It’s time to stop the madness. False allegations and selfish cause do not a solid foundation create. Instead, the distortion fuels hostility and closes minds to the truth that could lead to door opening conversation and actual solutions and hope for the future. Why would any not wish for the latter to become today’s reality?
The past is not the present. Nothing once upon a time can be changed. It can only be learned from. And, in studying the blueprint of the past, we have chance to see what went wrong, why it went wrong, and who made it go wrong, so as to give opportunity to understand and to avoid repeating the bad, while then building upon the good and striving to repair the damage once caused and not forgotten.
Various groups of people have been wronged in one way or another. Sadly, too many rally not against the wrong itself, but rather, to the wrong seen as being done unto them. Some, simply cannot, or will not, comprehend there are others — other groups of people — who have also been wronged and harmed equally and perhaps even more so.
Women were once property first of their fathers and then their husbands. Some were beaten and treated as nothing more than servants to use and abuse. There was a time women couldn’t vote or own property or even have authority over their own children.
Modern day activists often forget about the plight of the women and even the indentured servitude that existed during much of the slavery period. Some whites were also kidnapped and brought to American against their will and sold into service. True, their service was supposed to be for a term and then released, if they survived, but it, too, was slavery and treatment could be beyond harsh to violent and deadly.
“The Grapes of Wrath”, though fiction, gives a glimpse of the desperation and deplorable way some people were treated during that period of time known as the Great Depression. (It also comes in movie form for those who rather not read.) Yet, it seems it is a horror story lost somewhere between then and now.
This is not to compare who had it worse. It is merely to remind that life has been unfair, devastating and horrific to many, many individuals and groups of people throughout the years. To cry foul only for self and blame present day people for things they had nothing to do with, only creates new hostility to go along with the old, and does nothing to solve the actual problems.
Tonight, someone presented me with a picture of a black man hanged. The picture was from long ago. Though it is a sad reminder of what once was — and where we (as a society or individually) should never go again — it should not be held as an example and excuse to react as though it is present day behavior, norm or mentality. It is not!
Many things seem to be forgotten, as present day radical activists spew hate and stoke the fires of discontent and rage with lies, half-truths, and a message blaming the white man for all the ills ever befallen to any of color. It must, after all, be the white man’s fault or the radical activists face losing relevance and all the benefits associated to that self-made relevance.
How often do you hear a radical activist mention that African tribesmen captured Africans from other tribes and sold them into slavery?
How often do you hear radical activists point out that if it is reasonable to hold all present day whites accountable for some long ago whites owning slaves or condoning slavery, that it would then be likewise reasonable to hold all Africans accountable for some long ago Africans capturing fellow Africans and selling them into that slavery?
How often do you hear a radical activist admit the majority of white men did not own slaves or condone the practice?
How often do you hear the radical activist talk about all the white people, who helped slaves escape and fought to abolish slavery?
How often do you see radical activists pointing to the pictures that give example of the overwhelming number of whites that were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and stood with Martin Luther King, Jr.?
How often do you hear the radical activist remind that the Ku Klux Klan purportedly didn’t just hate blacks — that they hated Jews and Catholics as well?
How often do you hear the radical activist speak of “The Murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner” and that it wasn’t just a black man that was killed in Mississippi on June 21, 1964?
Things happened in the past that none of us — regardless of skin shade — had a thing to do with. We weren’t born yet. We weren’t there. We weren’t involved. We had no ability to influence or stop what might have transpired during that horrendous time.
White society is not perfect — nor is the black community.
All law enforcement officers are not without sin — neither is any segment of society. Improvement may need to come from the entire community by changing behavior and attitude — rather than single groups of people being asked to excuse and over-look wrongful behavior of some. It’s a reality that needs to be dealt with and not ignored. Some examples are glaring.
If a police department trains officers to be more “sensitive” to the community it serves and to be mindful of the plight endured or claimed to be endured, while leaving the community gang, drug and violent ridden — what good result is expected? The crime will still be there. The drugs will still be there. The hate and the violence will still be there. And, “The Man” will still be considered the common enemy to hate and distrust.
Blaming law enforcement for ticketing or arresting a large number of persons from a specific group, when that group is the majority in the community, is rather brow raising. Who would they be in contact with most often, if not the majority of people who live in their jurisdiction? But taking a moment to weigh this bit of deduction is not often exercised or pointed out, because it doesn’t fit into the agenda of many radical activists. What if people came to realize that they weren’t targeted racially, but rather, confronted for “actions” that they are responsible for? That would be bad for the radical business.
Before blaming law enforcement for enforcing the law — or claiming they are enforcing it unfairly — people in the various communities need to step back and take a good look at their neighborhood and what is taking place in it. Are there an overwhelming number of arrests? If there was a true and fair study by non-radical activists, might it show that the reason there are an overwhelming number of arrests is because there are an overwhelming number of crimes?
People committing crimes should be the immediate concern of the community, rather than — without proof — crying that the officers unfairly target one group or another. They are, after all, supposed to target those who break the law, regardless of race, gender, nationality or religion.
Using the wrongs of the past as excuse for inappropriate behavior of the present, does nothing to move towards healing or correcting the actual problems of present day. Instead, it is an attempt by many of the radical thinkers to put up a smoke screen to keep the truth hidden and the fire burning. What would happen, after all, if communities did take a good look at self, accept any blame due and came together to define actual problems, followed by fixing and rebuilding and moving ahead to make a better life for all the interested parties?
What would happen? Might radical activists become useless and left in the past where most of their accusations did once exist?
It’s time to put the hands down. It’s time to look around at the madness. It’s time to see who is profiting from the half-truths, false accusations and rage that is being stoked. It’s time to look at the agitators (claiming to be champions of the cause) and honestly determine if the communities are any better or safer than before, or if agitation only caused more harm and hate to grow and threaten to explode in coming days, months or years?
It’s time to put hands down. It’s time to really listen. It’s time to accept responsibility as well as demand accountability. It’s time to define, plan and work together to create safe communities people are proud to call their own. It’s time to talk.
Just blocks from “The Happiest Place on Earth,” in one of the richest counties in America, Demond, Ashley, and their four kids have been living in a cramped, run-down motel room for a year and a half. Between the six of them, they share one bed and one small couch. Surprisingly, they aren’t welfare cases; Demond and Ashley both work full-time at Walmart. But like thousands of other families in Orange County alone, they struggle to save enough to pay the first-month/last-month/security deposit that landlords require. And so they’re stuck.
