I am having a hard time figuring out what to say regarding the murders in Charleston. While I am leery of hate crime laws, this fits the definition perfectly.
How many times have I said that white racism is the least of the problems facing American blacks? How many times have I complained about the trivial charge of racism leveled at whites and police?
Now comes this horrific incident, and we all have to pause and think hard about the racial situation today in America.
I still think that this one killer is part of a lunatic fringe that does not represent white society. I have said before that white racists are powerless to keep black people down. Fifty years ago, they could, but not now.
But they can kill black people, as proved in Charleston.
I am encouraged by the reaction of the police who responded and within a day had their man in custody. Contrast that with say, the murder of Medgar Evers in the 1960s. It took decades to achieve justice in that case.
I am encouraged also by how the white and black communities in Charleston have come together much as Jasper, Texas came together after the killing of James Byrd. Justice was quickly brought to Byrd's killers. Jesse Jackson was told that his services were not needed. Hopefully, the folks in Charleston will send the same message to Jackson and Al Sharpton when they come trapsing down to Charleston. Sharpton has no grounds for his "No justice-no peace" nonsense in this case.
I am not so encouraged by the comments of South Carolina politician J. Todd Rutherford, who lashed out at Fox News with the blood libel that the killer took his inspiration from Fox. Who at Fox News has ever verbally given thought to anyone about "blacks raping white women"? Nobody. Rutherford's comments are irresponsible and reprehensible.
I honestly don't know how to conclude this piece. For the individual American, all we can do is to resolve to be nice to each other. It will be much harder for whomever is the next president. That person will have make bringing the people together a top priority. The current president, for all the high expectations and hopes, has failed in that regard.
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3 comments:
Even though Obama and Hillary have made some inflammatory statements, I agree with Gary that it is encouraging, as well as noteworthy, that, at least to date, the citizens of Charleston, of all races, appear to be handling this tragedy about as well as they can. The so-far absence of race pimps and community disturbances would appear to be connected. Remains to see what happens as time passes.
What needs to be done is to give this ignorant little dude a speedy and fair trial, and then take him out and publicly hang him, like in the old days. They have public executions by beheading in, say, Saudi Arabia, which has a fraction of the crime we do. Another correlation/causal effect??
Looks like the peace is holding in Charleston, at least for now. I guess the race pimps and paid demonstrators/rioters/looters have not showed up, or at least not yet, and maybe they will stay home this time. I can at least be hopeful, although I know the saying about that.
It was interesting, and I believe predictable, that both Obama and Hillary would politicize this tragedy, in terms of both race and guns, essentially before the bodies were cold. This tells you something about the pair.
In my view, they exceed EVERY other politician of any stripe in terms of coldness, ruthlessness, self-absorption, single-mindedness, self-service, etc. It simply reeks of sociopathy somewhere along the line. To paraphrase Vince Lombardi (I believe it was), to these two, politics are not just everything, but the ONLY thing.
So, some politician takes the occasion to trash Fox News, and Gary Fouse takes the occasion to trash the president of the United States of America. Ho hum, politics as usual. Oh, and elwood takes the occasion to trash Vince Lombardi, by taking the quote all my high school gym teachers had over their desks and using it as an analogy to Hillary Clinton's politics.
Other than that, I agree that the State of South Carolina and the City of Charleston have responded magnificently, utterly refuting the killer's hope to start a race war. I haven't even heard Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton put their foot in, and I suspect they realize they would not look good if they opened their mouths.
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