{"id":1291,"date":"2015-04-29T20:34:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T00:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2015-04-29T20:34:18","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T00:34:18","slug":"questions-on-baltimore-for-democrats-and-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2015\/04\/questions-on-baltimore-for-democrats-and-republicans.html","title":{"rendered":"Questions on Baltimore for Democrats AND Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

In light of the latest<\/em> Baltimore conflagration\u2014that\u2019s right, as Colin Flaherty, among others, have noted, mass violence and the destruction of property is par for the course in predominantly black cities like Baltimore\u2014I offer some thoughts.<\/p>\n

First, all too predictably, the usual suspects on the left are busy accounting for the barbarism of Baltimore\u2019s rioters in terms of their \u201croot causes\u201d of choice: \u201cpolice brutality,\u201d \u201cracism,\u201d \u201cthe system,\u201d etc. Contrary to what your senses tell you, so goes this line, it is not the young blacks wreaking havoc in the streets who deserve blame for their actions. In fact, these young blacks, like their older counterparts, are actually victims<\/em>, the products of said \u201croot causes.\u201d<\/p>\n

(a)Why, though, do these same apologists for black pathology concern themselves with \u201croot causes\u201d only when it comes to explaining the awful conduct of certain <\/em>groups of people? For instance, while \u201croot causes\u201d are forever being introduced to account for the horrible behavior of blacks, no one\u2014well, at least not any \u201croots causes\u201d fundamentalists\u2014ever thinks to go in search of the \u201croot causes\u201d of, say, \u201cwhite racism,\u201d or white-on-black slavery, or male-on-female domestic abuse, rape, or \u201cgay bashing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For that matter, if the \u201croot causes\u201d of black nihilism is an oppressive society, let\u2019s say, then why don\u2019t the proponents of \u201croot causes\u201d back up one step and attempt to excavate the \u201croot causes\u201d of an oppressive society?<\/p>\n

(b)How come \u201croot causes\u201d are sought only when it comes to bad <\/em>behavior? After all, I don\u2019t recall anyone plumbing the \u201croot causes\u201d of Barack Obama\u2019s confidence that he could be elected President of the United States. No one thinks about the \u201croot causes\u201d of Bill Gates\u2019 success.<\/p>\n

Second, whenever orgies of black violence make national news, we are repeatedly assured that the civilization-slayers constitute but a small minority. This is what Obama sought to underscore in his press conference that he held on Tuesday when he cautioned Americans against judging the majority of the protesters on the basis of the actions of a \u201chandful\u201d of \u201ccriminals and thugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But why don\u2019t the Obamas of the world apply the same rule to, say, discussions of slavery<\/em>? The overwhelming majority of white Americans during <\/em>the era of slavery never owned slaves, and no <\/em>white person today has ever owned a slave. If a handful of black thugs shouldn\u2019t reflect poorly on the majority of the black protestors with whom they\u2019re associated, then a handful of white slave owners shouldn\u2019t reflect poorly on any other whites.<\/p>\n

Neither should the proponents of Jim Crow segregation of yesteryear be permitted to reflect poorly on the vast majority of whites who never had anything at all to do with it.<\/p>\n

Neither should a few bad police officers be allowed to reflect poorly on the vast majority of law abiding officers.<\/p>\n

And yet, scarcely a day passes that whites and police aren\u2019t blasted for the actions of the few: Whenever we hear\u2014as we always hear\u2014about a \u201clegacy\u201d of slavery and Jim Crow; and whenever we hear\u2014as we always hear\u2014about \u201csystemic\u201d problems with our criminal justice system, white society is indicted.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, but it isn\u2019t only leftists who search for \u201croot causes\u201d to explain black <\/em>immorality. Republican politicians and media commentators do so as well\u2014even if their<\/em> \u201croot causes\u201d differ from those of their Democratic counterparts.<\/p>\n

GOP-friendly pundits routinely castigate the left for applying double standards to blacks and whites. Yet the accusers are no less guilty than the accused on this score. Hence, in the wake of black riots (and black dysfunction generally), such commentators can be counted upon to talk about \u201cfatherless homes,\u201d \u201cliberalism,\u201d \u201cthe Welfare State,\u201d and \u201cthe Democratic Party\u201d as the \u201croot causes\u201d behind it all.<\/p>\n

Here they are the mirror image of their political opponents.<\/p>\n

A few questions:<\/p>\n

(1)If it is Democrat liberal policies that have transformed black communities around the country into Third World type cesspools, then why haven\u2019t those same Democrat liberal policies had the same effect on such bastions of progressivism as all of New England, say, or San Francisco, or the upper Eastside of Manhattan?<\/p>\n

(2)The obscene levels of illegitimacy among blacks are certainly harmful to those legions of poor black children that grow up without an intact family unit. But the question that Republicans never ask is: Why <\/em>do so many black men act as impulsively and recklessly\u2014as immorally<\/em>\u2014as they do in loving and leaving both the mothers of their children and <\/em>their children?<\/p>\n

Moreover, why do so many black women<\/em> act as impulsively and recklessly\u2014as immorally\u2014<\/em>as they do in having children with unreliable, irresponsible men?<\/p>\n

(3)Imagine if it wasn\u2019t black Americans in the streets of the Baltimores and Fergusons of the country, but Arabic immigrants chanting to Allah, etc. Or imagine if it was the images of Middle Eastern Muslims in Egypt<\/em>, Iran<\/em>, Iraq<\/em>, or Israel<\/em> that flashed across our television screens, Muslims in their own lands acting as our black rioters are acting right here at home.<\/p>\n

Would our conservative pundits then<\/em> be inquiring into such matters as the state of the families from which these Muslims hail? Would they then be blaming policies for the actions of the thugs?<\/p>\n

We know the answers to these questions.<\/p>\n

A Facebook friend of mine, upon posting a photograph of a horde of black criminals destroying a police car on a garbage-strewn street in Baltimore, commented that had these been foreigners, we would, without hesitation, view them as \u201cterrorists.\u201d And those on the radio and television airwaves who endlessly talk about \u201cconfronting evil\u201d vis-\u00e0-vis militant Muslims, scarcely mention evil when analyzing the scandal of black criminality.<\/p>\n

Of course, it doesn\u2019t take a genius to figure out why.<\/p>\n

However, until they overcome this paralyzing fear of being charged with \u201cracism,\u201d the Baltimores of America will continue to burn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In light of the latest Baltimore conflagration\u2014that\u2019s right, as Colin Flaherty, among others, have noted, mass violence and the destruction of property is par for the course in predominantly black cities like Baltimore\u2014I offer some thoughts. 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