Dr. Irma McClaurin,
You are correct. We aren’t fighting insurgents, enemy combatants, enemy forces or terrorists. You could have summed all of those under “enemy combatants”, but that’s okay as we understand you are trying to make an emotional argument. Backyards, streets, nightclubs, and convenience stores after committing a robbery...We noticed the one place you did not mention: their places of employment. Perhaps, if they were at work, helping out the community in some way, or even looking for a job instead of being in these other places we wouldn’t have this problem.
These are not our future scientists, doctors or entrepreneurs. They are dead. They were not killed in the process of trying to better themselves. They were killed at all the places you mentioned. They weren’t killed doing volunteer work around their neighborhood. They weren’t killed in a college classroom or learning a trade. They weren’t killed running a small business out of their garage while waiting for their big break. They have no role in the future, Doctor, big or small. And whether or not they deserved it, they are dead.
The truth is, Doctor, we all make decisions that impact our future. We all come from different backgrounds, and it is a fact that some have to work harder than others to be successful. In the end, we are stronger for it. For some of us, it’s being born into a poor family. Abusive relationships, poor early education, and in some cases genetics only make up a few of many reasons that can be claimed as excuses for refusing to try at life. We could delve into black culture and talk about the non-existent family unit, the negative impact of gangster rap music and government interference. The only problem is we aren’t writing a book, but only responding to your letter.
Doctor, as this letter is being written from Afghanistan, we must disagree with you. It is very easy to distinguish between Ferguson and here. Anyone with the tiniest amount of intelligence can easily point out the differences. One of the most glaring differences is that Afghans would never destroy their own village in response to a disagreement with local officials, much less use it as an opportunity to loot. Another interesting fact that points to how spoiled and pampered our entitled class is that they obviously had the time to protest. In Afghanistan you do not get paid for not working. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. That is a principle lost to our overweight, unemployed and so-called mistreated black sons and daughters. Just watch the news coverage. Based on the national average, at least twenty percent of those protesting are unemployed. I didn’t see any malnutrition on the streets of Ferguson. Again, I understand loosely using comparisons and completely unrelated similes to garner an emotional response.
The lengths one would go to in order to call black criminals being killed by police an epidemic is baffling. In this Ferguson incident, you have a white police officer who, during the execution of his duties, was assaulted by a black man. It ended with the unfortunate death of the young man. It was a result of the young man disregarding authority and refusing to get out of the street when asked to do so by the police officer. If the young man had been a respectable citizen, he simply would have moved to the sidewalk instead of assaulting the officer. Nobody wants to hear this, however. At the same time, while claiming the rights of the young man were violated, you want to sentence the officer without a fair trial. No? If the officer is found innocent, what has the black community already promised to do? You’ve already sentenced the officer. Furthermore, you’ve sentenced the business owners of Ferguson and likely those around St. Louis to looting and the burning of their businesses.
What is America? Who is America? You’re blaming an abstraction and not anyone or anything in particular. This type of blame is the type one tries to throw to divert attention from where the blame truly lies. The fact is the black man has failed the black man. How do you justify blaming America in general based on police killing black men while at the same time completely ignoring black on black murders which exponentially exceed those committed by police officers? The only explanation is it doesn’t fit into your blame-everything-else-but-the-problem mold.
The never ending complaints of better schools, salaries, teachers, training, youth programs, etc. are falling on deaf ears. Alternatives have been offered to you. You refuse them. Instead you continue to vote for the same people who make you the same promises and have the same good intentions, but never deliver. The promises they have made you for the last fifty years since President Johnson have not produced, have they? Who is to blame for that? Who keeps supporting the very same people every year with no change? America?
Another old crutch that you can’t seem to drop is the slavery, lynching, discouragement, mistreatment and everything else that’s been overused the last fifty years. This is also beginning to fall on deaf ears. People have witnessed the last two presidential elections go to a black man. This would indicate the majority of Americans are not racist. Even with over ninety percent of blacks voting for Obama, he could not have won without the majority of whites. More white men died fighting over slavery than any American conflict in history, so considered dues paid and get over it. The only slave owner in our nation today is the Democratic Party.
Vigilante justice? What do you consider the demanding of a police officer’s conviction under threat of riots? Don’t throw stones, Doctor.
Lest you forget, Doctor, it was the Democratic Party that was pro-slavery. Lest you forget, Doctor, it was the Democratic Party’s Ku Klux Klan that was lynching blacks and infiltrating police departments in order to cover their crimes. Lest you forget, Doctor, it was the Democratic Party who worked against the black community until they realized they could give up their aspirations of returning you to a cotton plantation by convincing you join their political plantation. You do the hard work keeping them in power and in return they take care of you, and promise you protection. Try going rogue, Doctor, and make some principled statements against the Party. See if they don’t figuratively lynch you.
The fact of the matter is the vast majority of police officers are honorable people. To automatically label black police officers as turncoats and automatically senseless shows you are just as much the bigot as you are claiming police officers are. Doctor, these are the same people that will be responding to you residence if or when a criminal decides to do you or your property harm.
We would never respond to your complaints, Doctor, without offering some form of solution. You didn’t seem to have any solution, but chose to only attack an honorable institution. Our law enforcement organizations do need work, but they nor America are to blame for the black community’s problems.
The black community needs to look into a mirror. Black men need to step up and be men. Marry your baby’s momma. Bring back the family. Tell the government to stop holding you back. Don’t listen to the Democratic Party when they tell you that without them you cannot succeed. Think for yourself. Get rid of these so-called leaders such as Sharpton and Jackson. They only bring you down.
Lift up true leaders such as Ben Carson, Alan Keyes, James Golden, Amy Holmes, Clarence Thomas, Mia Love, and Alan West. These are only a few off the top of our head.
These people are worth pointing out to your children and saying, “If you work hard, one day you could be successful like him/her.”
Can you say that about Sharpton and Jackson, your current leaders
