Tag Archive for: riots

Endless Racial Discord

When I look back at the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, I marvel at how naïve I was that the passage of major legislation was going to “solve” the problem of discord between the white and black race.

On May 3, the Wall Street Journal reported on a survey regarding racial disturbances around the nation such as those that wracked Baltimore. “A resounding 96% of adults surveyed said it was likely there would be additional racial disturbances this summer…” To nobody’s surprise, blacks and whites “viewed the situation differently.”

“Asked to choose between two possible explanations for recent events, 60% of blacks said they reflected ‘long-standing frustrations about police mistreatment of African-Americans.’” Some 27% of black respondents said they thought the disturbances were caused by people as an excuse “to engage in looting and violence.” I favor the latter explanation because I doubt that our nation’s police forces engage in deliberate harassment and mistreatment of blacks.

Indeed, Baltimore has a back Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a black police chief, and many blacks among his force. If the issue was the police, then no city in America is safe and that is just not so. Unfortunately, the foolishness of Baltimore’s Mayor, who told the force to stand down and let the rioters have their way, was then demonstrated by her request that the Department of Justice (DOJ) launch an investigation of the city’s police force.

The problem with that is that the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has only fifty employees responsible for handling labor-intensive ‘pattern or practice’ investigations among the nation’s 18,000 state and local forces. There is no way the Baltimore investigation will produce anything of useful information. It is far more likely that the outcome will be more political than demonstrative of trends.

What is generally not being noticed is that the Obama administration, as reported in Politico.com on May 8, “has opened more than twenty such investigations into local law enforcement agencies “most of which result in either a settlement agreement with local officials or a lawsuit that pushes legally binding reform.”

AA - Obama and Sharpton (1)I have come to the view that the most racially divisive leader in America is our first African-American President. Why else has Rev. Al Sharpton become his most widely recognized “adviser” and why are administration figures are less likely to be found honoring fallen police officers than the alleged black victims? Three were sent to Freddie Gray’s funeral and none to the funeral of the slain police officers. The First Lady, too, has been stirring up racial discord.

Referring to the Baltimore riot, he said that “we as a nation have to do some soul-searching” when as William McGurn of The Wall Street Journal noted the trillions spent on liberal programs, personified by LBJ’s “War on Poverty”, have not succeeded in reducing poverty and have contributed to creating whole populations that live off of government handouts of one sort or another.

“While the Great Society’s billions were creating a culture of dependency,” said McGurn, “South Korea—with its emphasis on trade and global competition—rose from the ashes of a terrible war to become the world’s 12th largest economy.” This occurred over the same time period the liberal dependency programs and liberal governance of many U.S. cities created the problem we are addressing and discussing today.

Nor is the answer for the federal government to take over the management of the nation’s police forces. We have already seen how it has ruined the educational system and is now doing the same to our health system.

Are their differences between whites and blacks? Yes, but they are economic. Middle and upper class blacks share the outlook of their white counterparts. They look at the inner cities and they understand that decades of liberal governance has driven out businesses large and small, along with anyone who could afford to leave. Yes, there was “white flight”, but they were joined by blacks who saw there was no future to be had there for their children. The rest are trapped.

So, will there be more riots and disturbances in our cities this summer? Yes, that would appear to be the case. So long as police are not allowed to take action against the instigators and perpetrators, that is a given.

Not until this nation returns to the high levels of respect for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day will we see a cessation of such events. My experience and the nation’s over the past six decades is an indication that some pundit will be holding forth on this topic six decades from now…only it will be worse.

© Alan Caruba, 2015

Dear Baltimore Family and Friends: Y’all Bein’ Played!

Dear Family and Friends,

Though you have not confronted me or organized an intervention, I know many of you do not understand why I dislike Obama, vote Republican and joined the Tea Party. Y’all think, Obama is black, we’re black – so, what is my problem?

Dad told me that grandmother, 101 years old when she passed, cried when Obama was elected. I get that and totally understand. Still, I could not go brain-dead and hop on the elect-the-first-black-president bandwagon. As a matter of fact, I was stunned by how alone I was in considering who Obama was as a candidate and what he planned to do if elected.

Democrats and the media sold Obama as America’s Great Black Hope. They protected him by hiding Obama’s anti-American friends and writings.

I learned that Obama is another standard “liberal” Democrat con artist, only more extreme; sure to continue the Democrats screwing of black folks.

For those unfamiliar with political terms, in a nutshell, “liberals” are those who believe that man can perfect himself and is capable of controlling everything. Ninety-nine percent of the time, liberals reject God’s laws and question His existence. “Conservatives” tend to be God fearing (reverencing) folks. I’m a conservative Republican.

Liberal Democrats have played blacks for over 50 years. Obama is simply their latest front man, brilliantly covered in a black skin disguise.

Now, before you go off on me, calling me an Uncle Tom and worse, please hear me out.

The recent Baltimore riots perfectly illustrate my point. Rioters expressed anger over high black unemployment, poor schools and poverty. Well guess who has controlled Maryland politics for the past 50 years? Liberal Democrats. And yet, they still keep playin’ blacks with their standard lie – vote for us and we’ll fix everything with our programs and block racist Republicans from keepin’ y’all down and lynching you.

Meanwhile, there hasn’t been one Republican in sight in Maryland for 50 years in a position to affect anything. And yet, all the problems liberal Democrats promised to fix have gotten worse. Y’all been played. Also, how long will y’all fall for their lie that the lack of jobs is Bush’s fault? Obama has been president for six years. Y’all bein’ played!

Aunt Bummie and four of her five sons were on welfare their entire lives. Theirs was a fatherless household. Only Poochie (Lawrence) her eldest remarkably worked his way through college. Aunt Bummie and four of her sons died early.

Sleeping over from time to time, at 9 or 10 years old, I felt the depressed vibe of their household and knew their lives were tragic. I felt sorry for them. I felt their envy of my dad living with us.

When President Reagan tried to wean folks off of total government dependency, Democrats and their media buddies told blacks that Reagan was a racist mean old white man who hated blacks. That was another lie.

Don’t get me wrong, a government safety net is fine. But, addicting people to cradle to grave welfare is evil; robbing folks of pursuing their God given gifts and potential. Liberal Democrats hope to get as many folks as possible hating the rich and hooked on welfare to keep the masses voting Democrat.

A friend ranted about mean Republicans in congress cutting food stamps for the poor. Another Democrat lie. After six years of Obama, more folks than ever are receiving food stamps (over 47 million).

Remarkably, a third of the country is out of work. Many quit looking for jobs, deciding to ride Obama’s government gravy train. Come election day, they will vote Democrat. And guess who is hardest hit by Obama’s job killing policies? Black folks.

Here’s another Democrat scam. Democrats love to rant about evil Republican “draconian” cuts to welfare programs. Well, the truth is no program ever gets less money than it did the previous year. In Washington, a cut means congress will not give a program as much of an “increase” as first projected.

Despite Democrat control for 50 years and government programs out the ying yang, Baltimore blacks are suffering more than ever; high school dropouts, no jobs, still murdering each other, high out-of-wedlock births, poverty, high incarcerations and fatherless households. Even after spending trillions of taxpayer dollars fighting poverty since 1965, Democrats tell the poor and blacks they’re gettin’ screwed by rich white folks. They’re playin’ y’all.

Obama’s response to the Baltimore riots is typically liberal Democrat; more government programs and blaming Republicans.

Some of you will view Obama as your homey no matter what. It’s a black thing. I get it. But, Obama does not feel the same about you. If he did, Obama would not be flooding the country with uneducated poor illegals who suck up your welfare and your jobs. He only cares about creating new Democrat voters. He’s playin’ y’all.

Meanwhile, y’all say, what is up with Peanut (my childhood nickname)? He just “don’t” get it.

I pray that I have opened your eyes and that you will think twice before voting for another Democrat.

Love,

Lloyd (Jr.)

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American
Chairman, Conservative Campaign Committee

RELATED ARTICLE: Only 16% of Baltimore County teens grow up with both married parents – Washington Times

A Pox on Baltimore

Thanks to an infection and the antibiotics taken to rid myself of it, I have had several days of being able to do little more than watch the news on television, listen to it on the radio, and reading about it in my daily edition of The Wall Street Journal. If there was anything else happening in the world, you would not know it because it was 24-7 Baltimore, Baltimore, Baltimore.

Specifically, it was about the arrest and death of Freddie Gray, a known drug dealer and user with an extensive rap sheet. There are different descriptions of the manner of his death, but the details of the autopsy are still obscure beyond a reference to having received a blow to his spine. This is attributed to having been placed in the police van, shackled hand and foot, but not having a safety belt applied.

The response from a certain element of Baltimoreans was to begin to loot, vandalize and set fire to their own neighborhoods by way of protesting alleged police brutality. This followed his funeral on Monday. The Mayor’s response was to tell the police to stand down and let the protesters have their way. When that predictably did not work, the National Guard was called in and a curfew imposed.

Capping these events was the indictment of the six arresting officers by the State’s Attorney General, Marilyn Mosby that included charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter. That seemed to appease the mob that passes for Baltimore’s citizens.

I wish I could say I have sympathy for Freddie Gray and his family, but I don’t. I wish I could say that I feel sorry that Baltimore has been a state of decline and decay since the last riots in 1968, but no one asks why the trillions of dollars poured in comparable cities since the days of Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” hasn’t demonstrated any results.

I wish I could say that the connecting factor between Baltimore, Detroit, and other Democrat-controlled cities was the primary reason that their citizens suffer unemployment, why their children attend schools that fail to teach them even fundamental skills, but what has evolved in these distressed cities is a culture that does not emphasize the traditional family, demand better education, and replaces the work ethic with the “entitlement” check. The Baltimore mother who chastised her son to keep him from participating in the riot is single and has five other children.

These cities are daily crime scenes. The riot was a crime scene.

And who is accused of Freddie Gray’s death? Members of the Baltimore Police Force who initially spotted Gray, a 25 year old with a criminal record, and went to investigate what they had observed. He ran. They ran after him. That’s what we want and expect our police to do.

The indictment, a purely political act intended to quell the angry mood of those Baltimoreans who protested by committing crimes, is an attack on every police officer in America. Most are good men and women, but like any other profession, there are some bad ones. The legion of police who protect us do not go around murdering suspects indiscriminately.

Tell that to State Attorney Mosby. Then consider that Freddie Gray’s attorney, William H. Murphy, Jr. donated $5,000 to her campaign. Consider that her husband, Nick Mosby, is a Baltimore city councilman with lots of reason to see the riots quelled.

What these cities and the decades reaching back to the 1960s all represent is a vocal resentment of police authority. Back then they were called “pigs.” America has been drifting away from the traditional respect and regard we have had for our police.

The problem isn’t the police.

It’s liberal notion that raising taxes and heavily regulating businesses large and small will somehow attract them to our cities. It doesn’t work that way. Our cities have become great dumping grounds for people who interest the Democratic Party only around election time.

And that is a problem for the police. It will be a growing problem for everyone if we cannot return to a decent respect for our police.

So, for now, a pox on Baltimore and on all the politicians from the President on down who keep telling us the police are the problem, not the world of Freddie Gray’s roaming our city’s streets.

© Alan Caruba, 2015

Liberalism is on Trial in Baltimore

Baltimore and Ferguson, symbolically represent the failure of liberalism throughout the U.S. Liberalism has been weighed in the balances and has been found wanting. Liberalism has been tried in the court of public opinion and now it’s time for its public sentencing.

As I am fond of saying, when all is said and done, there’s more said than done. This is very appropriate for the crisis surrounding the city of Baltimore after the murder of Freddie Gray.

Have you noticed that with all these riots over the past year, the Black businessman has been totally invisible?  They know what it takes to deal with the pathologies that affect the Baltimores all over the country, but tragically no one ever reaches out to them.

Am I the only one that noticed the irony of Baltimore being the city where the national headquarters of the NAACP is located?  Did they not notice the unemployment rate in the Black community, or the teenage pregnancy rate, or the high school dropout rate, or the housing problems in Baltimore until Gray’s murder?

Isn’t it amazing that groups like the NAACP, the National Urban League, and the Congressional Black Caucus have spent more time promoting homosexuality, amnesty for illegals, and increasing the minimum wage than they have dealing with issues that directly affect the very communities they claim to represent?

In pondering the spate of deaths of unarmed Black males during the past year, there are some striking similarities that can’t be ignored.

You have had recent killings by the police of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Eric Garner in New York, Oscar  Grant in Oakland, Ezell Ford in Los Angeles and now Freddie Gray in Baltimore, just to name a few.

The common thread among all these cities is that they have been controlled by liberal Democrats for decades, both Black and White. In the case of Baltimore, you have not had an elected Republican mayor since 1967 and what’s even more ironic is current day Baltimore has a Black mayor, a Black police chief, a Black prosecutor, a black president of the city council, a Black congressman and an almost fifty percent Black police force; yet the Black unemployment rate in Baltimore among those 25-64 years of age is 41%.

According to the latest census: 25% of the residents of Baltimore live in poverty compared to the national average of 17%; 18% of Baltimore’s housing stock is vacant compared to the 13% national average.

It’s not about party, it’s about agenda. Most reasonable people would agree that the liberal approach to urban policy has been put on trial and has been found guilty in the court of public opinion.  Guilty of being an abject failure. So, doing more of the same is definitely not the solution.

The above indicators don’t just show up overnight; but rather are the culmination of gross negligence with malice aforethought. Remember, the core tenet of liberalism is intent; not results.

So, what was the liberal response to Baltimore?  It was very predictable, “we need more money spent in our communities.”  If money was the solution, then Baltimore would be a shining example of the virtues of liberalism.

They spend almost $ 15,000 per student for education, the second highest in the country; but yet remain near the bottom of every index for results (only 10% of Baltimore’s residents have a college degree).

Maryland is the wealthiest state in the country in terms of income according to the latest U.S. Census ($ 70,000 median household income). In 2007 and 2012 then governor and former Baltimore mayor, Martin O’Malley raised taxes on the wealthy and wondered why the wealthy started leaving the state.  In 2014, he then raised the minimum wage from $ 7.25/hr to $10.10/hr.

So, let me make sure I understand this liberal approach. Liberals want to further tax those who are generating all the jobs and paying the most into the state’s coffers; then they want to increase the cost of labor for those who have the least amount of education and skills; thereby guaranteeing that employers will hire fewer of them.

Baltimore, Ferguson, Oakland, etc., present a great opportunity for the Republican Party to speak directly to the Black community about Republican solutions to the pathologies that plague these communities.

The first thing the Republican Party, especially the congressional leadership, should do is meet with key Black businessmen.  In the Black community, the businessman is typically the head of the trustee board and the deacon board within the church.  So, if you get the businessman on your side, he will bring you the preacher and the congregation.

Under Obama, the Black business community has been devastated. The Wall Street Journal reported last year that under Obama, “1.7% of the $ 23 billion in SBA loans went to Black owned businesses in 2013,” the lowest level on record.  The Journal went on to report that under George W. Bush the rate was 8%.

The other issue that plays to the Republican’s strength is education. I have previously written about how Obama’s policies have decimated Black colleges.  Based on conservative estimates, HBCUs have lost $150 million in funding during his presidency and caused at least 28,000 students to drop out of school due to lack of money.

Why the Republicans don’t use their congressional majorities to address these issues is perplexing to me.

I have said before and I will say it again, Blacks are begging Republicans to give them a reason to vote for them.

Baltimore Rising

Over the past week, I have watched with amazement, wonderment, awe, and shock as the funeral of one rather dubious Mr. Gray resulted in the riots, burning, and pillaging of Baltimore, MD.

I was in greater amazement, wonderment, awe, and shock by the statements of that great American city’s Mayor. I won’t go into detail about what she said but I will paraphrase her in accuracy. She gave the rioters room to destroy and pillage. She is on record, on tape, on video as saying such. Even as she later denied having said such a thing, it is without question that even the greatest of ultra left wing nuts could not deny.

What is it with some citizens that they feel justified in releasing their supposed anger by destroying private and public property? How is it they feel they are fully justified in their rampage, their overt aggressive anger? Simply put. Liberalism.

You see, they have been told by the left for over 50 years that “the man” has kept them down. Kept them poor. Kept them destitute of all sense of worth and ability. That “man”, as it were, is none other than those with whom they feel an affinity. That “man”, as it were, who deftly parlayed a simple statement “war on poverty”, to full fledged slavery. Yes, I said slavery.

It’s a simple word that means a lot. And African Americans have bought into it, hook, line, and sinker. They bought the lie so much, so well, and internalized it so deeply that when they are faced with their oppressor, they act out by destroying their own neighborhoods. Neighborhoods in which their own family, friends and co-workers own businesses, property, homes, lives.

It means nothing to them once the evil that is called rage takes hold in their hearts and minds. Indeed, it consumes them down to their very core. I say that rage is due to the fact that they realize that they have been duped. Yet they cannot admit they have been duped by “the man” who is the left in this country. The left tells African Americans that it is the right that oppresses them. Keeps them down. Robs them of the very dignity that was once the hallmark of the African American community. For those who would argue against my statement, I say, tell me what was the African American community like before the liberals decided to “help”?

It was a proud, clean and, bright community. Even though before Civil Rights, we were treated like second class citizens. We were treated like dogs. Less than dogs. Our lives were worth less than dogs. And all of that was the direct result of the left. History cannot lie and it is still fresh.

Yet those same leftist liberals were able to dupe an entire ethnic group of people into believing they were their deliverer. Their savior. And with that, over the last 50 years, we saw a progressive destruction of the Black family, the Black pride, the Black community, the Black pride.

The left passes law after law. They instituted policy after policy that has left the Black community in shambles. The Black family is now virtually nonexistent. We see many of our men under the age of 30 dead or in jail. It was all by design. But the architect of this grand design was not a member of the right or conservative line. No. This was all ushered in by those on the left, of the liberal bent.

Blacks look for someone to blame other than themselves for the mess and sorrow and grief and poverty that infects our community. But they cannot yet bring themselves to blame those who are truly responsible. So instead they create a demon. That demon often are the very agents the left gave rise and power to. Our nation’s police.

Now to be fair, in most cases, it is not the fault of the police. Their job, their duty, is to enforce and uphold the law. The very law that the left have passed and instituted. In other words, the police are sworn to uphold the laws that cause the death of the black male at an early age, keep people in poverty, and show them on a daily basis that there is no hope at all. The laws put into action by the left. Yes, the left who said it was the right who is responsible for their plight.

So when they find that it is the left that is responsible, they find it hard to accept and swallow. So they do what humans have done since the dawn of civilization. They act out. They act out violently.

They see that great cities like Detroit, which have been ruled with an iron fist by the liberal left for decades are in total ruin. But they have been conditioned to think that it is the fault of “the man”. That “man” is always on the right. Never the left. Blacks may say, through Black leaders who have not earned the respect of their community but have taken it, that it is still the fault of the right even though they have lived their entire life under the rule, under the thumb of the left.

So when you cannot fight a phantom, when you cannot accept that you have been duped, hoodwinked, lied to, you act out. Violently. This is human nature.

So when we look at the events in Baltimore, we should not say these people are thugs. We should say that these people do not know where to turn because they have been lead down a path of self-destruction by those in whom they totally trusted. We should not pity them either. We should stand firm and shout, it was not the right who did this to you. It was the left and we have history to back it up. Education is our greatest weapon against oppression and lies. It always has been and always will be. Which is why the left has taken control of the educational system all over the nation. By spreading their lies and by covering up their guilt, they keep those who they wish to be enslaved on the plantation. So, if you do not want another Baltimore, another Los Angeles, and if you don’t want another innocent police officer demeaned, degraded, defamed, and belittled then you need to demand as well as act to take back our educational system and continue to teach the truth. Teach history. Teach fact.

But please do not denigrate those who are ignorant of the truth. It only serves to cement their false belief that the right is the monster in which they fight. Give them, instead, their true oppressor. Their true slave master. And when you have taught them well and true, watch as they do what slaves have done throughout history. Watch as they rise up and turn their anger to those who truly deserve it. Remember. Please remember. If nothing else, remember. Liberalism in this form is not a mental disorder. It is sinister, it is evil in its core. It is formed in the pits of hell itself and dispersed by the great Satan of lies and deceit. After all, we on the right know that liberals are the masters of deceit.

Remember that.

RELATED ARTICLES: 

Only 16% of Baltimore County Teens Grow Up with both a Father and Mother – Washington Times

Ex-Baltimore resident Ben Carson gives neurosurgeon’s take on Freddie Gray spinal injury

Gray family lawyer puts his foot in his mouth: War on drugs is a war on black people

EDITORS NOTE: The featured image is of a protester throwing a gas canister back at police during clashes at North and Pennsylvania avenues in Baltimore, April 28, 2015. Source: Reuters.

Black Anger: Who’s to Blame?

On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a black high school student from Miami, was shot to death during an unprovoked attack on neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old mixed-race Hispanic.  The incident occurred when Martin became concerned that his movements were being observed by a person or persons unknown.  When attacked, Zimmerman was awaiting the arrival of local police after having reported the presence of a suspicious-looking person passing through his neighborhood.

In the afternoon of July 17, 2014, on a sidewalk in Staten Island, New York, 43-year-old Eric Garner, a black man, was approached by police officers when he was observed selling individual cigarettes from packs without tax stamps, a violation of New York state law.  Garner complained about being “harassed,” and when an officer attempted to place handcuffs on him he slapped the officer’s hands away.  Garner, a very large man who suffered from asthma, struggled with five officers, during which time he was allegedly held in a chokehold for approximately 15 seconds.  Officers called for medical assistance but Garner expired an hour later of cardiac arrest.

Just before noon on August 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown, a 6 ft. 4 in. 292 lb. black man staged a strong-arm robbery of a convenience store in Ferguson, Missouri.  Minutes later, as he and an accomplice strolled down the middle of a local street, they were told to move to the sidewalk by a white 28-year-old Ferguson police officer, Darren Wilson.  When Brown refused and Wilson attempted to exit his police vehicle, Brown attacked him and attempted to take his firearm.  Brown ran away for a short distance, but then turned and charged the officer, during which time he was mortally wounded by several shots from the officer’s handgun.

On April 2, 2015, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a 44-year-old black man, Eric Harris, was a suspect in an investigation in which he allegedly arranged to sell a handgun to undercover officers of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.  As Harris attempted to evade arrest he was tackled and brought to the ground.  However, as he continued to resist arrest he was shot in the back by 73-year-old Robert C. Bates, a white Tulsa County reserve deputy, who mistakenly retrieved his Smith & Wesson revolver while attempting to reach for his Taser.

On April 8, 2015, in North Charleston, South Carolina, a white police officer, Michael Slager, stopped a Mercedes sedan with a broken tail light driven by a 50-year-old black man, Walter Scott.  Slager ordered Scott to remain in his vehicle; however, as Slager ran a radio check on Scott for outstanding warrants, Scott exited his vehicle and fled.  When he refused to stop, Officer Slager pulled his Taser and fired at Scott.  When that failed to stop him, Slager pulled his handgun and fired eight shots, mortally wounding Scott.

At 8:40 AM on April 12, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland, 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a black man, was injured when he attempted to elude police.  As Gray was being taken to a police van he would not, or could not, walk and was physically dragged to the vehicle by two officers.  When he was taken to a hospital, doctors determined that his spinal chord was 80% severed at the neck.  Gray died on April 19, 2015, and in the week that followed, the City of Baltimore was plagued with arson and riots.

It was here, during the War of 1812, that Francis Scott Key huddled behind the ramparts of Fort McHenry and penned the immortal words of the Star Spangled Banner, which later became our national anthem.  If Key were alive today he would be saddened to know that the fires that swept across Baltimore in recent days were not the result of a British naval bombardment, but of the criminal acts of street thugs, our fellow citizens, who gave vent to their frustrations by putting the torch to the homes and businesses of their friends and neighbors.

So what is the common denominator in all of these incidents, if any?  It is that, in each instance, the black men involved were either resisting arrest or fleeing to avoid arrest.  With that level of fear and resentment of police within the black community, it causes one to wonder whether or not we have passed the point of no return in race relations where it is no longer possible to create a color-blind society.  What is undeniable is that young black men have created a stereotype for themselves… a stereotype that must be fully understood by all concerned before we can even begin to deconstruct it.  So, if black people did not set out to purposely create a subculture in the freest, most prosperous nation on Earth… a subculture typified by poverty and hopelessness… then they must have had some very determined help.  And we know who that was.

For example, in 1866, after being defeated in the war to end slavery, Democrats established a paramilitary auxiliary called the Ku Klux Klan.  The Klan’s purpose was to keep the freed slaves in line and to intimidate them into voting for Democratic candidates.  Over the next 85 years the KKK waged an unrelenting war of terror against blacks and white Republicans.  Tuskegee Institute archives indicate that, between the years 1882 and 1951, some 3,437 blacks and 1,293 whites, nearly all Republicans, were lynched by the KKK.  Is this sad chapter in U.S. history being taught in Black History classes?  If not, why not?

Along with the violence and the intimidation of the KKK, Democrats in southern legislatures enacted Jim Crow laws and the Black Codes… dictating where and for whom blacks could work, where they could live, where they could eat and sleep, which restrooms and drinking fountains they could use, and where they were allowed to sit in movie theaters and on trains and busses.  Are black children taught the truth of Jim Crow and the Black Codes in Black History classes?

Then, in 1894, after regaining control of the Congress, Democrats passed the Repeal Act of 1894, repealing much of the civil rights legislation passed by Republicans in the 28 years following the close of the Civil War.  What followed was a period of some 60 years in which black civil rights were in limbo.  Are these truths taught in Black History classes?

It was not until the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that black people could see a glimmer of hope for the rights Republicans had won for them during the previous 90 years.  So is it any wonder that, 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, many blacks still feel the indignation of slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow, and the Black Codes?

In the earliest days of the civil right movement, Democrats resigned themselves to the fact that their century-old campaign to oppress blacks through violence and intimidation was at an end.  Instead, they found it politically expedient to create a welfare system through which they could simply purchase the allegiance of black people… in effect, paying blacks NOT to pursue the American Dream as every other ethnic group before them had done.  As a result, the welfare state has robbed black men of their pride and their dignity, and many have resigned themselves to lives of crime and anti-social behavior.  Where better to see the fruits of that cynical stratagem than in recent videos of arson and looting in Ferguson and Baltimore… what black activist Tavis Smiley predicts will be the “new norm” in race relations?

But none of this would have been possible without the acquiescence of the black community.  To learn how Democrats were able to implement their grand strategy we need look no further than a federal program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a social welfare program passed in 1935 by a Democrat Congress and signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt.  It was a program in which a family was eligible for benefits only if the family had at least one dependent child, under age 18, who was “deprived of financial support from one of their parents due to the parent’s death, continued absence (emphasis added), or incapacity.”  In other words, if two able-bodied parents lived in the household the family was denied AFDC benefits.

Nothing… not drugs, not poverty, not urban decay, nor lack of educational opportunities… has contributed more to the disintegration of the black family unit in America than the restrictions of the AFDC program.  As a consequence of AFDC, marriage was discouraged, fathers were forced out of their homes, and single-parent welfare mothers found they could increase their monthly income by simply having more babies.  As a result, we now have a society in which three out of four black babies are born out of wedlock, where black father figures are absent from their children’s lives, and where black mothers, unable to control their fatherless children, find so many of their young men either behind bars, addicted to drugs, or the victims of gang violence

It’s not as if opportunity has passed black people by.  If black parents, in the 50s and 60s, had insisted that their children do their homework every night; that they be in school every day; that they always behave themselves, inside and outside the classroom; and that, once they’ve entered the workforce, they always give their employers eight hours of their best effort in exchange for eight hours pay… the time-honored formula for achieving the American Dream… African-Americans would be far down the road, socially and economically, from where they are today.

But blacks are not entirely to blame for the social and economic condition in which they find themselves.  It is true, as liberals and Democrats insist, that black people in America are “victims,” but not in the sense that liberals and Democrats would have us believe.  If black people would be honest with themselves they could readily see that every state run by Democrats is in steady economic decline, dominated by public employee unions and saddled with billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities, while every major city run by Democrats is a cesspool of crime, drug addiction, and economic stagnation.  Cities and states governed by Republicans are quite the opposite, although urban blacks continue to nestle comfortably in the pocket of Democrats.

Pride, dignity, and self respect are not easily come by and the larger population, primarily white people, are not likely to forgive and forget the outrageous behavior of young black men until they’ve proven that they deserve to be treated as equals.  It is they who have dug a deep hole for themselves and white people cannot dig them out of it.  That is something that only they can do and it’s time they got started.  But that task cannot be accomplished so long as they continue to squander their political power and influence in exchange for crumbs from the Democratic table.

Another Thrilling Episode of Blacks Behaving Badly

My brother texted me in Florida reporting from Baltimore, our hometown. He said the thugs have gotten crazy and need to be dealt with. My nephew who is a video journalist said it was appalling witnessing local black ministers arguing over street corners for their group of protesters, jockeying for position for the TV cameras.

A friend called interrupting me watching Bizarre Foods TV show, wanting to know if I was watching the coverage of the Baltimore riots. Upon turning the channel to watch the mainstream media coverage, I had to turn the channel away from it. It was too much to stomach.

All I saw was people behaving badly; from Baltimore’s insanely liberal mayor to black talking head liberal operatives spewing idiotic excuses to domestic terrorist thugs turning the city into a war zone.

I thought, I have seen this stupid evil horror movie before (Ferguson) and I “ain’t gonna” watch it again.

The media is reporting that some black leaders are calling for peace. Well, I am sorry, but that is too little too late. How do you expect black youths to react to the Left’s orchestrated campaign to convince them that white Republicans and conservatives are racist and out to get them; white cops murder them at will, the rich got rich stealing from them and business owners are selfish and evil?

These lies have been sold to black youths by the highest black voices in the country – Obama, Oprah, Democrats, Sharpton, Holder, Jackson, the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus and assorted other race exploiting scumbags. If I sound angry it is because I am.

What was that mantra George’s dad on Seinfeld used to keep calm? Oh yeah, he said, “Serenity now! Serenity now!”

Enough with this hogwash that Christians should not get angry. The bad behavior destroying peoples’ livelihood in Baltimore and the nuanced response to it should make decent honorable people angry.

The Baltimore riots and other incidents of black mob attacks and assaults on innocent whites across America are the result of the Left’s hoax that blacks are victimized in America; perpetrating hate for political gain. Such evil should make decent Americans angry.

When Jesus turned over the tables of the crooks in the temple, he was angry. Jesus even called evil doers names, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” Jesus pretty much expressed my thoughts regarding modern day black so-called civil rights leaders.

I am not advocating bad behavior from our side. The Bible says, be angry, but sin not. I am advocating that we stop putting up with it. These thugs do this stuff because they can.

I still can not wrap my head around the mayor of Baltimore saying the thugs must be protected and given space “to destroy.

In essence, the liberal mayor is saying that taxpayer businesses are acceptable collateral damage. I mean, who cares? Most of the trashed businesses are probably owned by rich white racists. Their ancestors probably owned slaves. So, they deserve it.

I am sick of it folks, liberal officials, liberal talking heads and liberal media justifying, tolerating and even celebrating bad behavior.

My brother asked if I noticed that all the blacks heralded as modern day civil rights heroes are criminals? I said, “Great observation grasshopper”, impressed by my low-info-voter brother.

Trayvon Martin was shot while attacking George Zimmerman. I remembered watching a YouTube video of Alabama State marching band honoring the thug, spelling out “Trayvon” on the field. I thought, you have got to be kidding me.

Equally frustrating is that all the black outrage, anger and violence is based on lies. For example. It has been proven that witnesses lied about Michael Brown after robbing a Ferguson convenience store and assaulting the clerk had his hands up in surrender to police. Brown was shot while attacking a police officer. And yet, from the Grammy Awards to pro football players running out of the tunnel with their hands up, the lie, slander of America’s police and hatred was furthered and nurtured.

Serenity now! Serenity now!

Meanwhile, truly extraordinary black role models such as retired black neurosurgeon Dr Ben Carson continue to be rejected and despised by black civil rights leaders. Only blacks who hate America with victim mindsets need apply for membership in their black civil rights movement club.

Blacks angry because of high black unemployment and poor economic conditions need look no further than their messiah (small m), Obama and his job killing policies and mountain of new outrageous regulations.

So please forgive me folks, my blood pressure can not take getting sucked into watching 24/7 sympathetic media coverage of this latest episode of Blacks Behaving Badly, Baltimore edition.

If the mayor of Baltimore and liberal media are going to take a don’t-make-the-black-kids-angry approach to dealing with white bystanders being brutalized, businesses being destroyed, looting and chaos in the streets, there is nothing I can do about it. Someone said voters get the government they deserve. Baltimore is notorious for electing liberals.

While I pray for my former hometown, I must emotionally sit this one out.

Baltimore: Well Scripted Riots

A good presentation demonstrating what is slowly becoming confirmed through multiple means; primarily, the riot in Baltimore is similar to the one in Ferguson, Missouri in that they are well organized.

Furthermore, multiple outside groups comprising of angry anti-American activists combined with Islamic elements bent on delivering a caliphate have come together to destroy the Rule of Law, create economic and social chaos, physically damage and overwhelm law enforcement so even greater steps will become necessary to restore social order. In a separate report, I will have Intel discussing some of the known groups joining forces to bring chaos to American streets, not stopping in Baltimore, but returning to Ferguson and going forward igniting even more chaos and planned destruction.

Law enforcement and Baltimore Community leaders have acknowledged that outside the community individuals and groups are in key positions creating agitation causing anti-civil groups to become embolden.


It’s not accidental, it’s not a mistake – nor is it coincidental. It is a well scripted “social jihad”

Baltimore Maryland erupts in riots, looting and civil unrest – and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings goes on television to thank the Nation of Islam for their support:

Pictured above -yesterday- are the “Bloods” and “Crips” gangs, together with the Nation of Islam (guys with red bow ties) in Baltimore. Note the Nation of Islam giving the extended forefinger salute representing allegiance with ISIS.

 

Isis soldiers in Syria

 

ISIS salute 3

ISIS salute 4
Ferguson/Saint Louis 2014 (Pictured below)
saint louis flag burning 2
Valdosta State University 2015 (pictured below)
eric sheppard flag

AS PREVIOUSLY OUTLINED – The leader of the student group (pictured above) who was originally protesting, Eric Sheppard Jr., remains wanted by police for violent threats and firearms violations. Weapons were found in his backpack on the school campus. Sheppard fled the campus before police could arrest him. It is rumored Eric Sheppard is in hiding amid several organizations sympathetic to his ‘Islamic radicalization’ cause.

The sunlight upon the campus recruitment for Islamic Radicalization has brought an uncomfortable discussion into the back-story surrounding the events. According to local speculation the Nation of Islam and New Black Panther Party sympathizers are assisting Sheppard in avoiding law enforcement.

Read more.

RELATED ARTICLES:

CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill on Baltimore: ‘This Is Not a Riot’ But ‘Uprisings’ Against ‘Police Terrorism’

Sally Kohn: ‘Police Violence’ on Blacks ‘Far More Shameful’ than Baltimore Riots

Rachel Maddow: Baltimore Police ‘A Little Out of Control’ During Riots

Ferguson is NOT America

The wounding of two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri, and earlier in New York City the assassination of two police officers are disturbing events for all Americans as they represent a hostility that threatens a safe, secure society wherever one lives.

Shooting police is an invitation to anarchy. That there have been protests and parades of late advocating this should be a matter of deep concern to all of us, no matter our race.

Ferguson, however, is NOT America if one looks at its population and the incredibly poor governance they have endured. You get the government for which you vote or when you neglect to vote.

Cover - America in CrisisFerguson is atypical of the nation. As James Langston notes in his book, “America in Crisis”, in Ferguson “the growth of the black population relative to whites is a recent occurrence. In 1990, blacks comprised 25 percent of the city’s population but that percentage grew to 52 percent in 2000 and 67 percent in 2010.”

“The demographic transition was not followed by a corresponding transition in black access to political positions, the police force, union representation, and the like. The recency of the demographic transition likely has altered the city in ways that do not characterize other contemporary major cities in the United States, especially those that are majority black like Detroit or Atlanta.”

As noted in the Department of Justice report of an investigation occasioned by the shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer, local governance was a factor in the lives of its black citizens that has invoked protest and resentment.

“Ferguson,” notes Langston, “is unusual in the degree that the city uses the municipal court system and the revenue it generates as a way to raise city funds. This created a financial incentive to issue tickets and then impose excessive fees on people who did not pay.” For the record, this occurs in other comparable communities.

“Data bears this out. Ferguson issued more than 1,500 warrants per 1,000 people in 2013 and this rate exceeds all other Missouri cities with a population larger than 10,000 people. Ferguson has a population of just over 21,000 people but issued 24,000 warrants which add up to three warrants per Ferguson household.”

Heartland Tax & Budget NewsThis, however, is not that unusual in Missouri. An article by Joseph Miller, published in the March edition of The Heartland Institute’s Budget & Tax News noted that excessive use of traffic fines is not that uncommon in Missouri. “Of the 20 cities in the county with fine collections exceeding 20% of total revenue, 13 are contiguous with one another in a 25-square-mile section” and described this as “a daily burden for local residents.”

What the media has reported regarding the number of blacks killed in police shootings is a bit deceptive. There is no question that “the disproportional number of blacks that are killed in police shootings”, says Langston. “Blacks comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population, but represent 32 percent of those killed by police between 2003 and 2009.” That’s more than double the number of whites killed.

One must, however, consider the greater number of criminal events that bring together blacks and the police responding to them.

Being black in America inherently evokes the historical fact that this nation practiced slavery prior to and since its founding in 1788 when our Constitution was ratified, to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. It wasn’t until 1964 when the Civil Rights Act was passed, followed by the Voting Rights Act in 1965 that the discrimination affecting the black community was fully addressed.

Two generations of Americans, black, white and other racial groups, have been born since then and these new generations have no living memory of the Civil Rights movement or the riots that occurred in cities like Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Between 1955 and 1977 there were more than thirty race riots in America. Younger Americans did not experience them. Older Americans recall them and the protests in Ferguson evoked disturbing memories.

As reported in a 2007 study released by the National Urban League, “African-American men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white males. They are nearly as likely to be incarcerated, with average jail sentences about 10 months longer than those of white men.” Between the ages of 15 and 34, the civil rights group noted that “black males are nine times more likely to be killed by firearms and nearly eight times as likely to suffer from AIDS.” The unemployment rates are comparable to those today, eight years later.

A 2007 report by the U.S. Bureau of Statistics noted that, while only 13 percent of the U.S. population, blacks “were the victims of 49 percent of all murders and 15 percent of rapes, assaults, and other nonfatal violent crimes nationwide.” Significantly, “Most of the black murder victims—93 percent—were killed by other black people” while 85 percent of white victims were slain by other white people.

One might conclude that murder is rampant in America, but the reality is that homicides are at a 50-year low. The peak homicide rate was in 1980. The rate began to grow in the mid-1960s, but steadily dropped by the 1990s. Today’s murder rate is at the lowest point in the past century.

What we are witnessing, however, is the result of cultural issues that afflict the black community. Juan Williams, a Fox News analyst, writing in 2007 noted that “One hard, unforgiving fact is that 70 percent of black children are born today to single mothers.” The school dropout rate is “about 50 percent nationwide for black students.”

“Black youth culture is boiling over with nihilism. It embraces failure and frustration, including random crime and jail time,” wrote Williams.

Ferguson is an example of far larger problems that afflict the black community. Only blacks can solve these problems.

One might have thought—and many did—that the election of America’s first black President was going to make these problems go away. Many blacks have entered the middle class, but the majority encounters the problems endemic to the black community and, until its culture and lifestyle choices change, those problems will be around for a long time to come.

With a black President, a black Attorney General, black members of Congress, black mayors and others demonstrating how different 2015 is from 1965, laying blame on white racism is no longer a valid excuse.

© Alan Caruba, 2015

RELATED ARTICLE: Ferguson protesters destroy U.S. flag: ‘Burning my flag should result in NO MORE WELFARE’

Barbarism American Style

Thanks but no thanks, to decades of liberal government school indoctrination of students in Virginia and throughout America, things are going awry. Now we have legions of parents who are incapable or unwilling to teach virtuous principles to their children. As a result, The United States of America has devolved from being the land of the free and home of the brave into a breeding ground for barbarians.

The seeds of Barbarism American style were firmly planted into the modern day framework of our republic turned mob rule democracy during the civil or bastardized rights era, during the 1960s. In addition, once the evil intended liberals were able to convince many able bodied Americans that they were owed everything from cigarette money to transgender operations, the spirit of barbarism was magnified significantly.

The liberals and some libertarians have spread other falsehoods, including the misguided belief that to be free means to be able to do whatever one wants even if they destroy private property. Remember when the barbarians went to nutsville in Ferguson Missouri? They burglarized businesses in their own neighborhoods and beat up other residents just for the sport of it. What’s even more devastating, is that the city’s police chief ordered his officers not to go after the thugs and allowed them to wreak havoc.

Such allowed barbarism is simply yet another horrid example of what occurs when virtue and personal responsibility are eliminated from the instructional and growth processes of our nations young. The denial of properly teaching America’s young during their formative years is a practice that is setting our nation up for a catastrophic collapse in the near future, unless dramatic positive changes are made very soon.

In fact, it was Samuel Adams in a letter he wrote to James Warren in 1779 which clearly stated:

A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader. How necessary then is it, for those who are determined to transmit the blessings of liberty as a fair inheritance to posterity, to associate on public principles in support of public virtue.

So there you have it. If America continues to turn away from promoting good behavior, civility and a connection with or recognition of our beloved creator, then you will witness the rapid deterioration of values, behavior and learning. Thus the way will be paved for a tremendous increase in the barbaric population in America. That will then lead to a rapid development in the dis-United States of America. On any given day you may witness barbaric bullies wreaking havoc at sporting events, malls, numerous businesses and in many neighborhoods.

For example, recently in St. Louis barbaric bullies beat up a young single mother after she verbally insulted them. Not long ago, a man was minding his own business walking back to his automobile after the Los Angeles Angels played the Kansas City Royals in the American League division series. Three Barbarians accosted him and then proceeded to beat him senseless. The victim ended up in critical condition.

The spirit of Barbarism must be confronted and dealt with swiftly, strongly and without letting up until the barbarian loons are subdued and learn that they will be punished for their low life behavior. But first, “We the People” must reestablish an unyielding appreciation for virtue, wisdom and the personal God given unalienable rights including the right to live life in peace and prosperity.

RELATED VIDEO: Watch a crowd of protesters invade a St. Louis mall screaming at ‘racist’ white people

Why Are Black People So Angry?

Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri prove, if nothing else, that a great many black people are very angry these days and some will use almost any perceived slight as justification for rioting, looting, and arson. So who or what is the source of that anger?

Looking back over the history of black people in America, we are told that a black man in Virginia, Anthony Johnson, became the first slave-holder in America in the 1650s. In 1860, the American people elected their first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, and the following year, in 1861, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves to be free men and women. Then, on December 6, 1865, in spite of strong opposition from Democrats, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, banning slavery in the United States forever.

In 1866, after being defeated in the war to end slavery, Democrats established a paramilitary auxiliary called the Ku Klux Klan to keep the freed slaves in line and to intimidate them into voting for Democratic candidates. However, just because the slaves were freed and human slavery had been permanently outlawed, southern Democrats did not suddenly join the ranks of abolitionists. Instead, once they’d regained control over southern legislatures they set about enacting Jim Crow laws and the Black Codes, dictating where and for whom blacks could work, where they could live, where they could eat and sleep, which restrooms and drinking fountains they could use, and where they were allowed to sit in movie theaters and on trains and busses.

These restrictive policies were in effect across much of America as late as the 1950s. So is it possible that many blacks still feel the indignation of slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow, and the Black Codes, fifty years later? Yes, of course. Such indignities are not easily washed away in only two or three generations. And is it possible that young blacks today feel a strong sense of resentment for a nation that treated their grandparents so inhumanely? Yes, of course.

While human slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow and the Black Codes have been major factors in black-white relations, they are not the primary contributing factor in the question of why so many black people today exhibit such anger, or why so many young blacks walk around with a chip on their shoulders, just daring white authority figures to knock it off… as was the case with Trayvon Martin, in Florida, and Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. So what is it that causes many black people to use any pretext to go into the streets, defy police authority, and set fire to their own neighborhoods? To find an answer to that question we must first determine what has been the major contributing factor in the disintegration of the black family unit.

To find an answer to that question we need look no further than a federal program called Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC), the first of two major tipping points in black history following the Emancipation Proclamation. AFDC was passed in 1935 by a Democrat-controlled Congress with a 72-23 majority in the Senate, a 322-103 majority in the House, and signed into law by a Democrat president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In order for a family to be eligible for AFDC payments, the family must have had at least one dependent child, under age 18, who was “deprived of financial support from one of their parents due to the parent’s death, continued absence (emphasis added), or incapacity.” In other words, if two able-bodied parents lived in the home the family was denied AFDC benefits.

Nothing… not drugs, not poverty, not urban decay, nor lack of educational opportunities… has contributed more to the disintegration of the black family unit in America than the restrictions of the AFDC program. As an unintended consequence of AFDC, marriage was discouraged, fathers were forced out of their homes, and single-parent welfare mothers found they could increase their monthly income by simply having more babies. As a result, we now have a society in which three out of four black babies are born out of wedlock, and where black mothers, unable to discipline their fatherless children, find so many of their young men either imprisoned, addicted to drugs, or the victims of gang violence.

Far too many young black men are like Michael Brown’s friend, Dorian Johnson, who told the press that his friend was shot to death by a white police officer as he walked toward the officer with his hands in the air. When he gets before a grand jury, under oath, Johnson may have a different story to tell. However, Johnson’s 15 minutes of fame may cost him dearly. When police ran a background check on him they found that he was wanted on an outstanding felony warrant in Jefferson City, Missouri. In that case, Johnson was arrested for theft, lied about his identity, and failed to appear in court on his trial date. How will such young men ever be able to enter the work force as reliable and valued employees? By their own actions, they have thrown away any chance of ever realizing the American Dream. How would they answer that question found on most job applications, which asks, “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”

The second major tipping point in black history was the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, striking down the “separate but equal” concept in public education, followed closely by the War on Poverty of the Kennedy-Johnson era. It was then that Democrats resigned themselves to the notion that their century-old campaign to oppress blacks through violence and threats of violence was at an end. Instead, they found it politically expedient to simply buy the allegiance of black people with funds from the public treasury.

al sharpton angry 2

Reverend Al Sharpton.

Accordingly, the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, with a Democrat-controlled Congress, enacted a vast array of social welfare programs designed to mollify blacks and to capture their votes for Democrat candidates. At that juncture, blacks had two well-defined paths to choose from: 1) They could choose what conservatives and Republicans offered: equal opportunities in jobs and education, hard work, and perseverance… the time-honored road to the American Dream, or 2) They could choose the “free lunch” that Democrats offered. Unfortunately, under the self-defeating leadership of race hustlers such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, blacks entered into a “devils bargain” with the Democratic Party, choosing the “free lunch” alternative.

It was pure cynicism on the part of white Democrats. In his well-documented book, Inside the White House, historian Ronald Kessler quotes Lyndon Johnson as he justified his support for civil rights legislation to two Democratic governors on board Air Force One. Johnson is quoted as saying, “I’ll have those n*****s voting Democratic for the next two hundred years.”

The only price blacks had to pay for all the free money, food stamps, subsidized housing, free healthcare, and preferential treatment in jobs and higher education was to pull the Democrat lever on Election Day. Since that time, blacks have consistently given 90-95 percent of their votes to Democrats. Yet, 61 years after Brown v. Board of Education, and in spite of endless Democratic promises of “better times,” blacks have seen little social and economic progress.

So we should not be surprised that, after many decades of being told by liberals and Democrats that they are “victims” of rich whites and business owners, blacks sometimes throw tantrums like spoiled children. Frankly, I’d be angry too if someone made the same promises to me, over and over again, for a half century or more, and I could find no evidence that they’d delivered on those promises. So is it any wonder that, because of all the broken promises and unfulfilled expectations, we now find a sub-culture in which far too many blacks, by their own choices, fail to take advantage of the educational and job opportunities available to them? Instead, we find millions of urban blacks consumed by a seething anger and a sense of crushing hopelessness.

If black parents, at the time of the two major tipping points describe above, had insisted that their children do their homework every night; that they be in school every day; that they always behave themselves, both inside and outside the classroom; and that, once they’ve entered the workforce, they always give their employers at least eight hours of their best effort in exchange for eight hours pay, African-Americans would be far down the road, socially and economically, from where they are today. But that’s not what happened. Instead, blacks have wasted more than half a century of progress cradled in the smothering embrace of liberals and Democrats who were interested in them only for the electoral majorities they helped produce on Election Day.

ferguson suicide

For a larger view click on the image. Cartoon by Ramirez.

Because of their fawning obeisance to the liberal cause, blacks have dug a hole for themselves that will be all but impossible to climb out of. To do so would first require that they have what it takes to admit that their political allegiances have been misplaced. But they’re not likely to do that anytime soon. Instead, we find them doubling down on their support for Democrats. And while they’ve paid a heavy price for their fealty to the Democrat Party, forfeiting their political independence and their ability to think for themselves, along with much of their pride, their dignity, and their self respect, they should not be holding their breath waiting for Republicans to enter into a bidding war with Democrats for their hearts, their minds, and their votes. Unlike Democrats, Republicans have a fondness for honesty and integrity in politics, and, unlike Democrats, they will never adopt bribery as a strategic element of their national platform.

By promising them cradle-to-grave economic security, Lyndon Johnson promised that he’d have blacks voting Democratic for the next two hundred years. If that’s true, and if blacks fail to get new leadership willing to speak the truth to them, they will have another 150 years of empty promises to endure. Unfortunately, we have a black man in the White House who seems to think that it is his job, not to unite the races, but to find new and creative ways of dividing Americans along racial and economic lines. So long as blacks continue to believe that he is on their side and that he is trying to do what’s best for them, they’ll just have to go on being angry.

Residents of Ferguson Need to Make a Change

I’m Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It’s Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference Gonna Make It Right…
I’m Starting With The Man
In The Mirror
I’m Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(from Michael Jackson’s hit song “Man in the Mirror”)

This song is very appropriate for the situation going on in Ferguson, Mo. Regardless of what happens during all the legal wrangling, one thing is certain: the residents of Ferguson have had all the power they ever needed to make the change they have been seeking. And they haven’t used it.

Some have argued that Ferguson is symbolic of “inner city America.” They argue that Ferguson is about racism, hopelessness, structural and systemic discrimination, and Blacks who feel helpless.

Well, it’s kind of hard to make these arguments when Blacks are almost 70 percent of Ferguson’s population. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, there are 14,297 Blacks and 6,206 Whites; 22 percent live in poverty; the mayor is White; there is only one Black on a 6-member city council (.096 percent); three Blacks out of 53 policemen (5.6 percent); and the St. Louis suburb is the sixth most segregated city in the U.S.

As a native of St. Louis, I worked closely with my friend, Freeman R. Bosley, Jr. in his successful efforts to become the first Black Circuit Clerk for the 22nd Judicial Circuit in 1983 and the first Black mayor in 1993 (with 66 percent of the vote). Blacks were a majority of the city; so I thoroughly understand the power of the vote.

Juxtapose this with the voting history of Ferguson. In this year’s elections, only 12.3 percent of eligible voters actually voted (17 percent White, 6 percent Black); 11.7 percent in 2013; and 8.9 percent in 2012.

How can one argue that Blacks have no power?

A more accurate statement is that Blacks have refused to exercise their power. You can’t blame that on the “White man” or “racism” or the “system.” In the Wizard of Oz, the Lion already had courage; the Tin man already had a heart, and the Scarecrow already had a brain; but they had all been so psychologically abused that they couldn’t see the power they already had. The Wizard just simply reminded them of what they already had. Upon the prompting from the Wizard, they then began to actually believe again in themselves and the power lying dormant inside of them.

Many across the country are asking: What do the residents of Ferguson want? Thus far, their response has been “justice;” meaning they want the White policeman who killed Michael Brown, Darren Wilson, indicted, convicted, and sent to jail. Well, that is out the control of any one person. The facts of what happened must be established and then let the justice system function.

The fact that Blacks have the power of the vote is undeniable. They have the power to control the political climate in Ferguson – that is no fairytale. The question is do they have the courage to look at the man in the mirror and make that change? Do they have the heart to change their apathetic approach to voting as a perpetual tribute to Michael Brown? Do they have the brains to understand the power dynamics of voting?

Just like the Wizard did nothing to change the conditions of Dorothy and her friends, there is nothing America needs to do for Ferguson that they can’t do for themselves. They have everything they need. Maybe the death of Brown will be the reminder of what has been lying dormant in the residents of Ferguson all along.

Maybe after all of the marches are over, they will be, as Fannie Lou Hamer put it, “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Ferguson has non-partisan elections, meaning no votes are cast based on party affiliation, but vote for the individual. The residents of Ferguson need to begin to run – and vote for – candidates who can best represent their interests. The government can provide tax credits and other tax incentives for businesses to locate to Ferguson. Social service agencies can provide job training programs. And the federal government will even help provide much needed training of their police force.

But in the end, Ferguson will have to look at the man – and the woman – in the mirror and make that change.

Ferguson and the Real Race War

Since the shooting of Michael Brown by a white policeman and the ensuing riots and looting in Ferguson, MO, Americans have been told, yet again, that there is an epidemic of crime against black people in this country. But is there really a race war, and if so, which side is actually waging it?

RELATED COLUMNS:

Ferguson, Missouri: The Face of the ‘War on Whites’
Do We Perpetuate Black Stereotypes?
Hamas, Nation of Islam and New Black Panthers exciting violence in Ferguson, Missouri

USofA Battle Lines: From Missouri to the Mexican border

It seems like the Obama administration is stirring up trouble all across the country. From Ferguson, Missouri to the Mexican border the battle lines are clear.

EDITORS NOTE: The featured photo of a rioter in Ferguson, Missouri is by James Keivom of the New York Daily News and of immigration protesters (insert) courtesy of BuzzPo.com.

VIDEO FROM FERGUSON, MO: All Blacks know how to do is “blame the police and white folks”

Blacks rioting and looting in Ferguson, Missouri continues for a fifth day. We learned last night from a Missouri resident that the riots are spreading to other suburban communities and that black rioters are throwing bricks off of overpasses along U.S. Highway 70, a main route through St. Louis, MO.

The Washington Post’s Sean Sullivan reports, “Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) called the situation in Ferguson, Mo., ‘deeply troubling’ late Wednesday and announced he would change his schedule in order to visit the city on Thursday, signaling a new, more intense level of engagement than in previous days.”

Missouri residents are concerned that the riots have gotten so out of hand that Governor Nixon needs to call out the National Guard. Some say Nixon, a Democrat, won’t because he fears aggravating rioting blacks, who are a large block of Democrat voters. After the Governor visits the area he may change his mind?

Jason DeWitt from Top Right News (TRN) posted a YouTube video of one black mans view of the riots. DeWitt writes:

TRN has covered the Ferguson Riots outside St. Louis over the past 2 days, as a peaceful protest over the shooting death of a Black man by a police officer spun out of control into a violent rage. Hundreds of looters ransacked dozens of stores, including Target and WalMart, and looted and burned down a QuikTrip. Rioters shot at police and even police helicopters in the madness.

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But with Sharpton’s trademark chant of “no justice, no peace” about to reverberate from Missouri, one Black Facebook user didn’t want to hear a word of it.

In an epic rant as a Black man against the Black rioters of Ferguson, Johnathan Gentry unleashed a very different message: “We Need to Change as Black People.”

Watch this video commentary by Johnathan Gentry:

Trystin English a black women who was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri but now lives in Florida posted her perspective on the Ferguson riots on her Facebook page.

Watch Trystin talk about the blacks rioting and looting in Ferguson (WARNING: Graphic language): Video Post by Trystin English.

I was born and raised in the St. Louis area, have family there and went to high school in Ferguson-Florissant School District which has delayed opening of the school year until August 18th due to the riots.

Ayn Rand wrote, ““The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other – until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country’s official ideology.” The slogan “no justice, no peace” is an uncontested absurdity which must be contested. It promotes violence over the rule of law. That is the official ideology of far to many blacks and far to many black leaders.

Johnathan Gentry understands this when he says “We Need to Change as Black People.”

RELATED VIDEO: There are real time posting on Twitter on the Ferguson riots by Antonio French. French is an Alderman of the 21st Ward in St. Louis. Go to here to view all of Alderman French’s videos. Here is just one posting: