What does the alleged failure of American justice to deliver a knee-jerk, racist decision in a police killing have to do with elbowing shoppers out of the way to get a cheap, off-brand TV set? Money.
Yesterday, Thanksgiving gluttony segued to Black Friday protests after the Darren Wilson decision provided the excuse sought by the left to further inflame an over-publicized, over-hyped tragedy (see: How Protest Rights Tear Apart Our Just Society). Ironically, this included going after businesses that even liberal politicians understand create jobs. Some were burned and looted. Others were the objects of retribution by Black Friday protesters preferring unjustified outrage to commerce.
Americans who don’t seem to have anything else to do are obviously conflicted over what the problem is they are supposed to be coming out against. Should they protest what they claim are commonplace, racist police killings, do African Americans and other minorities just need jobs to make everything better, or should we refuse to consume during the holidays out of some stupidly misplaced belief that not spending in stores answers charges of nationwide police racism?
Politicians play both sides of the race fence
Are racial profiling and unemployment different problems? While liberal members of Congress condemn what they portray as a racist society, their answer to the problem they are helping to create is the same as their answer to everything else: spend more money. Shortly after the Brown incident, Senator Bernie Sanders suggested that we spend $5.5 billion on a youth jobs bill:
In the wake of continuing unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said today that he will introduce legislation to address the national crisis of black youth unemployment.¹
After the meltdown in Ferguson that followed, Congressman John Conyers suggested:
When you dig deeper into the issues facing communities with particularly poisonous police-community relations – like Ferguson – you generally find major themes of unemployment, low voter participation and educational inequality. Ultimately, we need to ease racial tension by rebuilding our communities in a balanced way where everyone receives equal education, job opportunities, and a fair shot at the American Dream.²
So is the problem no jobs, lack of education, or racist cops? Regardless of the answer, how do you rebuild a community that responds to a perceived miscarriage of justice by burning down businesses that provide employment? Those enjoying both violent and peaceful protests either don’t understand or don’t want to understand that work, money, and upward mobility are connected. Members of Congress need to acknowledge the same thing, instead of telling their constituents that their problems stem from big government not spending enough to take care of their needs.
Is the problem black Americans or racist police?
It is difficult to understand how jobs will fix the problem of racist police Democrats have been talking up since last August. If jobs are the solution, then we must draw the conclusion that unemployed black men are troublemakers. On the other hand, if America is indulging in police killings because of race, social class shouldn’t make a difference. The police should be wantonly shooting African Americans with no regard to social class. Neither explanation makes much sense, but if we follow the logic of liberal bombast that’s where we end up. One solution would be for politicians and activists to keep their mouths shut. For all the time they spend talking about healing the racial divide, they are only making it worse. Why might that be?
Worst Political News This Week published November 29, 2014.
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