If the belief within the black community is that BLM is helpful and that racism/police remain major problems, that in itself suggests far bigger issues. Who did BLM help and how? Crime spiked in the aftermath of reactions to George Floyd and the fallout was far more harmful to black Americans than to anyone else. And that's not going to change as states like Illinois prepare to usher in the SAFE-T law and other jurisdictions turn suspects loose as soon as they are booked.
Clifton's commentary acknowledges "overt racism has mostly disappeared," but here we are, with racism as the ready made excuse for any outcome not to a black person's liking. There is no credible argument to be made that life today is no better than it was 50-100 years ago. No one was talking about diversity then. No one was lowering standards in order to increase black enrollment or black participation in certain professions. An American Bar Association committee wants to ban the LSAT, a move that mostly says "we don't think black student can measure up," which is a horrible indictment of these young folks. What happens when they're done with law school and face bar exams? Will those be banned, too, in the name of whatever this is? Lastly, the evidence re: police violence shows the exact opposite of the claims that led to rioting, but those figures are inconvenient, so they're ignored. Perhaps the more cogent argument is that "you're not a victim; stop acting like one," but that would deprive the various hustlers and grifters of power and a means of making a living.
It's almost impossible to not look at the findings of the Pew polls and NOT correlate them to voting patterns. That's quite the nice plantation Team Blue has built across urban America and into smaller states with large minority populations. School systems are failing black students, yet which side adamantly opposes choice? Crime is out of control, yet which side hand waves concern about it? The border impacts lower-skilled black men as much as anyone, yet which side is happy keeping it open?
At some point, reality compels a person to acknowledge that none of us can change the past and that today is far, far better than yesterday or the day before. Until that occurs, nothing positive will follow. When might that happen? When will people who tell me that slaves, their ancestors, built the country take pride in and ownership of what was built? As Glenn has noted repeatedly, the Western tradition is his, and black America's tradition, too, just as much as it is for me, the son of immigrants. The past cannot be a perpetual crutch, especially among people who had nothing to do with it, and eventually, racializing everything is going to spawn backlash.
You said: "Crime spiked in the aftermath of reactions to George Floyd and the fallout was far more harmful to black Americans than to anyone else." I think this last requires some clarification.
The "fallout" occurred in many geographical areas as well as in organizations far and wide in the USA and around the world. Only in a very restricted sense were black Americans "harmed" by the ensuing "racial reckoning" brought on by the Floyd affair. Certainly, police pullback and fearful politicians allowed certain criminal elements in black communities free-er (not free) reign to maraud and predate their largely black victims with little fear of apprehension or prosecution. The victims were left to deal with the unrest and vastly more dangerous environments as best they could. (Another example of the truism: no one is coming to help you—be prepared to defend yourself.)
That said, the "racial reckoning" shifted the locus of power from horrified whites driven by racial guilt to a too-willing black grievance class eager to increase their own power over and access to hitherto restricted centers of authority and high social status. The DEI "industry" was born and has been growing like an aggressive cancerous tumor ever since. Statements coming from every school district, corporate board, and cultural organization in the country and beyond declaring solidarity with a stricken "black community" and a mission to right the wrongs of history were like snowflakes in a blizzard. And when "free" gifts are offered, there will always be takers.
I'd argue that the power shift in American race relations post-Floyd is one of, if not the most significant developments since the civil rights revolution of the 1960s. It is now axiomatic (and the law in some states) that black "representation" be increased at all levels in American society with population proportionality the default goal, regardless of the qualifications or efficacy of the individuals tapped to fill such newly available positions. The post-Floyd landscape certainly has its share of innocent black victims among the carnage. However, I'd wager there are more (and more socially important) winners than losers among American blacks and many more white and other non-black losers now and in the future, than can be counted, should they even matter enough to be enumerated (they don't and won't).
Yes. Policing has really been damaged throughout the Western world and crime has spiked everywhere, and people of all races are effected. The goal of communism is to destroy the West. So of course they use race or sex or sexual orientation or whatever else they can to do destroy all Western institutions and they have had a lot of success.
If the belief within the black community is that BLM is helpful and that racism/police remain major problems, that in itself suggests far bigger issues. Who did BLM help and how? Crime spiked in the aftermath of reactions to George Floyd and the fallout was far more harmful to black Americans than to anyone else. And that's not going to change as states like Illinois prepare to usher in the SAFE-T law and other jurisdictions turn suspects loose as soon as they are booked.
Clifton's commentary acknowledges "overt racism has mostly disappeared," but here we are, with racism as the ready made excuse for any outcome not to a black person's liking. There is no credible argument to be made that life today is no better than it was 50-100 years ago. No one was talking about diversity then. No one was lowering standards in order to increase black enrollment or black participation in certain professions. An American Bar Association committee wants to ban the LSAT, a move that mostly says "we don't think black student can measure up," which is a horrible indictment of these young folks. What happens when they're done with law school and face bar exams? Will those be banned, too, in the name of whatever this is? Lastly, the evidence re: police violence shows the exact opposite of the claims that led to rioting, but those figures are inconvenient, so they're ignored. Perhaps the more cogent argument is that "you're not a victim; stop acting like one," but that would deprive the various hustlers and grifters of power and a means of making a living.
It's almost impossible to not look at the findings of the Pew polls and NOT correlate them to voting patterns. That's quite the nice plantation Team Blue has built across urban America and into smaller states with large minority populations. School systems are failing black students, yet which side adamantly opposes choice? Crime is out of control, yet which side hand waves concern about it? The border impacts lower-skilled black men as much as anyone, yet which side is happy keeping it open?
At some point, reality compels a person to acknowledge that none of us can change the past and that today is far, far better than yesterday or the day before. Until that occurs, nothing positive will follow. When might that happen? When will people who tell me that slaves, their ancestors, built the country take pride in and ownership of what was built? As Glenn has noted repeatedly, the Western tradition is his, and black America's tradition, too, just as much as it is for me, the son of immigrants. The past cannot be a perpetual crutch, especially among people who had nothing to do with it, and eventually, racializing everything is going to spawn backlash.
Hear! Hear! Excellent points made all around.
You said: "Crime spiked in the aftermath of reactions to George Floyd and the fallout was far more harmful to black Americans than to anyone else." I think this last requires some clarification.
The "fallout" occurred in many geographical areas as well as in organizations far and wide in the USA and around the world. Only in a very restricted sense were black Americans "harmed" by the ensuing "racial reckoning" brought on by the Floyd affair. Certainly, police pullback and fearful politicians allowed certain criminal elements in black communities free-er (not free) reign to maraud and predate their largely black victims with little fear of apprehension or prosecution. The victims were left to deal with the unrest and vastly more dangerous environments as best they could. (Another example of the truism: no one is coming to help you—be prepared to defend yourself.)
That said, the "racial reckoning" shifted the locus of power from horrified whites driven by racial guilt to a too-willing black grievance class eager to increase their own power over and access to hitherto restricted centers of authority and high social status. The DEI "industry" was born and has been growing like an aggressive cancerous tumor ever since. Statements coming from every school district, corporate board, and cultural organization in the country and beyond declaring solidarity with a stricken "black community" and a mission to right the wrongs of history were like snowflakes in a blizzard. And when "free" gifts are offered, there will always be takers.
I'd argue that the power shift in American race relations post-Floyd is one of, if not the most significant developments since the civil rights revolution of the 1960s. It is now axiomatic (and the law in some states) that black "representation" be increased at all levels in American society with population proportionality the default goal, regardless of the qualifications or efficacy of the individuals tapped to fill such newly available positions. The post-Floyd landscape certainly has its share of innocent black victims among the carnage. However, I'd wager there are more (and more socially important) winners than losers among American blacks and many more white and other non-black losers now and in the future, than can be counted, should they even matter enough to be enumerated (they don't and won't).
Yes. Policing has really been damaged throughout the Western world and crime has spiked everywhere, and people of all races are effected. The goal of communism is to destroy the West. So of course they use race or sex or sexual orientation or whatever else they can to do destroy all Western institutions and they have had a lot of success.