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| Mug shot of murder suspect, Derek Chaven (National Review) |
Is there any way former Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin can
get a fair trial? If there is I’d like to know how. The grim video of Chauvin,
a white cop murdering Geroge Floyd,a black suspect is pretty damning evidence. I
have no doubt that a jury of his peers will correctly convict him of 2nd
degree murder.
But how in heaven’s name can a jury be selected that is not
aware of this video, or the massive black lives matter protests it generated? Protests
that have been ongoing now for 3 weeks after that video was first seen by the
public!
Is there anyone alive that has not seen it? Or is not aware of
what it generated? Is even possible that a jury can convene that will assume
Chuavin is innocent until proven guilty? I don’t think it’s possible. It may be
true that justice will ultimately be served by finding him guilty. But it won’t
be because of an impartial jury of his peers. Which is one of the bedrock
principles of this country.
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| Confederate flag |
Now that I got that out of the way, there is another thing I have been thining about. The current
obsession of ridding symbols of racism in this country. Like public displays
of the Confederate flag and statues of Confederate generals. And changing the names of military bases – named for some of those generals
Black people want those things gone. And they are essentially
right. I can’t imagine what it must be
like to constantly see a flag that symbolizes the pro slavery South of the past.
The glorification via a statue of Robert E. Lee who led a
Confederate army that fought to retain slavery must be very hurtful to a black
person. There are those who argue that Lee was not a slaveholder and was not
personally racist. That his fight was only about states’ rights.
But it doesn’t matter. Lee knew which rights the Confederacy
was fighting for and he should have refused to serve in that goal. No matter
how he felt about his beloved home, Richmond. I had always wondered why history
books were so kind to him because of that. It is time to stop giving honor to
Lee and any other Confederate general. Letting these symbols stand is surely
hurtful to black people whose ancestors were salves and horribly mistreated in
the Antebellum South.
All existing statues of Confederate generals should be
removed, put into a Civil War museum, and placed in proper historic context without
any glorification.
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| Statue of Robert E.Lee (NPR) |
To best understand how it feels to see statues of great
generals that fought for an ignoble cause - imagine what it would be like for a
Jew currently living in Germany to constantly see the statues of Nazi Germany’s
generals. Even those that were not involved in the extermination of the Jewish
people but were simply brilliant field generals that won many battles. Maybe they
were not personally antisemitic. But that
they had loyalty to the ‘Fatherland’ despite what was happening to Germany’s Jews shows an appalling lack of ethics and morality. Just as Lee should have refused
to serve the Confederacy, so too should these German generals have refused to
serve a country committing genocide. Paying tribute to them in any capacity is both wrong and
hurtful.
I am somewhat conflicted, however about changing the names
of army bases named for Confederate generals. Not because I want to glorify
those generals. But because those military bases have a great legacy and are
well known by those names.
Because of the fact that hardly anyone knew they were named for Confederate
generals - maybe we lose more than we gain by changing their names? The legacy of a military
base will be obscured once we change the name. I honestly don’t know whether
the ‘cure’ is worse than the ‘disease’. This might just be a case of overkill. Or
not. I don’t know.
As important removing those symbols are, it ought to be
secondary to the real problem plaguing the black community. Their economic situation.
No one seems to be talking about that. Symbolism will not materially help a single a
black family.
What will help them is more jobs. Until the pandemic that
situation improved to the point of an unprecedentedly low unemployment rate. In
the short term America needs to get that back. How we do that is the $64
question. But it needs to somehow be done.
In the long term, the educational paradigm ought to be
expanded so that in addition to a much needed improvement in the academic side
of the public schools system, there ought to be a vocational option for students
and parents to choose from. A choice that can be achived via some sort of
voucher program. The choice of an academic or a vocational school ought to be
made available to all public school students. Not just those I the inner city.
Black entrepreneurship needs to be strengthened Black entrepreneurs
need capital to invest in business ventures. Banks have been notoriously
reluctant to lend black entrepreneurs who
want to invest it black neighborhoods.
This has to be changed. And that kind of change can best
happen if the police are strengthened. Not weakened. What makes bank reluctant
to invest in inner city neighborhoods is the gang violence so rampant in them.
Law enforcement needs to rid those neighborhoods of those gangs and the
violence they bring to it.
The problem is that because of the racism inherent in some
white cops and the unjustified deaths of so many black suspects because of it -
it will be harder than ever to accomplish that. As I have said in the last, the
only solution in my view is to implement national standards of color blind policing
now being considered by congress. That will help to prevent racism of any kind
to influence how cops treat black suspects. There must be a police force. Or the
inner city gangs win. And black people living in them will continue to lose.
Even though this is all somewhat of a pipe dream, I think it
is still the right dream if we are to live up to what America can and should be.
