CommentsLEANING RIGHT--Well that didn't take long, did it? Attacking the police, who rescue and protect us every day, including and especially black and Latino Americans who live in neighborhood where crime is at its worst?
Those who attacked Vietnam veterans for many years, didn't they? And they're doing it again today, as much as they probably would swallow a bag of rusty nails before they had the moral courage to admit it.
Makes good politics, and makes good money, doesn't it?
But when the legitimate fury of all Americans at the cold, cruel manner of Derek Chauvin's resting of his knee on the neck of a black criminal who was DOWN play out, the questions of whether or not George Floyd is someone we want to promote as an emblematic American black male, and the big money associated with his death, getting entirely ignored?
1) A gigantic payout to the late Floyd's family? Check.
2) Presumption of victimhood of black Americans shot by police officers (including black police officers) when loads of evidence support the conclusion that those shot were anything BUT innocent victims? Check. (I'm not talking about some moronic police officer using her gun instead of a taser).
3) Big gigantic money in the billions by guilt-ridden BLM officials who've misspent that money and have really not done much to helping black American police officers and those living in blighted, dangerous neighborhoods? Check.
4) Ignorance and dismissal of black-on-black violence that has killed more black Americans than any group of police officers, and being told to shove off and ignore them when the rest of America raises their terrible plight and fates? Check as well.
5) Blaming white Americans for the abandonment of black American fathers of their hapless children, and a shredding of any meritocracy, honors classes, and even math as "bigoted" against black American children? Also check.
And those tearing America apart while spitting on law enforcement and our military (including those defending the borders and safety of Americans)? Pretty obvious who those forces are.
It's easy to presume that history will be entirely unkind to those guilty of, and enabling of, police brutality of the past and present.
It's also easy to presume that history will also be unkind to those grifters who've exploited civil rights movements for their own gain, while throwing away the efforts of black Americans discriminated for beliefs shared by most their fellow Americans of all colors.
1) The REAL civil rights leaders of today? Those going against the grain and demanding that America come together to help the prosperity and lifting of ALL black Americans, and the uniting of the nation against those faux-civil rights pimps dividing us to shreds: (LINK: https://www.facebook.com/DailyWire/videos/749723499044097).
2) The REAL civil rights leaders of today? Senator Tim Scott, who proposed police reforms and a database of rogue and misbehaving police officers immediately after the Floyd incident, and whose rebuttal after President Biden's pimping himself to those dividing the nation. "Uncle Tim"? REALLY
3) The REAL civil rights leaders of today? Folks like Ted Hayes, who has fought to preserve the future of black America, and to bring us ALL together as ONE America for years.
4) The REAL civil rights leaders of today? Those promoting the decrepit, history-revising "1619 Project" which is laced with anti-American, anti-Jewish, and anti-sacrifices of Northern soldiers who fought to end slavery in our Civil War of 1860-1865 Instead, a more history accurate "1776 Project" meant to unite us, while acknowledging that black slavery had NO place in a new United States that fought for the freedom of Americans has been dissembled by a President with a more racist history than most politicians.
5) Those protesting the "woke", history-revising education of youths who have no idea of the principles, Constitutional or otherwise, as well as any civics, government organization, or history of the United States government and social history
Anyone reading this should acknowledge that--just as the civil rights efforts of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in the 1960's were decried by reactionary racists--the civil rights efforts of today's morally-courageous leaders are similarly decried by reactionary racists.
There is a New Racism of racial obsession and class division that seeks to demonize individuals who've fought for civil rights for decades...and THEY are the reactionary racists who are undermining our society, and who must be overcome to unite this nation as much as did the civil rights activists of the 1960's.
There is also a reminder in order to remember that discrimination, violence, and jail were the reactionary punishments of those fighting for racial equality, and both political and financial enrichment to those continuing anti-black, pro-jail efforts that extended into the 1990's (that includes our current President, by the way, no matter how much he wants to distance himself from his past racism).
And today? Those fighting for civil rights for ALL black Americans, let alone for ALL Americans, are facing social and economic discrimination, firing from their jobs and educational and media positions, violence, and cancel-culturing today.
Ditto for law enforcement, who are the new, discriminated-against soldiers who've been disrespected and spit upon as much as did Vietnam vets decades in the past.
There was big money in keeping blacks down in past decades. And there is big money in keeping those fighting for the future of all Americans--but especially black Americans--down as well.
Those fighting in the 1960's for civil rights did so without any significant financial or political benefit (and who instead suffered) are today revered for their courage and vision.
Those fighting today for civil rights, and doing so without any significant financial or political benefit (and instead suffering) must be considered for their own courage and vision.
Because those screaming for civil rights, and getting PAID darned well for that screaming, are arguably and likely those who must be overcome for REAL civil rights to be achieved.
We now know where the past dividers and cruel individuals who spat on American vets returning from Vietnam are...because their cruel division and bullying can no longer be denied.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 8-9 years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw
