What would we do without virtue signalers instructing us about how hopelessly racist America is?
They’ve been out in force even more than usual since the tragic death of George Floyd and the riots that followed. It’s hard to escape their false narrative, peddled by CNN, the major networks, every major newspaper and most politicians.
They say America has made little or no racial progress in the last 60 years, that the police are all wannabe Bull Connors, that income inequality is enforced by “institutional racism,” and that “America is a failed social experiment,” as Harvard professor Cornel West says.
We’ve been at this for 400 years, according to the New York Times’ Marxist screed against America, “The 1619 Project,” which won a Pulitzer Prize in April.
Have you noticed the absence of the word “riot” in news coverage? Rock-throwing, window-smashing, arson, beating up shop owners and shooting cops is the work of mere “protesters.” The Washington Post said Friday that President Trump wants to use the military “to quell protests.” No, he doesn’t. It’s the criminal violence, the looting, the fires and the beatings.
But not everyone agrees. The Looting Party has stoked hatred at every opportunity. “Riots are an integral part of the country’s march towards progress,” the Fairfax County, Virginia Democratic Party smugly tweeted.
Federal officials are now investigating more than 800 arsons and 76 explosive devices used in the “protests.” Meanwhile, Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced major budget cuts for the LAPD, the city’s “thin blue line.” In Minneapolis, the City Council actually voted to eliminate the city’s police department. And this lunacy is supposed to make black areas safer?
Wonder how the families of David Patrick Underwood and David Dorn feel about riots, or those of the more than a dozen other homicide victims? Mr. Underwood, 53, was shot and killed in Oakland while working security during a “protest” over Mr. Floyd’s death. David Dorn, a 77-year-old retired police captain was also killed during a “protest” in St. Louis. These black victims and all the black business people whose livelihoods have been destroyed don’t rate; they don’t fit the narrative.
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You can’t even take refuge in the sports section. Here’s the lead of columnist Sally Jenkins’ article at the top of the Washington Post’s Sunday Sports page on May 31:
“Two knees. One protesting in the grass, one pressing on the back of a man’s neck. Choose. You have to choose which knee you will defend. There are no half choices; there is no room for indifference. There is only the knee of protest or the knee on the neck.”
Really? We can’t both respect our flag and treat other people with the dignity due them as beings created in the image of God? All-time great NFL quarterback Drew Brees found out this week that we can’t.
Asked about the kneeling protests during the national anthem, he answered: "I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States." He said the anthem reminds him of his grandfathers, who served in the armed forces during World War II. "In many cases, it brings me to tears thinking about all that has been sacrificed, and not just in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the '60s, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point."
Now, he’s doing the equivalent of Maoist confessional self-shaming. All that’s missing is the dunce hat as he is paraded through the streets and spat upon.
Tens of millions of Americans love our country, live in peace with their neighbors of any race and revere the flag. But, if you feel that Colin Kaepernick’s taking a knee during the national anthem was ill advised, you want police to murder black men.
As the virtuous Ms. Jenkins says, “there are no half choices.” This is what passes for unifying messaging.
The truly divisive people are those who are obsessed with race and focus on it relentlessly in order to, you know, get rid of racism. Think about what this does to children, who start out colorblind. It turns them into racists. The more that we divide people by race, the harder it is to just get along, as Rodney King would say.
It’s especially hard when the media, the schools and corporate America preach constantly about our country’s shortcomings and their contrasting goodness. Legos, for instance, just announced that it will stop marketing police officers or White House themes in its toys and movies.
I opened the Weather Channel app on my phone and up popped a page that said, “We emb(race) the black community.” It was signed IBM/Weather Channel. The folks who peddle climate hysteria are now lecturing us on race relations.
One of the worst lies we’re told is how cops have it in for blacks. While there are undeniably racist cops out there who should be weeded out or prosecuted, the stats don’t back up systemic police racism.
“In 2019, police officers fatally shot 1,004 people, most of whom were armed or otherwise dangerous,” Heather Mac Donald wrote in the Wall Street Journal. “African-Americans were about a quarter of those killed.” The police shot nine unarmed blacks in 2019 and 19 unarmed whites. “A police officer is 18-and-a-half times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.”
Blacks are vastly overrepresented as crime victims and perpetrators. It’s an ongoing outrage, fostered by the Looting Party’s socialist policies that have destroyed the black family and turned cities into crime zones.
Remember this the next time the Looting Party tells you that we’re the problem.
Robert Knight is a Townhall contributor. His website is roberthknight.com.
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