George Floyd’s Death is Not “Normal” in America [Updated]

At The Stream, Josh Shepherd notes that George Floyd is remembered as a Christian “person of peace” who helped perform baptisms on a basketball court. Christianity Today reports that Mr. Floyd “left a gospel legacy in Houston.” By many indications, Mr. Floyd’s tragic death brought to a terrible end the life of a man who spent much of his time helping others. What Mr. Floyd’s death is most certainly not is “normal.” 

[UPDATE: As time has shed more light on this ugly incident, Candace Owens--a black American--offers some powerful insight into George Floyd's life and what are the real problems of black America. And by the way, Ms. Owens VERIFIES EVERYTHING I say here, and EVERYTHING I've said in the past (I've written frequently about the foolish, ignorant views of Colin Kaepernick, and the like), on these issues.] 

After Mr. Floyd’s death, Barack Obama issued a statement. In it he declared that,

It’s natural to wish for life “to just get back to normal” as a pandemic and economic crisis upend everything around us. But we have to remember that for millions of Americans, being treated differently on account of race is tragically, painfully, maddeningly “normal” — whether it’s while dealing with the health care system, or interacting with the criminal justice system, or jogging down the street, or just watching birds in a park.

This shouldn’t be “normal” in 2020 America. It can’t be “normal.” If we want our children to grow up in a nation that lives up to its highest ideals, we can and must do better.

Of course, the implication is that America is rife with racism, and it was this racism that led to the death of George Floyd, and such racism is all too “normal” in America today. Few things are further from the truth than this absurd and dangerous lie. In other words—living up to his title of “America’s Chief Racial Arsonist,” as Tucker Carlson recently described him—instead of dealing with the real problems faced by black Americans, Mr. Obama gave cover to the rioters and thugs that looted, smashed, and burned their way through several American cities recently.

When it comes to America’s “racial arsonists,” Mr. Obama is far from alone. Politicians and pundits across the left helped fan the recent riotous flames burning across the U.S. As I noted recently, not long after the arrest of two men in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, Georgia, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms called the shooting “a lynching” and laid blame at the feet of President Trump. She was given voice for such foolish ignorance by the like-minded leftists at CNN.

Leftists at CNN and The New York Times also gave cover to the rioters and looters by comparing the criminal thugs to those participating in the Boston Tea Party. According to Newsbusters, “CNN Newsroom, sports journalist LZ Granderson seemed to justify the rioting, looting, and arsons happening in Minneapolis and all over the country Friday as akin to the American Revolution. Speaking to host Brooke Baldwin, Granderson compared the violence to the Boston Tea Party and claimed that was a ‘riot’ as well.”

Granderson went on to claim that violent riots are sometimes the way that things get “done” in America. He added,

And there is one other thing I would like to share. There is a lot of people that I've read over social media who say they understand why people are upset but don't agree to taking to the streets and don’t agree with the protests. The Boston Tea Party, despite its name, was not a party. It was a protest. It was a riot. What I’m saying is the very foundation of this nation is based upon what is happening right now.

The New York Times’ Charles Blow shared Granderson’s foolish sentiments.

After Mr. Floyd’s death, in an interview with TMZ—fully masked of course, because who knows what one can catch via the air waves—Democrat Representative Maxine Waters accused President Trump of “dog-whistling” to police officers in order to let them know that what happened to George Floyd was okay, and that they could “get away” with such behavior.

The idea that America’s police departments are—or our nation in general is—filled with racism and racists is one of the ugliest—and as we again see, one of the most dangerous—lies in America. Just so we’re clear, here’s the left’s narrative on the police in America: There’s widespread and institutionalized racism inside America’s law enforcement agencies, and black Americans are especially targeted. This racism has led to the deaths of a disproportionate number of innocent black Americans. In order to stop this heinous activity, we need more gun control legislation, more wealth redistribution (usually in the form of some welfare program), more job and education programs, and thus Americans need to elect more Democrats.

So far, there’s been no evidence that racism was involved in George Floyd’s death. What we do know is this: Minneapolis has LONG been controlled by the Democrat Party. At Powerline, John Hinderaker—a Minnesota resident—notes,

The City of Minneapolis has been governed exclusively by liberals for decades. The current mayor, Jacob Frey, who was quick to denounce his own police department, is a left-wing Democrat. The Minneapolis City Council consists of Democrats and Green Party members who think the Democrats are not radical enough. Under left-wing leadership, Minneapolis has been governed abysmally for a long time.

Replace “Minneapolis” with just about any other large American city, and Hinderaker’s claims are still true. Additionally, the current Minneapolis Chief of Police is a black man. He’s far from alone. Of the 50 largest cities in the U.S., 40% of them have black police chiefs (six of these are women), and another 10% have minority (white female or Hispanic) police chiefs. Thus, half of America’s 50 largest cities—including Minneapolis, Baltimore, and Chicago—have a minority in charge of the police force.

The unpopular fact is that many black Americans are much safer in the presence of law enforcement than they are in many black communities, especially when such communities—because of things like the “Ferguson Effect”—have little or no police presence. The statistics make this clear.

• According to the CDC, the leading cause of death among black males ages 15-34 is homicide.
• According to the FBI, the vast majority (over 90%) of black homicide victims were killed by other blacks.
• For decades, black Americans have been more likely to be victims of violent crime (almost always at the hands of other black Americans) than are white Americans.
• Time and again it is revealed: when police stop policing, crime increases, and black citizens suffer disproportionately.
• The most dangerous neighborhoods in America—all with large (usually majority) black populations—are dominated by Democrats and liberal politics.

What’s more, according to Heather MacDonald, a police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black perpetrator than an unarmed black person is to be killed by a cop. In other words, it’s much more dangerous to be a police officer staring down a black perpetrator than it is to be an unarmed black suspect encountering a cop.

One of the reasons the deceptive liberal narrative about black lives is so doggedly defended and regularly repeated is that the truth about the very real suffering in the American black community runs counter to modern liberal dogma. The biggest reason for the rampant lawlessness and poverty that is so prevalent in many black communities is the breakdown of the family.

It has been widely reported for years now that the out-of-wedlock birth rate among American blacks is around 70 percent. Almost always, mothers are left to raise their children alone. In U.S. cities, where the violence and poverty among U.S. blacks is most pronounced, the out-of-wedlock birth rate is even worse. For example, in Chicago about 80 percent of black children are born to single mothers.

Single-parenthood (the vast majority being single mothers) is linked to a whole host of negative outcomes for children, not the least of which is poverty and crime. The absence of a father in the home is the single greatest cause of poverty in the U.S. and also strongly correlates to criminal behavior in adolescents and young adults. With its perverse LGBT agenda and devotion to the welfare state, the left in America has waged a long and tragically effective war on the family.

The destruction of the family, and all the tragic outcomes that result, is a far greater problem in the U.S. than racism. Yet, where’s the outrage? Where are the protests? Where’s the demand for change? If he were still with us, I think that George Floyd would wonder the same.

Copyright 2020, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

Again: They Kneel for a LIE!

I remember when taking a knee in football was one of the most satisfying things in this life. It used to mean one of two things: a well-deserved respite from the grueling grind of sweltering practices during the hot and humid late summer weather of the pre-season or the final magnificent moments before a looming victory in America’s most popular sport.

I was privileged to play organized football only from 7th grade through 12th grade. (I’ve always said that I had NFL hands, but my place-kicker size, and tackle—or maybe tight-end—speed kept me out of “The League.”) My middle school coach was “Rolling Thunder” Roger Thurmond. He was dubbed such because he was a Vietnam veteran who lost both of his legs and thus (usually) coached from his wheel chair, and because he was perfectly fiery and fierce as he coached us to near-perfection—at least in my 8th grade year when we went 4-1.

Interesting anecdote: I’ve had a broken bone only twice in my life. It was the same bone both times: my right collar bone. The second time it happened was during tackling drills when I was in 10th grade. The first time it happened was when I was wrestling on the playground in first grade. The best part of the story: the same guy broke it both times! Even his name—Bart Black—rings of villainy! And the perfect conclusion to this anecdote: when we slinked off the playground in first grade to let our teachers know something was amiss, we were immediately sent indoors. In addition to robbing us of our playground privileges—and unaware of my broken bone (she thought I was trying to get out of trouble)—our teacher paddled both of us! How I miss those days!

There are more than a few men in the NFL these days who could use a good paddling and more than a few leftist talking-heads who could use a good lesson in the limits of “free speech.” As we must continue to endure the ongoing debate about NFL players taking a knee during the National Anthem, the commentary from sports pundits—who notoriously lean left, especially sports writers—is the most telling.

Of all people observing and commenting on this debate, sports journalists should understand better than most what are the boundaries of their First Amendment rights. This is especially true of sports talk-show commentators on TV and radio. Their ownership won’t allow them to say anything they want on any topic—especially when it comes to things deemed politically sensitive. Otherwise, viewers and listeners may tune out and there might be harm to the “infamous” bottom line. More than one such host has been let go from his or her job, suspended, demoted, or otherwise punished because he or she crossed a line on speech that ownership did not support.

In other words, anyone working for a private company has limits placed on his or her “free speech rights.” Yet as the debate over NFL players kneeling just won’t end, many pundits, NFL players themselves, and even ignorant and hypocritical (the NBA already has a ban on Anthem protests) NBA coaches have made this an issue about free speech. Just another sad consequence of the government’s virtual monopoly on education, I suppose.

No, this isn’t really about “free speech.” If a group of NFL players used the field to protest against same-sex “marriage,” abortion, or some other wicked perversion held dear by the left, I’m almost certain that many of those now yammering about “free speech” would quickly revert to “shut up and play.” Also, where are these First Amendment champions when it comes to real speech infringement—such as what we are witnessing all across America’s college campuses?

What this is really about is why a group of attention-seeking, privileged multi-millionaires have decided to use company time to disrespect their fans and their country. In other words, why do they kneel? If these kneelers decided to heed sound advice and use their own time to make their political and “social” points, would it make their cause any more honest? In short, no. It would make their league more profitable, but their cause would still be foolish and misguided.

Again—as shockingly few are willing to point out—they kneel for a lie! As I’ve noted before, the lie is this:

There’s widespread and institutionalized racism inside America’s law enforcement agencies, and black Americans are especially targeted. This racism has led to the deaths of a disproportionate number of innocent black Americans. In order to stop this heinous activity, we need more gun control legislation, more wealth redistribution, more job and education programs, [and the like] and thus Americans need to elect more Democrats.

The unpopular fact is that black Americans are much safer in the presence of law enforcement than they are in black communities, especially when such communities—because of things like the “Ferguson Effect”—have little or no police presence. The statistics makes this clear.

• According to the CDC, the leading cause of death among black males ages 15-34 is homicide. 
• According to the FBI, the vast majority (over 90%) of black homicide victims were killed by other blacks. 
• For decades, black Americans have been more likely to be victims of violent crime (almost always at the hands of other black Americans) than are white Americans. 
• Time and again it is revealed: when police stop policing, crime increases, and black citizens suffer disproportionately. 
• The most dangerous neighborhoods in America—all with large (usually majority) black populations—are dominated by Democrats and liberal politics. 

What’s more, according to Heather MacDonald, a police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black perpetrator than an unarmed black person is to be killed by a cop. In other words, it’s much more dangerous to be a police officer staring down a black perpetrator than it is to be an unarmed black suspect encountering a cop. And perhaps the most shocking statistic of all: Black men in the U.S. are half as likely to die if they are in prison than if they are not. As Yahoo News noted,

Less than one percent of men (more than half of whom were black) in total died while in prison, and there was no difference between black and white inmates in that regard.

As Yahoo also points out,

If prisoners are better off in prison, then what does that say about the conditions plaguing low-income communities and the services being offered to people of color?

What it says—and what many have long been saying, including some wise members of the NFL— is that, when it comes to violence and crime in our communities we don’t have a skin problem—as in the case with our schools—we have a sin problem.

Specifically, we have a breakdown of the family problem. The fatherlessness that plagues our urban areas—especially black families—has led to a myriad of problems, not the least of which is criminal activity. This is the real problem we should all be on our knees about, and to which high-profile athletes should devote their attention.

(See this column at The Black Sphere.)

Copyright 2018, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

BET is Part of the Problem

Black Entertainment Television (BET) founder Bob Johnson recently angrily lamented the black unemployment rate in the U.S. “This country would never tolerate white unemployment at 14 and 15 percent… somebody’s going to have to pay— 34 million African-Americans are not going to leave this country…Somebody’s going to have to pay for them. Somebody’s going to have to take care of them, and if somebody’s going to have to take care of them that money’s got to come from somebody. And whoever’s paying for it is going to be upset about it, and they’re going to start looking for somebody to blame,” said Johnson.

Johnson recently (late February) commissioned a poll of just over one-thousand black Americans. In spite of lingering high black unemployment, blacks have an overwhelmingly (91%) favorable opinion of President Obama. Though the poll does not ask about democrats in general, blacks, as they have now for decades, continue to vote almost exclusively for democrats.

In other words, in spite of constantly trailing other groups in virtually every economic metric, blacks continue to support a political party and its liberal policies that have significantly contributed to perpetuating poverty within the black community and across the U.S. in general.

The poll also revealed that half of black Americans blamed high black unemployment on the failures of the American education system. While it is good to see blacks acknowledging the failures of America’s public school system, it seems that too many—Bob Johnson included—are blind to the most significant problem within black America: the breakdown of the family.

Today an obscene number—72%—of black children are born to unwed mothers. “The single biggest predictor of poverty is family structure,” wrote Gary Palmer of the Alabama Policy Institute. According to Census data, marriage drops the probability of child poverty by 82%.

Yet what does Bob Johnson’s network glorify and promote? (Though no longer owner or CEO of BET, Johnson is heavily responsible for making BET what it is today.) BET’s programming is replete with sexual, profane, and violent content. BET music videos are especially degrading to women. What’s worse, much of this content is aimed at children and teenagers. Bombarded with such imagery, what are many young black men going to replicate as they mature into adulthood? This is especially true if they don’t have a father in the home to teach (and model for) them the truth.

BET could help fill this void, or, even better, help reduce it. Instead, they are part of the problem.

(See this column on American Thinker.)

Copyright 2013, Trevor Grant Thomas

At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com