It is now seven years since Michael Brown was shot, igniting a wave of protests and strengthening the nascent the Black Lives Matter movement. The death of George Floyd ignited an entire summer of riots that destroyed property, chased businesses and residents out of downtown Minneapolis and Portland among others, and led to calls to defund the police. We have been subjected to nearly two years of media and social violence, all of it raging about white privilege, black killings, systemic racism, and the racist police.
I am reminded of a conversation between two actresses. The younger, wishing to impress, said "the entire audience was open-mouthed at my performance", to which her older rival replied "Impossible! They couldn't have all yawned at the same time..." Somehow our entire society is now racist, awash in not just white privilege but white supremacy. But, like the joke, it seems impossible to me that our entire society is constructed simply to maintain white supremacy. What data do we have? What do deaths like Michael Brown's and George Floyd's say to us who are not part of the ravening mob?
Please see my post The Killing of Black Men, and of Police, from 7/17/16, where I have numerous references.
There is little question of racist policies in American history. The one most frequently cited lately is redlining, the practice of not allowing blacks to buy homes in certain areas. There were the Jim Crow laws in the South, and professional schools nationwide were no better, refusing to consider applications from black candidates. Blacks were lynched upon accusation, without trial, black men rounded up for petty crimes to provide summer labor, black veterans experimented upon in grossly unethical ways. But I'm not interested in then. I'm interested in now, and while the past informs the present it cannot be an excuse.
There are excellent data sources on violent crime in America. One is the Washington Post database on police killings, another the University of Texas database, 2016-2019. More good data is readily available from the Department of Justice. None of these confirm media and societal tropes. Black men are not shot more frequently than white men. Some assert the data itself is racist, as it is said to come from police departments, except these sources' information comes not from police forces only but from witnesses as well. Black men are more frequently armed, they more frequently resist arrest, and that more violently. They are shot for a reason.
Michael Brown is a great example. He was put forward by the Left as a martyr, an unarmed man shot in broad daylight in the middle of the street. Except that he was reaching into the officer's car, trying to grab the his weapons, and refused multiple commands to stop. His shooting was completely justified. And so it goes for the vast majority of unarmed black men. The police don't want to shoot anyone, and black and hispanic officers shoot black men MORE frequently than white officers do. There is no systemic police bias or racism.
Redlining was definitely a practice into the 60s and in some places beyond that. In Birmingham a racial map shows a divide as sharp as if a wall had been erected. But redlining ended two generations of homeowners ago. Despite that, urban dwellers know where the black neighborhoods are, most everyone does. They have infamous names like Watts, Nicetown, Cabrini Green, Camden, The Bronx. White people know perfectly well not to go there, ever. Is that racism, white supremacists herding blacks into hideous, redlined neighborhoods and then shunning them?
No, it's simply self-preservation. Black inner city neighborhoods are, by and large, dangerous, violent, filthy, broken down. They are troubled by drug dealing and street prostitution. White people, and any black people who escape, know better than to go in these neighborhoods. They are at risk for assault, rape, robbery, mugging. There are exceptions, but the great majority of the most dangerous areas in the US are all black. Why?
No, it's simply self-preservation. Black inner city neighborhoods are, by and large, dangerous, violent, filthy, broken down. They are troubled by drug dealing and street prostitution. White people, and any black people who escape, know better than to go in these neighborhoods. They are at risk for assault, rape, robbery, mugging. There are exceptions, but the great majority of the most dangerous areas in the US are all black. Why?
The apologists assert poverty, lack of jobs, poor schools. White racist thugs did not come through schools and buildings in Black neighborhoods and scrawl graffiti on walls, break windows, shit in hallways. White people do not come into these neighborhoods and rape, kill, and assault. White people do not come and rob stores, torch buildings, and drive out businesses. Black people have done all these things to their own. While we bemoan police killing Black men no one talks about Black on Black crime, which is an order of magnitude more frequent and is responsible for the depredations in Black neighborhoods And these conditions apply in public housing, for people who, contrary to social trope, have been given housing, food allowances, and medical care. And still they destroy.
And a funny thing about the liberals who make excuses for this behavior: they don't want to enter these neighborhoods any more than anyone else. No one does. The red line around these neighborhoods is not racism, it's self-preservation. I challenge every liberal to live for a month in one of the neighborhoods they claim to care for. And not with a gun, or a bodyguard, or going to their suburban home at night. Go ahead and live there, and then tell me why systemic racism and my success are the cause of this mess.
It is not racist to police the areas where crime occurs, nor is it racist to protect the commercial and industrial areas of a city. Blacks are 8 times more likely to kill than whites, and the overwhelming majority of these killings are black-on-black. I am more likely to be killed by a white man than a black man, yet society focuses on police killings of blacks rather than the biggest crime problems in black neighborhoods.
There are numerous programs to increase access of blacks to schools, professional education and quality jobs. After school care, school breakfast and lunch, Head Start, government funded kindergtartens, increased spending in minority schools. All this is being done now. Many companies, using the catchword diversity, are preferentially hiring minority candidates. And despite this, blacks fail in the job market. Dropout rates are higher for blacks, blacks destroy their schools, assault teachers, and disrupt classes. None of this happened in our children's schools.
Black neighborhoods get more public money, school money, parks, libraries (look it up), and social workers than any other parts of cities and suburbs. Despite this influx of aid and services, black neighborhoods are a mess.
I'm just completely done with successful, educated, polite people being blamed for society's problems. Everything that was once admirable is now bad, except that we are not the problem; the ill-behaved and violent are. And I'm furious at the racist labeling of white people, specifically white men. White men are apparently responsible for everything wrong with America and the world, and that is completely false. These false accusations of white men are every bit as racist and destructive as the labeling of black men.
I'm just completely done with successful, educated, polite people being blamed for society's problems. Everything that was once admirable is now bad, except that we are not the problem; the ill-behaved and violent are. And I'm furious at the racist labeling of white people, specifically white men. White men are apparently responsible for everything wrong with America and the world, and that is completely false. These false accusations of white men are every bit as racist and destructive as the labeling of black men.
When will we stop blaming the good and successful, and simply ask the black community "why can't you take care of yourselves?" The excuse of racism and prejudice is empty. Jews were brutally stigmatized, but have become an integral part of professional, political, and social life. The Irish were so despised they could work only as laborers, and policemen if they were lucky. Same for Italians. These groups all worked and achieved. Where are the achievements of the black community? When will race stop being an excuse? I don't care that you were brought here in slavery, or that you were fiercely oppressed by law and custom. You're not any more, and haven't been for nearly three generations. In that much time Jews had built their own hospitals and schools, rather than defacing ones built for them. Italians, Catholics, Greeks, and the Irish worked their way into civilized society, rather than whine about their exclusion. For those who argue all these groups are white, take a look at the success of Hindus and the Chinese. The Chinese in particular were hated and feared, and yet through hard work and discipline have achieved wealth.
No civilized person hates another based on skin color, but any sane person fears based on experience. It's long past time to stop the racist tropes about the police, society, and white people, and simply ask that blacks, and everyone else, be accountable for their own behavior, and proud of their own accomplishments.
No civilized person hates another based on skin color, but any sane person fears based on experience. It's long past time to stop the racist tropes about the police, society, and white people, and simply ask that blacks, and everyone else, be accountable for their own behavior, and proud of their own accomplishments.
Ted
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