Posted on 05/14/2015 10:37:30 AM PDT by Kaslin
Attorney General Loretta Lynch has announced a Justice Department investigation to determine whether the Baltimore Police Department’s practices are unconstitutional and violate civil rights; in short, whether or not the police force there is racist. It will come as no surprise if the investigation concludes that it is, because accusing the department of racism diverts attention from the city's real problem: Baltimore, a laboratory for liberal policies, is a failed city that has shortchanged the poor for decades.
Baltimore has received over $1.8 billion in stimulus money from the Obama administration, including $467.1 million to invest in education and $26.5 million for crime prevention. Still, parts of the city remain mired in poverty and despair. There are 16,000 vacant buildings in Baltimore and an unknown number of "vacant" fathers. Between 2000 and 2010, Baltimore lost 5 percent of its population. The liberal solution of raising taxes hasn't worked. Many of those who could escape the city have.
"Every single major urban center in America is run by Democrats -- more specifically, liberal progressives, black or white," writes former Congressman Allen West.
It is undeniable that it is liberal policies that have failed -- from anti-poverty programs, to dysfunctional schools from which they refuse to let the poor escape because of the political donations they receive from teachers' unions.
Yes, Maryland has a history of racist policies, from once denying blacks the vote, to banks red lining minority neighborhoods so people of color could not get mortgages, but many other states share this history. We need to move forward and find a better way, rooting out racist policies wherever they exist. The major problem for the left, however, is that they continue to concentrate on failure and poverty, rather than on success and prosperity. When self-sufficiency is encouraged, you get more of it; when it is ignored or discouraged, you get less. Attacks on "the rich" have done nothing to improve the lives of the poor.
If politicians were sincere about helping people escape their bad circumstances, they would flood neighborhoods with people who tell stories about how they escaped similar circumstances by refusing to accept a life of poverty. Inspiration is the starting point for improving lives. If one hears only about racism and injustice, nothing is gained, but if one hears about alternative paths to a productive life, painful history does not have to repeat itself.
As the song says, "It's not where you start, it's where you finish."
A Johns Hopkins University study by sociologist Karl Alexander found that what "really makes a difference between prison and college, success and failure, sometimes even life and death -- are family and money."
Alexander's stories of people who managed to escape poverty should serve as examples for those left behind. One is about Monica Jaundoo, now of Parkville, Md., about 10 miles outside Baltimore. Jaundoo, a single mother of two, grew up in deplorable surroundings, but vowed her own children wouldn't. She got a job and managed to get them in better schools. They are both on the honor roll and the older one is looking at colleges.
There are many similar stories. Why aren't they the focus of attention instead of racism and increased spending on failed government programs?
The answer is a cynical one, I know, but arguably true: Liberal Democrats might lose a core constituency if more people became independent, or not as dependent, on government.
Republicans and conservatives have a great opportunity to move into Baltimore and other inner cities with a message of hope and success. They might not initially get votes for their efforts, but they will have the satisfaction of improving lives, something government programs and civil rights investigations cannot hope to do.
All American problems are rooted in Democrats ..... DEAL WITH IT
Baltimore - we have a black President appointing a black Attorney General to investigate the black-lead police force of a black city with a black mayor about their racism - against blacks.
I think I’m going to choke on the irony of this whole thing.
They should raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. That’ll fix it.
Yeah, that’s the ticket!
You said it
If your community HAS racist police....then THEY were HIRED by a RACIST HR department.
P E R I O D!
It’s an HR problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only $15?
Well, I’d like to make it $100 an hour. Then they’d all be “rich” and life would be a big party. No more looting, woot, woot!
But $100 an hour won’t be politically doable until it is worth the same as 10 2015 dollars. So we’ll have to wait until, probably, 2019. :-)
“Baltimore, a laboratory for liberal policies, is a failed city that has shortchanged the poor for decades. “.....
The “investigation” need go no further. Enough said.
might lose a core constituency - never happen!
-PJ
To paraphrase John Wayne and Dean Wormer, “Stupid and nasty is no way to go through life.”
Liberal logic: Evil Whitey moving out of big cities created poverty and made minorities do bad things. Evil Whitey moving back into the city is also evil and makes minorities poor and do bad things. Lib "logic"....just can't beat it. /s
“A Johns Hopkins University study by sociologist Karl Alexander found that what “really makes a difference between prison and college, success and failure, sometimes even life and death — are family and money”.”Alexander’s stories of people who managed to escape poverty should serve as examples for those left behind. One is about Monica Jaundoo, now of Parkville, Md., about 10 miles outside Baltimore. Jaundoo, a single mother of two, grew up in deplorable surroundings, but vowed her own children wouldn’t. She got a job and managed to get them in better schools. They are both on the honor roll and the older one is looking at colleges.”
What a dope; why doesn’t Karl Alexander acknowledge that hard work (by Monica Jaundoo) and education (for her children) really make the difference? She has a broken family and not much money.
One great result of this Baltimore thing is that since race alone can no longer be blamed (half the cops involved - and the one facing the most serious charges - are black, working in a black-led city, in a country with a mulatto president), some people really are delving deeper - and exposing the lack of education as the cause of many ghetto ills. When that dope in the Trayvon Martin incident couldn’t read cursive, the same issue reared its ugly head.
The scam perpetrated by the teachers’ unions against the American public in general and taxpayers in partiular can’t be concealed forever. Their failure is the primary reason we import Hispanics to replace blacks in the workplace; too many blacks are simply unemployable.
Two Black female BPD jail corrections officers were arrested after video of Baltimore looting showed them taking merchandise from a store. This is the same department that has had several jail guards impregnated by inmates. Members of this department have also been caught smuggling drugs into the jail.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.