In the midst of last night's riots in Ferguson, one protester held up a sign that read: BLACK LIVES MATTER. They absolutely do, as do all lives. But the implication of the sign and the protesters is that racism is the cause of black deaths; that it is white peole in general, and white cops in particular who have the blood of black people on their hands. On closer inspection, this assumption is found to be deeply flawed.
According to FBI statistics, 97% of all black homicide victims are killed by other blacks. In Chicago in 2013, 79.7% of black homicides victims were killed by other blacks. Only 2% of black deaths were at the hands of a white offender. Clearly the black community must look inward if the killing of African Americans is to stop.
It is easy to blame others and to strike out at perceived enemies. The very act releases anger and fear and resentment. It is far more difficult and demanding to look within, to find fault and flaw with one's own culture, and to try and find solutions to the ills that threaten to destroy that culture.
Some years ago, a comic strip named POGO coined a phrase that succinctly sums up the problem with Ferguson and every major city: "We have found the enemy, and the enemy is us."
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014
VOTING AWAY STEREOTYPES
Last week's election results revealed the inaccuracies of 2 themes that the Democrats, the liberal media, and even some Republicans, have pounded incessantly since Obama's election.
The first theme pounded like a drum solo states that the Republican Party is irrrelevant, that they cannot get elected, and that they are a political party that will soon be relegated to permanent runner-up status. Really? On November 4th, the GOP padded its majority in the House of Representitives, regained the majority in the Senate, added more governors, which now total 31 of the 50 states, and elected more candidates on the state level than anytime in the past 100 years.Does that add up to runner-up status?
The second theme regurgitated by the Dems and the liberal media is that the Republican Party is composed of "old white guys," and that the Dems are the only party with a big tent that encompasses Blacks, Hispanics and women. What happened in this past election? Mia Love of Utah became the first Republican black woman elected to Congress. Tim Scott became the first black senator from the south to be elected sine the Reconstruction. In Texas, Will Hurd, another black candidate, won a Congressional seat. In my own home state of Indiana, three Republican women were elected to the state House, and a Republican woman captured the office of Secretary of State.
While these are not huge numbers, they do indicate a crack in the wall of African American political loyalties, andit gives the lie to the belief that Republicans do not want black or female candidates. The GOP has much more work yet to do, but slowly and surely the old stereotypes trumpeted by Dems and liberal journalists are beginning to fade the way all stereotypes should.
The first theme pounded like a drum solo states that the Republican Party is irrrelevant, that they cannot get elected, and that they are a political party that will soon be relegated to permanent runner-up status. Really? On November 4th, the GOP padded its majority in the House of Representitives, regained the majority in the Senate, added more governors, which now total 31 of the 50 states, and elected more candidates on the state level than anytime in the past 100 years.Does that add up to runner-up status?
The second theme regurgitated by the Dems and the liberal media is that the Republican Party is composed of "old white guys," and that the Dems are the only party with a big tent that encompasses Blacks, Hispanics and women. What happened in this past election? Mia Love of Utah became the first Republican black woman elected to Congress. Tim Scott became the first black senator from the south to be elected sine the Reconstruction. In Texas, Will Hurd, another black candidate, won a Congressional seat. In my own home state of Indiana, three Republican women were elected to the state House, and a Republican woman captured the office of Secretary of State.
While these are not huge numbers, they do indicate a crack in the wall of African American political loyalties, andit gives the lie to the belief that Republicans do not want black or female candidates. The GOP has much more work yet to do, but slowly and surely the old stereotypes trumpeted by Dems and liberal journalists are beginning to fade the way all stereotypes should.
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