Tag Archives: race

June 7, 2020 · 21:11

“Harsher Punishment for Parole Violators…and World Peace”

I had fully intended on following up that last COVID post with a reflection on the ridiculousness and ineffectiveness of masks and social distancing, but like everyone else, I’ve been a bit distracted by the nihilistic anarchists burning our major metropolitan areas to the ground.

Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire said it best in an op-ed on June 3, 2020:

…virtually all Americans agree with the following two propositions: first, that it is evil for a police officer to place his knee on the neck of a prone suspect struggling to breathe for eight long minutes; second, that breaking store windows, stealing televisions and shoes; beating business owners; and attacking police officers is wrong.

I have asked dozens of friends on social media who have publicly supported chaos the following question: “What is the endgame here?” At worst, the response is “equality”, which is about as vague as Miss Congeniality’s “world peace”. Many of them declined to answer, and the remainder have said change needs to come from the voting booth. I can only assume that they took Hillary Clinton’s words to heart in 2018, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about. That’s why I believe if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and the Senate, that’s when civility will start again.”

Translation? Vote Democrat, or be wrong.

I took a look at the 26 American cities (and unfortunately, I did not save the article that I got this list from) that first  had protests-turned-riots. Together, these cities represent 31,680,073 people, or 10% of the US population¹ See my data tables: Riot Summary

  • These 26 cities are located in 21 states.
    • Nine states (43%) voted for Clinton in 2016, 12 (57%) voted Trump.
    • The cities in the nine blue states represent 68% of the population of these cities experiencing riots, and 6% of the overall population, in case you were wondering why the Electoral College is so important.
    • Ten governors are Republican, 11 are Democrats. Racial minorities make up 9.5% of these 21 governors. 14% of the governors are women (all Democrat).
    • These 21 states have 42 Senators representing them in Congress.
      • 45% Republican
      • 55% Democrat
  • Of the 26 cities:
    • 73% are led by Democrat² mayors
    • 23% are led by Republican mayors
    • 4% are led by Independent mayors
    • 19% of those mayors represent a racial minority
    • 30% of those mayors are female.
      • 11.5% of those mayors represent a female that is also a racial minority
    • The Chiefs of Police in these cities are:
      • 61% white
      • 38% black
      • 15% female/85% male
    • Representation in Congress
      • Given how large some of these cities are (New York, Los Angeles) and that there is often more than one representative for a city, I went with the first name that popped up when I typed “New York, NY” at GovTrack.
        • 93% of the Representatives in Congress are Democrat; 8% Republican.
        • Representation is split evenly between men and women, white and minority.
          • 31% are female minorities
          • 19% male minorities
  1. Population and demographics, as well as the historical breakdown of mayors and governors by political party as represented in the chart, all courtesy of Wikipedia. Yeah, not my favorite source either, but I don’t feel like sifting through the US Census Bureau’s webpage.
  2. Most mayoral offices explicitly state that they are nonpartisan, but the candidates for office will make their official political party preference known.
  3. According to an article by the National Research Center, women generally make up 15% of police forces but only 3% of top leadership rolls. Ergo, female chiefs are overrepresented in rioting cities.

According to the US Census Bureau, the racial demographics of America are:

White alone: 76.5%
Black or African American alone: 13.4%
American Indian and Alaskan Native alone: 1.3%
Asian alone: 5.9%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.2%
Two or More Races: 2.7%
Hispanic or Latino: 18.3%
White alone, not Hispanic or Latino: 60.4%

Female persons: 50.8%

Now, I’m not a mathematician or a statistician in any way, shape, or form, but here’s my takeaway from all this.
Between posting black squares on social media and defacing war memorials dedicated to black soldiers, I’m being told that the voting booth is where lasting change will occur†. In cities that are rioting, minorities have equal or greater representation in public office when compared to the general racial makeup of America. Women in general are under-represented in the mayor’s office but have equal representation in the House of Representatives. (I did not look at the male/female demographics in the Senate, only political affiliation.) Despite voting for Clinton or Trump in 2016, Democrats hold the majority of leadership positions at the local, state, and federal level.

Here’s the fun part. Of the Democrat-controlled cities:
Atlanta, GA has been run by Democrats since 1879.
Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, and Houston, TX, have been run by Democrats since 1930, 1931, and 1933, respectively.
SEVEN other cities experiencing riots have been under Democrat-control for 50 years or more.

If the way to “fix” systemic racism (another topic for another day) is by voting Democrat, and Democrats have already controlled 11 of the 26 cities studied for anywhere between 50 and 150 years- HOW IS VOTING DEMOCRAT GOING TO FIX ANYTHING? By this philosophy, these cities should be utopias. Instead, Houston, TX (since 1933), Chicago, IL (1931), Minneapolis, MN (1978), Nashville, TN (1951††), Oakland, CA (1979), Albuquerque, NM (2017†††), Memphis, TN (1982), Detroit, MI (1962), and St. Louis, MO (1949) all make USA Today’s list of “25 of the Most Dangerous Cities in America”. 

I believe this is the very definition of insanity.

 

†Assuming the voting booths aren’t burned to the ground. If you can get out to protest, you can get out to vote.
†† Party affiliation of the mayors of Nashville is unavailable prior to 1951.
††† Since 1977, Albuquerque has had only two Republican mayors: 1981-1985 and 2009-2017. The other 30 years featured Democrat leadership.

“It’s not an endlessly expanding list of rights — the ‘right’ to education, the ‘right’ to health care, the ‘right’ to food and housing. That’s not freedom, that’s dependency. Those aren’t rights, those are the rations of slavery — hay and a barn for human cattle.” -Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)

 

 

 

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December 22, 2014 · 22:22

An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear Mr. President,

On July 19, 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted by a jury of his peers of the charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter relating to the death of Trayvon Martin, you said this:

You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.

There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I was a senator. There are very few African Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.

Mr. President, with all due respect, the life Trayvon Martin led, like the life that Michael Brown led, are nothing like the super-privileged, star-studded, hyper-protected lives your daughters lead. Although you and your wife rightly keep your young girls from the public eye, it is no secret that the First Daughters attend a private school with a tuition to rival that of most universities, rub elbows with celebrities, and take luxurious vacations the likes of which the rest of us can only dream. No, Mr. President, if you had a son, that is the kind of life he would lead.

There are other parents out there, though. Parents who can point to the blood on the ground, Mr. President, look you in the eye, and say “This! This is my child, my son! Where is your outrage now, Mr. President? Where are your protests? Where is my son’s justice? Where is our peace?” These are the parents, the siblings, the husbands and the wives, the coworkers who, when you and your political hacks walk by will slowly but surely to a man, turn their backs on you.

On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, freeing the slaves. Between 1860 and 1865, 596,670 soldiers were wounded, captured, went missing, or were killed to prove that all men have the right to be free, regardless of their skin color. Constitutional Amendments 13, 14, 15, 19, 24, and 26 all acted together to level the playing field when it came to citizenship and voting rights for all, regardless of race, skin color, or sex.  Jim Crow laws were abolished fully with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

No, Mr. President, right now, in this country, the biggest problem you have is not a couple of teenage thugs who, most unfortunately, ended up on the wrong side of the law. It is not an extremely obese man who got caught selling loose cigarettes, resisted arrest, and died of the complications thereof. Were their deaths necessary? Of course not. As has been said so often in the last few days, life is precious, no matter whose it is. Mr. President, you have been complicit in inciting riot across these fruited plains, together with your soon-to-be-former attorney general, Eric Holder, and professional race-baiting lap dog, Al Sharpton, even in your silence:

Obama added that he “institutionally” could not say whether he thinks the grand juries should have indicted the police officers, because his comments may compromise ongoing federal investigations. (Huffington Post, 12/08/14)

“It is clear that I think that acts of violence threaten to drown out those who have legitimate voices, legitimate demonstrators, and those acts of violence, cannot and will not be condoned,” (Eric Holder, 11/25/14)

“What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!” (Protesters at an Al Sharpton march, 12/13/14)

Well, Mr. Sharpton. You have gotten your wish. On Saturday, December 21, two members of the NYPD were assassinated while sitting in their squad car in Brooklyn. Their murderer took the coward’s way out and committed suicide before he could be arrested. Yesterday, a Florida officer responding to a noise complaint was shot and run over. In less than 72 hours, Mr. President, seven children are left fatherless. Three families will have to deal with an empty chair at their Christmas table. Where are the marches for their families? The protests? Those two policemen in New York were both of minority races – will you send Mr. Sharpton to eulogize and professionally mourn their deaths? The deaths that he called for?

Every day, those who walk that thin blue line go in knowing they might not come home. It is a thought they merely push to the back of their heads, as they will do what needs to be done, no matter what. Each of them chose to walk that line for a different reason. For some, yes, it’s a way to get back at the people who treated them like crap growing up. For others, it’s a true desire to protect and serve. For others, it’s a legacy, that thin blue line a family crest. Whatever the reason, they will step in front of a bullet, literally, for a stranger.

Mr. President, so often you speak of “hope” and “change”. You, sir, are the leader of this country. The change needs to start with you and your administration. Take them to task. No more words, sir. No backhanded support while communities burn themselves down. No more blanket condolences while allowing Dr. King’s dreams to come apart at the seams. No more silently condoning a return to “separate, but equal”. Start by looking at your Secret Service. They are your first line of defense. The local police are ours. They are MY family. MY brothers. MY friends.

Don’t let your ego or your legacy kill any more of them.

thin blue line

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September 24, 2014 · 17:59

Missed it by *that* much…

I work in the public school system. (I know, I know…). In the People’s Republic of New England, as well as across the United States, there is apparently a new thing this year that requires schools to collect racial and ethnic data on every student in the building. This is not optional. Don’t worry, assures the paper, all information will be kept confidential.

Given the current flux of people moving around in this country, legal or not, I suppose I can see why, from a statistical standpoint, why that data might be wanted now rather than waiting until the next census is taken. Here’s my problem, though. In post-racial America*, the only racial/ethnic data that the government is interested in is whether or not a student is or is not Hispanic. If the student is not Hispanic, they would like to know if he is of Asian, African-American, American-Indian or Alaskan Native, or Pacific Islander descent. For all others, please just check “white”, because, well, screw you, Europe. As I’m going through these sheets, some parents have checked off multiple ethnicities and races because, well, again, post-racial America, y’all. The problem is that the computer only accepts one answer for each student. So when I’m staring at a kid’s sheet that looks like a multiple choice test, it’s been suggested that I look at the kid’s picture, decide what race/ethnicity he best represents, and go with that. (Though being the federal government, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if it turns out the schools get more money for having more minority students.)

Here’s the kicker. Go back to the “about” page and take a good look at that photograph. Blonde hair, hazel eyes… gotta be some brand of European, right? I certainly couldn’t check off any of those boxes indicating I was a racial minority. Well, except, I could. Enter Exhibits A and B:

emma and molly

These are my cousins, and for privacy’s sake, even though they gave me permission to use this photo and I blocked their faces, we’ll call them Sandy and Olivia. Sandy and Olivia are sisters, and they are the closest thing to blood sisters that I have. Our fathers are brothers, and our mothers are sisters. Yes, brothers married sisters. It’s not nearly as confusing as it sounds. We’re talking pretty much same exact gene pool. Anyway, Sandy looks like me, with the blonde hair and dark eyes. Just like our mothers’ side of the family. Olivia on the other hand… well, face it. Anyone could, and understandably would, look at her and think she’s Latina. Nope. Half-Polish, quarter Slovak, and a quarter Scots and Irish. Ever hear of the black Irish? Yup. Bunch of Spanish traders come up the western European coast, decide Ireland is as nice a place as any to settle down (or at least find a warm bed on land for a night or two), and voila! The black Irish are born. You can find us in Scotland, too. Olivia is living proof of that.

Technically, then, I could just as easily mark “Hispanic” on my own theoretical ethnic/racial sheet as I can “white”. Not even “Caucasian”. Just “white”. I have Spanish ancestry, after all. We melanin-challenged individuals are so discriminated against.

 

*If we’re in a “post-racial America” as was much hailed with the election of the first half-black president, why are we even wasting trees on all this? And trust me, it’s a lot of trees, judging by the stacks of paper on my desk.

 

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August 20, 2014 · 02:04

Is racism really the issue here?

A brief look at race relations in America. Please answer the following questions to yourself:

  1. Should reparations be made to African-Americans by the American federal government or the state governments of any Confederate or border state to make up in some way for the crime of slavery?
  2. In your opinion, is it fair that African-American musicians, sports figures, and the community in general have a sort of stranglehold on the term “nigger”, which has long been accepted as derogatory? Why or why not?
  3. In light of high-profile cases like those of Rodney King, George Zimmerman, and Michael Brown, is it understandable for African-Americans living in the United States today to fear or hate white people?
  4.  In terms of race relations and crime, which is a bigger problem today – white-on-black crime, black-on-white crime, white-on-white crime, or black-on-black crime?
  5. Should a person’s age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, or creed have any weight or bearing when it comes to being admitted to college or hired for a job?
  6. Is racism in any way, shape, or form ever okay?
  7. Do you feel that any of these questions were “leading”, that is, suggesting that you give a certain opinion, thought, or idea?

In the days since I last visited the events going on in Ferguson, MO, I would like to say that things have improved. Since I can’t, and since I’ve been accused of being too out of touch because of my “white privilege” to know “what it’s like”, I decided to take a step back and poke the bear again because, why not? As if being a lilly-white blonde and writing the word “nigger” without all sorts of asterisks or “- word” type quotes wasn’t enough.

The MSM (main-stream media), Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Eric Holder would have us believing that incidents like this happen All. The Time. That young black men are routinely getting gunned down by gun-happy, racist white cops simply because they’re black. I doubt it. If that were the case, Ferguson would not be limited to Ferguson. People from other towns and cities would not be flocking to this suburb of St. Louis to cause mischief and mayhem – they would be busy causing it in their own backyard. No, the Brown case is rare, which is precisely why it is national news.

Think about it. What’s a typical story in your local paper? I’ll pick a happy one from mine. Local Senior Commits to Play Division I Baseball at State University. You’re not going to see this kid’s name in the New York Times, or HuffPo. Rush Limbaugh, The Daily Show, and Rachel Maddow won’t be discussing him for a week and a half, analyzing his batting average, his RBIs, ERAs, or his pitching speeds. He won’t be a hot topic on ESPN, and he won’t be showing up in a RE2PECT commercial. Why?

It’s not rare. It’s not unusual. It’s not significant. Outside our little local sphere, no one cares.

Outside our little local sphere…

If black people were getting gunned down by white cops daily, there’d be a national outcry.

Black people are gunned down by other black people by the dozen on a weekly basis in Chicago and even Chicago barely blinks.

There aren’t. And there isn’t. That’s why the likes of those race-baiters listed above are all free to converge on Ferguson.

So here’s what I would suggest: If they (meaning the MSM and the Powers that Be) are so certain that black people and white people can’t get along, why don’t we take each individual town, draw a line down the middle of it, and we’ll have the blacks live on one side and the whites live on the other. There can be “blacks-only” and “whites-only” schools, restaurants, libraries, stores, you name it. Each side can elect a white mayor and a black mayor, a white city council and a black city council, we’ll have white churches and black churches and everything will be —

What? We can’t have that, you say? Segregation is illegal? But I’ve heard that very thing suggested! Hire black cops, because apparently black people only understand black people! (I was pretty sure that we all spoke English, but maybe I was wrong.) Elect a black president! A black attorney general! White people just don’t get it. They have their white privilege, after all.

Yet… we have a black president, a black attorney general. A Congressional Black Caucus. Al Sharpton himself has descended upon Ferguson. Black people from all over have come to celebrate the life of Michael Brown… by looting, destroying, and burning.

racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2
:  racial prejudice or discrimination

Still, the leaders of the black community blame white people. We have become so poisoned by the liberals’ historical narrative that we only recognize racism when couched in terms of whites vs. blacks. We completely miss, or make attempts to justify, “reverse” racism, which is the same. A rose by any other name may still smell sweet… or like tear gas, as the case may be of late.

I may make myself a marked woman for this, but the truth must be said. Look around. We’ve elected a liberal black president (twice) and the country is in the gutters. We are surrounded by liberal black leaders, who are in turn surrounded by liberal white leaders.

Racism is their means of staying in power. Racism is not the problem.

Liberalism is.

Vote conservative.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

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August 17, 2014 · 17:13

Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gunfight

“I was watching the Weather Channel because I was going to fly down south when Hurricane Floyd was out in the Caribbean and so this is what they said, the information: Hurricane Floyd would be hitting the coast of the United States in five days and that it would hit somewhere, somewhere between Miami and New England. Why did they bother… why the f*** open your mouth? Why not just say Hurricane Floyd is coming… we’re going to go to a commercial.” -Lewis Black

If you have a statement to make, what’s the best way to go about it? Do you throw a temper tantrum, complete with curing, kicking, and shrieking like a ban-sidhe to get your point across? Or do you calmly present your points, provide examples and counter examples, to win your opponents over to your way of thinking? In an argument, which type or person would you rather deal with?

Last Saturday, 9 August 2014, two young men in Ferguson, Missouri were stopped by police. A scuffle ensued, during which eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer. At the time of the incident, those were the only facts that anyone -media, family and friends of the deceased knew for certain. As such, those should have been the only facts reported on.

However, the media chose to seize on the fact that the deceased was black and the officer who shot him was white. Despite living in a post-racial utopian society brought forth by the election of B. H. Obama, a candlelight vigil for the deceased rapidly turned into a violent free-for-all in which many citizens felt free to riot in the streets and loot and destroy local businesses in the name of “justice”.

Ferguson-riots-USA

 

Riots-in-Ferguson-mikebrown3

In case anyone had forgotten, rioting and looting are crimes. Yes, we have a Constitutional right to protest, but it must be done peacefully. I’m failing to see anything peaceful about arson, robbery, destruction of private property, et cetera. The gentleman pictured above must have an inkling of that as well, as he has covered his face from the security camera. The police responded in kind, using smoke canisters and tear gas to push back the crowds.

Here is the very, very simple reason why this post is entitled “You Don’t Bring a Knife to a Gunfight”. Ferguson is burning. These people, and for the ones doing the rioting and looting, I am using that term very, very loosely, are out for blood. We saw this in 1992 with the Los Angeles/Rodney King riots, and we saw it again in California in the 1990s when a group of bank robbers out-gunned local police departments. The robbers had Kevlar vests, AK-47s, grenades, mortars, you name it. The PDs had their regular side-arms and… that was it. They were hopelessly out-gunned by these bank-robbers. They were screwed. It took hours to get them properly armed. They needed that riot-gear, those heavier weapons, the armored vehicles. Those cops, because the local populace was afraid of their cops carrying an unnecessary show of force, were in serious danger when the bad guys (who don’t give a damn about unnecessary shows of force) showed up with a rather impressive show of force.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I started this with a quote from comedian Lewis Black. It illustrates the absurdity of the news these days. Even when there is nothing to report on, they will report on it, often whipping the populace up into a frenzy. That is exactly what happened in Ferguson. Various news sources took what little information they had, added every rumor they’d heard and a few they just made up, and spit it out for public consumption. A week later, we have everyone from the POTUS to Al Sharpton playing the race card (again), two police units that are having a very hard time getting their job done, and a city aflame.

One can’t help but wonder if all this couldn’t have been avoided if the news media hadn’t just reported on the basic facts and let the police departments do their job?

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