When a Just Cause Becomes Unjust

Statue of George Washington toppled by Portland protesters (The Hill)

Not every black person is a saint. Which is also true about white people. Trash exists in both communities. I for one think that there is way too much tolerance in society for both. It is important to discriminate that way instead of discriminating based on race.  Unfortunately we have a history of the latter rather than the former. And that has caused somewhat of a backlash among liberals who extend sympathy where it does not belong.

American history is rife with racism. Black people are treated differently than white people in identical situations. Which can and sometimes become deadly for black people. It is unfair and unjust. But real. That is the way it is and has been for  as long as I can remember. It s more than time that we no longer tolerate that as a society. We must once and for all be color blind to all human beings and judge them on the content of their character instead of the color of their skin. 

But what seems to be happening now is that a liberal backlash is ignoring black criminals - seeing all black suspects as victims. Police trying to do their jobs are probably more reluctant than ever to pursue a black criminal for fear of being painted as racist by the liberal mainstream media if something happens to them

That doesn’t mean that some cops aren’t racist and still treating black suspects unjustly. However, as I often say, there are probably a lot more good cops that wouldn’t do that. But now they fear the consequences which enables black criminals more freedom to break the law.

There is also the matter or where some of these protests are going. It is one thing to tear down the Confederate flag seen all over the South. The so called ‘heritage’ that some Southern whites see in that flag – denying the racism has anything to do with that flag - is in reality a denial of what the Confederacy was all about. Which for the South was about the retention of slavery. The ‘States’ Rights’ they claim to have been fighting for was really only about one right. To own slaves and treat them as property instead of as human beings.

For that reason I can also understand why other symbols of the Confederacy are being torn down. Statues of people celebrated for fighting for the right to own black people as slaves must be a painful thing to see.

But what about tearing down statues of other American icons? Some of our founding father had slaves. Washington and Jefferson among them. Do we now just see them slaveholders and nothing else?

Of course they were wrong to enslave fellow human beings. But there was a lot more about them than that. First their salves were not mistreated the way most Southern slave owners are depicted in American literature and entertainment. Furthermore if not for the vision of the founding fathers, America would not exist as we know it. The freedoms we all now enjoy protected by the constitution would not exist either. It is easy to say from our 21^st century perspective that the founding fathers were racist. But to see them only in that light does injustice to all the good they did in creating a society as free and as strong as ours.

It is true that blacks were not included in their ideals. But those very ideals ultimately gave black people the same rights as whites. We eventually evolved culturally and ethically to see slavery for what it really was and abolished it. The Civil War led to the Emancipation Proclamation. And about 100 years later to the Civil Rights Act. 

That it hasn’t eliminated the racism is also true. But it is an ideal in which all good people believe even if we do not all live up to it yet. All made possible by the founding fathers who that dreamed a dream of freedom for all. And made a country out of it.

Unfortunately you can’t legislate how people think. All you can do is try to educate them over time and legislate laws to protect people vulnerable to racial prejudice. Meanwhile since the over 150 years since slavery was abolished - racism still exists. That is what the current protests are all about. And that is what good people are trying to change – at least as far as the law and its execution goes.

That does not mean we look the other way and overlook some of the bad things being done in the name of racial justice. You cannot allow the anti racism spirit of the times blind you to the people trying to destroy America we all know and love. These are Leftists that hate America. They should be treated accordingly. Not indulged because of their color.

Unfortunately the mainstream media is turning a blind eye to all of that, reporting on it without comment. It is true that in the ideal, journalistic integrity demands objectivity without comment. But that does not mean that once the facts are reported, that no one should comment on them. And yet I have not heard a single word by any mainstream commentator saying how disgusting tearing down statues of American icons like Washington and Jefferson are. Which by their silence implies agreement. 

This is the state of our mainstream media now. Overcompensating for all past racism by refusing to call out evil when a black man - or the Leftist white radicals that joins them - does it. And to seemingly justify all of the damage and destruction in the name of justice for blacks. I would hope that saner faces among liberals (black or white) would speak up and condemn it as strongly as they condemn racism. Doing the right things means being colorblind in both directions.

Criminals are criminals. We should not give a pass to a black criminal out of guilt about past injustices. That is unjust and hurts us all.