RMIRace, Politics And Lies
Amongst the lots of uncomfortable ironies in the current racial turmoil is that neighborhoods scattered across the nation were disrupted by riots and robbery due to the fact that of the demonstrable lie that Michael Brown was shot in the back by a white policeman in Missouri– however there was not almost as much chaos developed by the demonstrable truth that a taking off black guy was shot dead by a white police officer in South Carolina.Totally neglected was the
truth that a black cop in Alabama fatally shot an unarmed white teenager, and was cleared of any charges, at about the exact same time that a white cop was cleared of charges in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.In a world where the truth suggests so little, and headstrong preconceptions seem to be all that matter, what hope is there for reasonable words or reasonable behavior, much less mutual understanding across racial lines?When the recorded deadly shooting of a taking off guy in South Carolina brought instant condemnation by whites and blacks alike, and by the most conservative as well as the most liberal commentators, that minute of sharedgood understanding was extremely short lived, as if sharedgood understanding were something to be avoided, as a danger to a vision people versus them that was more popular.That vision is nowhere more plainly expressed than in attempts to instantly depict whatever social problems exist in ghetto communities as being triggered by the sins or negligence of whites, whether bigotry in general or a tradition of slavery in certain. Like a lot of emotionally effective visions, it is seldom, if ever, subjected to the test of evidence. The legacy of slavery argument is not simply a reason for inexcusable behavior in the ghettos.
In a larger sense, it is an evasion of responsibility for the dreadful repercussions of the prevailing social vision of our times, and the political policies based upon that vision, over the previous half century.Anyone who is significant about proof need only compare black communities as they evolved in the first 100 years after
slavery with black neighborhoods as they progressed in the first 50 years after the explosive growth of the welfare state, starting in the 1960s. You would be hard-pressed to discover as lots of ghetto riots prior to the 1960s as we have seen just in the past year, much less in the 50 years since a wave of such riots swept throughout the nation in 1965. We are informed that such riots are a result of black poverty and white racism. But in reality– for those who still have some respect for facts– black
poverty was far worse, and white bigotry was far worse, prior to 1960. However violent criminal activity within black ghettos was far less.
Comments are currently closed.