist until Jesus returns.
However, there is not enough racism in America to stop anyone. This is why it
is so offensive hearing wealthy black celebs filling young black minds with the
lie that white America has stacked-the-deck against them. I wish blacks would
ignore such crap and simply pursue their dreams.
Despite countless glaring examples of blacks thriving in America,
Democrats and fake news media relentlessly sell the lie that blacks can't catch
a break in this horrible country. This is why they persecute successful blacks
who love their country and do not view themselves as victims.
Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden said, “If you don't vote
for me, you ain't black.” Biden has also absurdly said, “Republicans want to
put y'all back in chains.” Biden insultingly views blacks as brain-dead idiots
eager to stay on Democrats' government dependency plantation.
In 2020 America, the tired old battered, tattered, and torn race
card has been begging to retire for several years. Democrats refuse to retire
it because they believe playing it wins them emotional, mindless black votes,
trumping logic, facts, and commonsense.
All of the people who are protesting because cops routinely murder
blacks and because America is racist are responding to lies. Cops do not murder
blacks so
much as blacks murder blacks. America is not racist. Why do you think people risk everything to
get here? Trump is building a wall to keep illegals out, not to keep people in.
We are extremely blessed to be Americans living in America.
Americans should be angry and protest about failing schools
controlled by Democrats. Students graduate who cannot read their diploma.
People should be angry and protest Planned Parenthood's black genocide. Why
are 36% of America's aborted
babies black?
Black
Christians should protest the Democrat party's anti-Christian agenda which has
led to the moral decay of the black community; fatherless households, gangs,
crime, generational poverty, incarceration, and record-high black on black
homicides.
I refuse to
pander to Democrats' and fake news medias' lie that protests against cops,
white supremacy, and America are necessary. America is the greatest land of
opportunity on the planet for all who choose to pursue their dreams. This truth
should be repeatedly shouted from the rooftops.
God
instructed Pharaoh, “Let my people go.”
God instructs us, “Let my people know.” Spread truth.
God instructs us, “Let my people know.” Spread truth.
Pin the Tail on Champions of Lawlessness and Anarchy
American cities aflame
after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police should
come as no surprise.
Those small businesses
and lives of everyday Americans that weren’t already crushed by the Democrat
governors’ prolonged Covid-19 lockdowns were debilitated by the Dem mayors
across the nation enabling and ennobling rioters, roving thugs, and
bomb-throwers.
Democrats own the
consequences of their devastating policies, starting with Lyndon Johnson’s
Great Society welfare state. Barack Obama’s race hustling criminal
coddling set the more recent tone where state and local law-enforcement
officers were routinely attacked, accused of serial hate-inspired killings of
suspects; where civilized norms were declared the illicit fruit of white
privilege; where the epidemic of black-on-black homicides was either ignored or
blamed on unresolved racial grievances.
Where Marxist mayors
demonizing and disarming their own police, nullified enforcement of criminal
codes by issuing stand-down orders; embraced militant advocacy of open borders,
enacted sanctuary city statutes to harbor illegal aliens; refused to prosecute
and/or deport illegal aliens with long violent records including rape,
kidnapping, sex trafficking, and murder.
“For what it’s worth,
every public official responsible for the mayhem is a Democrat—the governor,
the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and even Hennepin County Attorney Mike
Freeman, who finally had Chauvin arrested on Friday. And it was current
Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar, the former county attorney, who failed to prosecute Chauvin for
misdeeds in the past. Democrats collectively run a state that has one of the
widest racial disparities in the country in
terms of education and income.”
“In a magnificent
monologue on his television show, Tucker
Carlson peeled back the headlines to expose the festering reality that has
brought us to this pass.
“The ideologues will tell you,” he noted,
“that the problem is race relations, or capitalism, or police brutality, or
global warming. But only on the surface. The real cause is deeper than
that and it’s far darker. What you’re watching is the ancient battle
between those who have a stake in society, and would like to preserve it, and
those who don’t, and seek to destroy it.” That’s exactly right.
“Writing in the dark days of 1939, Evelyn
Waugh noted that “barbarism is never finally defeated; given propitious
circumstances, men and women who seem quite orderly will commit every
conceivable atrocity.”
“Many if not most of the violent hooligans
defacing our cities today are young beneficiaries of the richest and most
generous society the world has ever seen. At school, they were taught to
despise their country as racist, sexist, colonialist, and exploitative,
attitudes that were reinforced in college and from the megaphones of the media,
Hollywood, and our elite universities. How thin is the line between
civilization and violent anarchy!”
It was
the Dems who created multi-generational wards of the state, yet never delivered
a better life to any of its captives, filling a reservoir of resentment, and
pent-up fury.
Instead
of safe neighborhoods, good schools, and a climate for businesses to thrive and
add jobs, the Dems ushered in wretched schools where union spoils are a higher
good than children’s futures, where small business entrepreneurs have to
compete with drug dealers on street corners, and no one is shielded from
gunfire.
Where
vermin infested apartments are better than living on the streets, barely.
Where
police officers and firefighters don a bulletproof vest before responding to a
call. Where corrupt mayors and city councils loot their constituents’ meager
take-home remains, to pay for second homes and obscene wardrobes.
And
now the good citizens who endured such prolonged humility and depravation,
especially small business owners who just wanted a chance -- a puncher’s chance
against all odds -- have seen their sweat equity, a tiny bit of tangible
reward, up in flames as Dem mayors and governors talk of the sanctity of
protest voices even as some use violence as their medium, while watching their
cities burn to the ground.
Yes,
the Dems are directly responsible, and the rest of us would be complicit in
denial, or in soft-pedaling the obvious.
"Progressive Democrats are incapable of keeping
their people safe," he said, "because they
have criminal-friendly policies that are pathetic, that are
dangerous, and now we are seeing the results not only there [in
Minneapolis], but watch the cities that start burning.
"They are all going to be run by so-called
progressives, idiot Democrats who let criminals out of jail, who
set bail for murderers and encourage exactly this kind of
thing."
As John Wohstetter points out from The
American Spectator “ When you reward bad behavior, expect more of it”
Wohlstetter chronicles
the inept and incoherent responses to riots in the late 1960s to the 1990s from
which we have learned nothing.
“Detroit 1967-- five days of violence,
with more than 40 fatalities and more than one thousand injured. …It was the
worst rioting in America since the 1863 New York City draft riots, not to be
exceeded in scale until the 1992 Rodney King riots (LA 1992)…
“Detroit and Newark
(also 1967—four days of violence 26 deaths, over 700 injured) never recovered
from the destruction of 1967. Washington, D.C. never fully recovered from the
riots after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King…
“And in 1991
NYC Mayor
David Dinkins took a “let off steam” approach, as black rioters marched through
the streets of Crown Heights shouting “Heil Hitler!” as they assaulted Jews,
after a rabbi’s car accidentally struck two children, killing one. A rabbinical
student — a student guest from Australia, a more civilized place than was New
York City in 1991 — was stabbed to death. “
The false narratives
endorsed and disseminated by Democrat politicians and the press about the
Baltimore police and Freddie Gray, George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin, the
Ferguson police and Michael Brown endure against truth tellers consigned to the
shadows.
Dems stood aside while
dozens of their neighborhoods were firebombed, businesses destroyed, cities
ravaged --- activated by Democrat mayors and their states attorneys, county and
city DAs whose selective readings of criminal statutes emboldened and
offered safe harbor to unrepentant violent criminals and revolutionary
anarchists -- all supported by Obama’s radical communist community
organizer sympathies, who vilified Tea Party patriots while beatifying Occupy
Wall Street deconstructionists.
The Democrats have
successfully disintegrated decency and civility, re-shaping society.
Lawlessness, anarchy, random violence, and destruction of private property
frames their new normal. Imposing nihilist tyranny of the majority as a
substitute for a constitutional process in resolving competing political
visions, punishing victims while cheering criminals, are all standard- issue
Dem behaviors, unconditionally underwritten by the MSM and purveyors of social
media.
And so, we have the likes
of David Gergen, establishmentarian, onetime advisor to four presidents, now a
political analyst for CNN, lamenting that AG Barr’s plea for returning to “law
and order” was a dog whistle, harkening to the civil rights days in the South,
having no place in the present discourse.
Clueless Minneapolis
Mayor Jacob Frey issued this pee-on-the-ashes nonsense while his city was
ablaze:
“The
City encourages everyone to exercise caution to stay safe while participating
in demonstrations, including wearing masks and physical distancing as much as
possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19,”
All of America’s most
important cities from NYC to LA, to Chicago, to Seattle, to Boston, to Chicago,
to Minneapolis, to St Louis, to Houston to San Francisco, to Washington DC,
Baltimore, and Philadelphia are run now, and for the most part have been for last
half-century, by Democrats, are to some degree in ruin, ungovernable.
Covid-19 is a sideshow
compared to the takeover of American urban life by the malignant Democrats, as
they champion the house arrest of everyday innocent and healthy Americans,
while reopening America to the erstwhile underworld, now mainstream
practitioners of despoiling all that is good.
The Illusion of 'Peaceful Protestors'
The
rioting is all about politics, not justice.
June 2, 2020
Bruce
Thornton
Bruce Thornton is a Shillman Journalism
Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
Last week we watched the sorry
spectacle of aimless destruction supposedly in response to the death of a black
man at the hands of the police. The predictable script from Ferguson and
Baltimore was reprised, the same bumper-sticker empty slogans brandished, and
the same pointless destruction and looting occurred that were worse than
useless for solving the injustice the protestors supposedly want remedied.
Just as predictable was the media
coverage, which mixed ratings-bait lurid footage of the violence with clichés
like “peaceful protestors,” youthful passionate idealists moved by righteous
anger over racial injustice, but compromised by “outside agitators” exploiting the
tragedy for their own nefarious extremist ends, most likely alt-right and white
supremacist ones. And, of course, the blue-state mayors and governors
whose appeasing riot-control protocols worsened
the riots while frantically trying to avoid blame and exploit them for their
own political aims.
What is missing, as usual, is the
truth about these protests and their alleged causes––They’re all about
politics, not justice.
One thing that is obvious from
watching the footage is that these riots have become a rite of passage for the
college-age demographic, a sort of “woke” spring break memorialized by
cell-phone cameras, selfies, tweets, Instagram, and Facebook postings. The other
cohort comprises the shock-troops of left-over leftism like Antifa, the same
bougie thrill-seekers and political illiterates who filled the ranks of Occupy
Wall Street and the other international outfits that regularly protest at
meetings of the IMF and G7. Young people, particularly young males, are
naturally drawn to vandalism and posturing, and these “protests” give them
ample opportunities to preen before the international press. And who doesn’t
like some free stuff looted from stores? Isn’t all property “theft” anyway?
More recently, the cause du jour has
been the alleged racist killings of young black men by the police, which
spawned Black Lives Matter. This canard has been exploded repeatedly by scholars
analyzing FBI and DOJ homicide data. But facts are irrelevant when it comes to
the “truth,” as Joe Biden made clear last year when he said “we choose truth
over facts.” The lie’s purpose is really to keep alive the idea of the
indelible racism manifested now in “systemic racism” and “implicit bias.” These
vague ideas are in fact confessions that real racism––obvious in Jim Crow laws,
legal segregation, daily violence and humiliation, lynchings, and riots––is
negligible today. Thus any pretext, no matter how specious or even false, must
be promoted and exploited to keep “racism” and victimization alive. It is the
mechanism victim-based identity politics relies on to gain political leverage,
and keep the racialist grievance-industry factories humming.
So every time a black man is killed
by the police, even if, unlike the current tragedy, it is justified, as it was
in Ferguson, the race industry hacks and hustlers congregate like vultures to
feast on the dead. After all, such relatively rare shootings are one of those
“crises” the left never let go to waste. That’s why the “peaceful protestors”
cliché is dubious. First, despite the rote adjective “peaceful,” most of them
are willing to act as buffers between the police and the thugs who hurl rocks
and bottles, burn cars, and loot businesses. The “peaceful protestors” and Antifa
are two brigades in the same army, and there’s no more ideological difference
between the two than there is between Hamas’s terrorist and political wings.
Next, their youthful “passion”
and “idealism” don’t cut any ice. Nazis and Bolsheviks were passionate
idealists too. What counts is what you are passionate about. Passionate protest
predicated on a lie, whether it’s Jewish treachery or racist cops murdering
innocent blacks, in the end serves evil rather than good.
Finally, the idea that these “peaceful
protestors” should be given the benefit of the doubt because they are trying to
effect “change” and promote “justice” is equally bogus. First, even if they are
sincere, as no doubt some are, they are protesting against a crime that is
relatively rare. It is juvenile utopianism to expect that out of nearly a
million police officers in the U.S., there won’t be a few bullies or psychos.
Thus given the 50-60 millions of encounters between police and civilians every
year, it is equally childish to expect none will not result in abuse of
authority. Of course, police departments should be held accountable for their
hiring, training, and accountability protocols, but they can’t keep out every
potential abuser.
Second, as we’ve already noted, the
crime they are protesting is rare. If black lives really “matter,” all this
“passionate anger” should instead be directed towards the shameful toll of dead
black men every year, 6200 in 2019, the overwhelming majority at the hands of
other blacks. This is the real crisis, one that the black establishment elites
in government, popular culture, and media shamefully ignore. The reason is
obvious: black-on-black crime doesn’t advance the politically and fiscally
profitable narrative of white “racism.”
Nor will the “legacy of racism”
determinist argument work. It ignores the significant improvement in most black
lives since World War II, and the role in weakening black families and
communities in the Sixties played by progressive Great Society
redistributionist entitlements, changes in sexual mores, the decline of
faith, and the whole “if it feels good, do it” ethos––all of which were
promoted and celebrated by the left. Better stick to manufactured crises and
fantasies like “implicit bias.”
Finally, as Ross Douthat pointed out last Sunday (amidst his usual
irrelevant NeverTrump clichés), disorganized violent protests have been shown
to be counterproductive, achieving the opposite of the protestors’ alleged
aims. Summarizing the research of Princeton political scientist Omar Wasow,
Douthat writes:
Looking at data from the civil rights
era, Wasow argues that “proximity to black-led nonviolent protests increased
white Democratic vote-share whereas proximity to black-led violent protests
caused substantively important declines” — enough to tip the 1968 election from
Hubert Humphrey to Nixon. More broadly, in news coverage and public opinion
from those years, nonviolent protests (especially in the face of segregationist
violence) increased support for civil rights, while violent protests tipped
public opinion away from the protesters, and toward a stronger desire for what
Nixon called law and order, and Wasow calls “social control.”
Scenes of vandalism and violence such
as those broadcast last week, and the destruction of businesses and
neighborhoods, some of them black, will likely have a similar effect,
contributing nothing to the protestors’ alleged purposes, and more likely
turning more and more ordinary voters against them. After all, Derek Chauvin,
the cop who leaned on George Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes while Floyd pleaded for
help, has been charged with 3rd degree murder, as well as being
fired along with three other officers. It’s not clear what more the protestors
want done.
Of course, Chauvin could be
acquitted, which would indeed be a miscarriage of justice. And if that should
happen, we will no doubt see the same violence from last week replayed. But
if––a big “if”–– there are sincere “peaceful protestors” who want to
demonstrate against that verdict, they’ll avoid last week’s carnival of
vandalism and looting. They will look to the protests of the Civil Rights
movement, and organize a march in which clergy, politicians, and other civic
leaders and adults participate with solemn dignity and decorum, and with
specific proposals for avoiding such an outcome. But gathering a crowd of
slovenly, entitled overgrown teenagers––mixed in with thuggish punks who
somehow can afford to travel around vandalizing and looting–– will harden most
citizens’ antipathy to such spoiled ingrates and their specious pretexts.
Of course, that’s all improbable
speculation. The point of these violent protests is not to effect change. It is
to generate disorder and leverage more power for the left, and more immediately
to damage Donald Trump, who of course is already being blamed for Floyd’s death
and the subsequent riots. That death is being demeaned by the progressives who
are adding it to their long, dishonest indictment of Trump.
That’s what happens when a political
party has nothing to offer any voters not already enlisted as its
client––photogenic “crises” are created as a diversion from a bankrupt platform
and a senile candidate. The “peaceful protestors” are either willing
participants in this political theater, or useful dupes.
The Black and White of
'Systemic Racism'
If
you’re going to champion a cause, have the good grace or basic intelligence to
push one that is not so easily undermined by reality... like “systemic racism.” At last check, we’re
more than 50 years removed from “colored-only” anything; television commercials
would have us believe that inter-racial couples are the rule today; and,
diversity/inclusion is a lucrative industry and that’s on top of affirmative
action. In short, there has never been a better time to be black in America.
Until a few months ago, there was never a better time to be black and employed
in America.
Then
came the death of George Floyd, which was universally condemned. That point
cannot be repeated often enough. No one supported the officer whose name won’t
be mentioned here. In the ensuing outcry over Floyd’s death, however, many more
black men were killed, by the people doing the protesting. These further
black deaths have largely gone ignored because they cannot be squared with
claim of systemic racism -- they cannot be rationalized at all. Forget the
concept of “all lives matter;” it’s apparent that not even all black lives matter. Unless a
cop is involved and facts don’t matter then, either.
Not
only is ‘systemic racism’ grossly inaccurate, so is the claim that law
enforcement officers seek out and target black citizens. No one told Tony Timpa that being white
carried special privileges when he encountered cops. Or Daniel Shaver. In fact, the Shaver
case was so egregious even the Atlantic couldn’t ignore it
and to publication’s credit, it also noticed the elephant in the living room:
“The case hasn’t attracted the higher degree of
attention from the press, the public, or policing-reform activists, partly
because…. the cop and the dead man were both white, rendering the killing less
controversial than one possibly animated by racism.”
Less
controversial... A cute euphemism for “not politically expedient.’ As for the
underlying claim of disparate treatment of minorities by law enforcement, a
study from Michigan State published last year
reports that the mythology of racist cops does not match the reality. It
doesn’t even come close. If anything, black citizens are more likely to be shot
by cops who are black, and if there is a causal link, it’s the volume of
violent crime that occurs in any jurisdiction. Simply put, more crime usually
equals more shootings. And yet, the talking point of ‘systemic racism’ has
taken hold like a prairie fire that refuses to be doused by any volume of
contrary facts or evidence.
At
the same time, a combination of self-flagellation and self-congratulations is
emanating from white leftists eager to atone, or give the appearance of
atoning, for their lack of melanin while also getting their woke on, as if
there is a contest to see who can preen the loudest. It’s what a friend of mine
terms “pathological altruism,” the paternalistic conceit of the left that is
built on the belief that black people can only advance and succeed when guided
by the benevolent hand of progressive America.
For
an ever-so-brief moment, there was something on which we all agreed: the
cops in Minneapolis were in the wrong. Unity, of course, is offensive to many
in the political and pundit class, so the cohesion had to be ripped asunder and
few things create division as effectively as race. Was that even a factor here?
Maybe, but given the number of complaints against this officer, it is plausible
that color doesn’t even register with him, that he is a sociopath with a badge
and gun, and woe unto the person who falls within his crosshairs. Which speaks
to an actual problem, that of far too many law enforcement agencies protecting
officers who do not deserve it.
For
several years now, the Washington Post has kept a running database of fatal force
incidents involving lawmen and civilians. The numbers are available in literal
black and white for any interested party to peruse. About half of the people
shot and killed are white, but the proportion of blacks relative to total
population is higher.
There
are two other factors that are often sidestepped: the incidents that
generate publicity tend to occur in blue cities where unfettered Democrat rule
has been the norm for decades. Secondly, when the elected class passes one law
after another, someone has to enforce the rules. In 2016, after five of
his officers were killed as Black Lives Matter was announcing its presence,
the Dallas police chief noted that societal
failures from bad schools to single-parent homes to inadequate mental health
are dumped in the laps of cops. When the number of interactions between cops and
citizens increases, and in tense situations, the odds of an interaction ending
badly also rises. Yet, the same people behind the laws, the policies, and the
increased contact keep being re-elected.
The
reality is that there are genuine issues to address: too many laws, one-party
rule that kills any incentive for change among the political class, and the
blue wall that instantly surrounds any cop found in a tight spot. We all
understand the presumption of innocence, but that depends on the evidence at
hand and too often, it appears rogue cops go unpunished. Each of these factors
is color-blind, which may be the ultimate problem. It hints at a unity of
purpose among different people, and there are too many whose power rests in
perpetuating division.
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