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(Continued from Previous Page) Blacks in America, on the other hand, well, their responses look a lot more like crimes of passion. Pushed to the end of their tether by ONE MORE STORY of another dead brother or sister who didn't come out on the other side of police brutality or excessive force alive, they strike out emotionally. Blindly. Senselessly. Violently.
The protagonist of the film is sympathetic. Blacks aren't.
And why is that? Why do we, as a society, who cheer for her, jeer at them? Fear them?
Maybe it is because we know her story, and what she endured. Maybe we admire her for being all she is, in spite of what she went through. Maybe we admire her for surviving at all. Maybe we doubt that we would have held up so well as she did. Maybe we like that she punished the guilty, that the object of her rage was specific, individual, and not us.
Which begs the question, why don't we cheer for the blacks in Cincinnati? Join them? We aren't demonstrating, except for demonstrating that we don't care. No wonder they are angry. Why must they protest alone? Why aren't we angry? Why aren't we joining peaceful protests with them?
Well, maybe it is because we don't know their stories, or what they've endured. Maybe we don't know that their very survival, their forbearance up until this point, in spite of all they've been through, is something worth admiring. Maybe we think we would have held up better. Maybe we think we are better than them. Maybe we think they are attacking the innocent.
Or maybe, just maybe, we've believed the hype, that there is no racism anymore in America -- at least not any racism of any consequence -- that has any effect, or breaks any law. Maybe we believe institutional racism is a thing of the past; that there are "individuals" racists, only. Maybe it pleases us to believe that, because it frees us from the moral imperative of acting; because it frees us from the moral responsibility that "we the people" bear for the actions of our government and its agencies and agents.
We have a good excuse, I suppose, for believing that racism is a historical reality, but not a modern problem. We've been propagandized for years on the subject, by the steady flow of political and media rhetoric claiming:
"Whites are the victims of government-sponsored reverse racism. Affirmative action means unqualified black applicants are taking jobs, contracts, and university admissions from qualified white applicants."
(That's it! This "leg-up" would help explain why blacks have so much power, so much money, so much control over the national media and culture...)
"Blacks are wallowing in their "victim" status, are part of the "cult of victimhood," a cult which eschews personal responsibility in favor of blaming others for problems of their own making."
(Absolutely. Unless a black person is being victimized at an exact point in time, he should keep his mouth shut, and quit living in the past. America, as a body, should demand that we forget the past and move on. That's the only way we can ever learn anything -- by forgetting history.)
"We live in a meritocracy. If blacks aren't getting ahead, it means they don't deserve to. Either they aren't working hard enough, or sacrificing enough; or they aren't smart enough, or educated enough, or capable enough."
(Yep. A meritocracy. George W. Bush is the best man for the job he's in, right? It's not like he got where he is based on his family connections, his family money, or white skin privilege. A black man with his arrest record and intellect could EASILY become President of the United States, too.)
"If a black person who is shot by police is shot by BLACK police, that can't have anything to do with race."
(Agreed. There is no such thing as self-hate in any community. Who ever heard of anything so silly? I mean, really! It's not as though blacks are brought up in the same culture as the rest of us, are shown the same images, or are propagandized in the same way.)
"Blacks are a greater threat to blacks than white cops are."
(That sounds right to me. And since we don't pay cops that kill black people, anymore than we pay black criminals to do their job, we have no moral responsibility to correct anything. Cops and criminals should be judged by the same standard, and spoken of in the same breath. I agree.)
Police do a tough job, and they have good reason to be afraid, so mistakes are bound to happen.
(The chaos of human endeavors and institutions? That makes sense. The world is a disorderly place; is so subject to chance. Which explains perfectly why we hear stories about unarmed wealthy white women reaching into their handbags to retrieve their lipstick, and being accidentally shot to death in the streets, too. The law of averages. I mean, there are lots more white ladies than there are black men, so you'd expect to hear that, right?)
RIGHT.
NEXT: JANE AUSTEN'S LETTER OF SUPPORT
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