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| Howard Beale - from the 1976 film, Network |
There is absolutely no excuse for this. The people that did this are violent criminals. This was not a ‘black lives matter’ issue. Although I am absolutely sure that that was the excuse they used. It is quite clear that this was an organized attack.
I’m not sure what generated this. But Police Superintendent David Brown suggested it was generated by a police involved shooting yesterday of a black man with a record of arrests for a variety of violent acts. He shot at the police and they returned fire - hitting him. He survived and is in the hospital. No police were hurt. That was a righteous shoot by police defending themselves. But that didn’t stop a group of black people congregating in the neighborhood where this happened from and accusing the police of yet another ‘George Floyd’ event. Then came midnight and this happened.
What began a few months ago as a justifiable movement to protest racism has now given way to a violent rampage using what happened yesterday as an excuse . Looting is not a protest. It a crime. But I am sure that they wanted the world to think that this was a from of a ‘black lives matter’ protest. (Some of them may have actually believed that.)
There is a lot of blame to go around here. Not the least of which belongs to the mainstream media. They have been focusing solely on the issue of racist cops.. Rarely do they report a case where the police had a justified shooting. The message is pretty obvious. There is systemic racism in this country and all violence is a outgrowth of that. That has led many liberals to demand defunding all police departments. Which the city council of Minneapolis has voted to do. And other cities actively considering it.
The police have been emasculated – weakened and demoralized. They are unable to enforce the law effectively, lest they be accused of racism.
For their part Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot and Superintendent Brown have declared the looters to be guilty of a felony crime. They will be apprehended The police will seek out these criminals and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Nice words. I just hope the judicial habit of revovng door justice will no longer take place.
If there is anything that might change the outcome of the next election, this might be it. Although Trump’s ‘funeral’ has all but been assured, that prediction may be a bit premature. His ‘Law and Order’ approach may be more appealing now than ever. especially to what has been called the silent majority.
The silent majority are people that do not tend to protest of hold rallies. They live their lives quietly and honestly. They are the hard working middle class and appreciate what this great country has given them - a standard of living that is the envy of the world. These are Americans with great values and understand that there is racism in this country. They are opposed to it and acknowledge that it needs to be eradicated.
But they also realize the absolute necessity of law enforcement. Without which - begets lawlessness and anarchy. We have been getting a taste of this in some parts of the country over the last few months. The latest of which was early this morning in Chicago.
The silent majority is not exclusively white. The vast middle class includes a significant number of black people. I am absolutely convinced that they are just as appalled at what is happening as I am. They do not want to see the city torn apart and their lives upended.
There are also a great many poor black people that are just as honest and just as upset by this. These are the ones whose young children are shot almost daily by violent gang members - right in their own neighborhoods. They are saying ‘What about us?!’ ‘Yes – there is racism that needs to be dealt with.’ ‘But our babies are being killed by our own people’. ‘Why can’t the police protect us?’
I think the answer is obvious. The focus is by liberal politicians and the media is not on them. It is on police racism.
Is there a root cause of the problem? Of course there is. Poverty can force a lot of people to take desperate measures. Some of which might be illegal. Especially when so many of them are out of work because of the pandemic. Why are so many black people so impoverished? There is not a simple answer to that. It is true that some of it is due to the historic racism - both overt and subtle. How to fix that is a huge and controversial subject - which is way beyond the scope of this post. But one thing is certain. That is no excuse to become a violent criminal.
Meanwhile - it is time for the silent majority to stop being so silent. Especially those among us that are black. We need to have massive rallies all over the country in support of the police. The message should be one that supports the rule of and supports the police who enforce it. The police have to be shown that they are appreciated. Not shunned. It should be led by city politicians. Especially those that are black. The vast majority of this country needs to be heard. A majority that includes the black middle class.
What about the black lives matter protests? Yes, we must eradicate all forms of racism. But the greatest racism of all is ignoring the lives of innocent black people whose children are being killed by some of their own people. And practically ignoring them is what the media seems to be guilty of.
I firmly believe that Middle America is upset. They see our values and institutions under attack. They see lawlessness taking hold. At the risk of sounding like Howard Beale, I think it is time for us to get up and say. ‘We are not going to take it anymore!’ In this case it is not an insane thing to do.
I have no way of organizing this. But there are community activists – both black and white - all across the land that I am sure support the police. They are probably tired of the police being vilified. The police put their lives on the line every day to assure that our society remains one of law and order. A system that needs to be rectified should not be abolished or demoralized. It needs to be fully suppoted.
If that doesn’t happen, the rabble rousers will keep doing things like this every excuse they get. And that might be the end of America as we know it. We must never allow that to happen!
