Posted on 07/11/2016 7:27:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
As America stands at the precipice of deadly, coast-to-coast, race wars, this is not the time to mince words. I would rather speak the truth in love, even if it means offending some, than avoid confrontation out of fear of offense. In return, I expect others to be just as candid with me.
I also recognize that, if racial tensions escalate in our nation and more blood is shed, the ones who are likely to suffer the most (and perhaps the longest) are Black Americans. And so, I write this column because I do believe that Black Lives Matter.
Prof. George Yancey, himself an African American, has also urged for open, candid conversations, writing, “Maybe now with people on all sides of the political and racial arguments feeling such pain, we can begin taking the necessary steps to move towards real racial reconciliation.”
It is in that spirit that I write this column, fully aware that I’m not addressing the concerns of Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, or other minorities in our midst, but that is the nature of this article. I trust all readers will understand.
Although I am a White American (more specifically, a White male, identifying more specifically as a Jewish believer in Jesus), I’m not speaking of “us” and “them” in this column. Rather, I’m addressing all of us together, letting the chips fall where they may.
Shall we proceed?
1) White Americans sometimes do not see racism when it is there; Black Americans sometimes see racism when it is not there. If we will take the time to hear one another out, filling in each other’s blind spots, we can move from perception to reality.
2) There is a real reason for Black frustration and anger. When Whites minimize the pain of Blacks or, worse still, claim that they are just being pawns of the media or political leaders, they deeply insult their Black brothers and sisters. Most Whites really do not understand what it is like to grow up as a minority culture, and they cannot relate to the historic suffering of Blacks in America, a history which is not as far in the distant past we would all like it to be.
3) All Black lives matters, not just the lives of Blacks who die at the hands of White cops. White critics have rightly asked, “Where are the rallies and protests when a three-year-old Black child dies from random, inner-city gun fire? And what about the disproportionate number of Black babies killed in the womb, not to mention Blacks killed by other Blacks?” A Black man named Richard wrote on Facebook, “We cannot pick and choose when we decide to make a stand. We're either all in (we must address black on black crime in addition to the murder of innocent blacks) or we're not in at all. We can't let these race baiting politicians further divide us; if you haven't noticed they want a race war. We must stand up and unite, both black and white and whatever other ethnicity and re-claim our freedom.”
4) All rhetoric that leads to violence, let alone that calls for violence, must be categorically renounced and repudiated. Not a few leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement need to do some serious soul searching in light of the intentional, targeted shooting of cops in several states this past week. (Yancey characterizes Black Lives Matter as “a group that pushes its own racialized agenda and expects compliance instead of communication.”) Their irresponsible rhetoric can easily lead to bloodshed.
5) Everyone must work together to address injustice and inequality wherever it raises its head, be it in the courts or on the streets. Blacks would be greatly encouraged if they saw their White colleagues standing up for their cause rather than always taking a defensive posture. Do Whites automatically give the benefit of the doubt to other Whites, assuming Black claims of injustice are illegitimate?
6) It is social suicide to launch a war against our law enforcement agents. The police do a good, important, often thankless, frequently life-threatening job, and without their sacrificial service, our nation would descend into chaos. The few bad cops who are out there are the exception to the rule (and they must be held accountable). Law and order is a good thing, not a bad thing, and as one black caller to my radio show noted (he was a career cop), when the bullets started flying in Dallas last week, the crowds ran from the shots; the police ran towards them to try to take out the killer(s).
7) It is important today to state that All Lives Matter. I understand that if a black man is bleeding to death on the side of the road, having been shot without cause by an irresponsible White cop, it is insulting to say, “Yes, he’s dying, but let’s remember that All Lives Matter.” But when White policemen lay dying in the streets it is insensitive not to say All Lives Matter.
8) There is no comparison between a policeman overreacting and killing someone and another person intentionally targeting policemen for death. I do not believe for a second that white cops get up in the morning and say to themselves, “I hope I can kill a black person today!” Sadly, a black man decided last week that he would murder as many cops as he could. There’s no true comparison between the two, whatever the skin color of the victims or perpetrators. An actual parallel to the evil the black Michael Xavier Johnson reportedly committed in Dallas on Thursday is the mass murder last summer that the white Dylann Storm Roof confessed to committing at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina. In each case, an apparently evil, twisted, racist young man targeted innocent people of another race and murdered them in a cold, deliberate, premeditated fashion.
9) The elephant in the room is the breakdown of the Black American family. This was stressed to me by another black caller to my show. The disastrous, generational effects of fatherlessness are well-documented, and with illegitimacy in Black America at an almost unimaginable high of 74 percent, this is not simply a Black crisis; it is a national crisis. We got into this situation together, and we can only get out of it together.
10) There is far more that unites than divides us. We are, after all, one race, with each of us equally created in God’s image and equally loved by our Creator. And all of us as Americans have the same right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is the devil who wants to divide and destroy us and the Lord who wants to unite and strengthen us. Let us work with the Lord, not against Him.
Speaking now as a White American to my Black American brothers and sisters, I say from the heart: America cannot be great unless you are thriving, and my own life will not be full if your lives are not full.
How about the number 1 conclusion coming first:
White and black Americans do not mean the same thing when they use the word "racism". White Americans mean the racial motivation of discrimination or violence of anyone from a different ethnicity. Black Americans mean any outcome that does not include their favored result.
We cannot talk about racism until we have a mutual understanding of the meaning of the word.
Even worse, the “black family” isn’t leaning on God any more. Maybe He is being dismissed as a figment of “white religion” (though historically, if the example of the Jewish people of that time were normative, one might have expected Jesus Christ to be a swarthy or olive skinned figure, not exactly white, not exactly black).
I can imagine there being a nationwide police strike due to all the crap they’ve been getting.
This of course results in hundreds of thousands of thugs going rampage on all the major inner cities around the USA.
This sense of liberty will greatly embolden them so they’ll try to embark out into the suburbs where many will get mowed down by gun owners.
The nation-wide violence and police-less country will cause the US government to send a nationalized police force around the country and to try to round up guns from everyone-—which is possibly their plan in the first place.
Agree 100%.
Actually, “racism” is a made-up word that means whatever the speaker wants it to mean, and hence means nothing.
Frankly my give~a~shyt meter is busted. Over the course of my life I’ve given blacks far more respect that I’ve ever received in return. Regard, like respect is a two-way street. I was raised to offer the benefit of the doubt but not to ever take crap from anyone.
I am not the one with the problem. I’m not doing anything to agitate or escalate. I’m like the badger, quietly going about his own business. I present no menace...unless you mess with me, in which case if I sense danger and can’t retreat I will do my very best to end you.
Grow up black America.
“Racist” is a word used when somebody is losing an argument.
More Globalist Bull. I see whites and Blacks getting along just fine.
The only place I hear of war is from the media and all their hype to keep you watching.
Yes there are incidents, but that’s NOT the entire country like the media wants you to believe.
Well since God’s isn’t, go to Him and get it fixed.
Well written article, but I take umbrage with a couple of points.
1-Rhetoric regarding violence must not be categorically denounced, specifically if that category regards tyranny. There will come a time when it is required.
2-Stating that we are all one race is fundamentally wrong. We are not all one race, there are three and to deny that belittles any and all efforts towards racial parity. God created many races for a reason and no amount of effort by man will erase that fact. What must be stated is that there are certain differences between the races that may provide a benefit in some arenas but that this is not a negative, nor is it cause to disparage any of a different race. I can freely admit that, though I was an athlete, I lack the ability to excel in athleticism. Though I hold a Master’s degree, I was not a 4.0 student.
Exactly right.
Same goes for the word 'justice'. Example, the Duke lacrosse case. Justice to blacks meant putting those white boys in prison as convicted rapists.
Your words echo with me.
Which (murder/innocent) is so seldom that it is negligible and should be pursued on an individual basis rather than viewed as an ongoing problem.
True. The bottom line for every human being who ever lived is to understand I AM GUILTY BEFORE THE LIVING GOD/WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
God made it so easy by providing ONE way, The Way, His Son. A gift He freely gave that most of humanity wants nothing to do with. What else have they right to expect except HELL (on earth or in eternity)?
Which when mentioned by a white labels him a racist; when mentioned by a black labels him a Tom.
You wish, but it has a definite meaning.
There is hypocrisy in its use, however, on the more-melanin side of the aisle because they are ACUTELY race-conscious. The less-melanin side of the aisle tends, yes, to try to be color blind.
It’s peculiar because I have two cats (neutered toms) one of which is black and one of which is white, and though I don’t know if they are color conscious, I have cat wars that look almost like what is going on in America now. The white cat is lovey and even kisses the black cat. The black cat is sometimes lovey but sometimes gets moods and picks on the white cat. The white cat eventually bites back when this gets bad enough, leaving bite wounds on the black cat. If the black cat can’t learn that a vendetta on the white cat is futile, it will eventually have to go.
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