How would Martin Luther King, Jr. have felt about African American communities where his children would have to be afforded safe passage so they wouldn’t be harmed or even killed on their way to school?
Most gun violence is not interracial, but when it is white on black it makes the headlines. After weeks of stirring the racism and discrimination pot after the Zimmerman decision we still aren’t hearing much truth about gun violence, probably because the truth violates political correctness and inevitably brings charges of racism (see: Racism is Great for Government).
School closings and safe passage through war zones.
Chicago’s school system is still in the headlines after weeks of weeping and moaning about school closings, much of it coming from teachers’ unions pushing Illinois schools to destitution.
Last year Chicago made national news with a teacher’s strike. This year school closings mean kids have to be chaperoned through war zones within their own communities. If we are to believe what we hear, the gun violence problem is getting worse and something has to be done now. Is this the truth, or something else?
Guns for grants?
Illinois Congressman Danny Davis recently proposed H.R. 3018, the Gun Violence Prevention and Safe Communities Act of 2013. The bill would raise $600 million for community grants with taxes on firearms and ammunition because:
Gun violence in America has reached epidemic proportions and we cannot, as a nation, any longer tolerate the on-going social and economic costs of inaction.¹
Gun violence is good for social spending and we keep being told that the problem is out of control. The numbers tell a different story. Despite opportunity-mongering in Washington after a handful of sensationalized events like the Trayvon Martin shooting, firearm killings dropped 39% from 1993 to 2011.² Among African Americans the rate of firearm killings was 14.6 per 100,000 in 2010, alarming compared to 1.9 per 100,000 for whites and 4 per 100,000 for Hispanics, but way down from 30.1 per 100,000 a decade ago.³
King would be appalled.
The March on Washington anniversary recalled a speech that spoke of rights, discipline, and justice. How much of that do we see within the communities that make programs like Safe Passage necessary?
The outrage at the Zimmerman verdict showed how far politicians are willing to go to mischaracterize an isolated event and use it to try to force all manner of unwarranted government intervention. Would Martin Luther King, Jr. have approved of how we tolerate violence within black communities, or would he be appalled at how responsibility is being shifted by charges of racism, inequality, and discrimination?
No one wants to admit it, but white on black violence is sensational and politically useful. It puts politicians in front of microphones. Incidents involving black on white violence, like the recent school bus beating and the murder of a veteran in Spokane, show up in the headlines for a time and then fade away. Black on black violence? We expect it.
Dr. King would have been appalled.