I’ve seen FaceBook posts of White folks apologizing in the most ridiculous ways for ‘systemic racism’. Everything from washing the feet of Black folk, to laying down or kneeling in front of Black people, putting themselves at their mercy, like a vanquished foe that has lost a war. Next step: public ass kissing? I’ve seen further posts of Antifa folks kneeling on a US flag, with the same apologetic posture. Sociologists will have a field day in a few years, trying to explain this nonsense. Let’s dig.
I and several better-suited authors have written extensively on the myth of ‘systemic racism in 2020’. Larry Elder is the foremost, most articulate of these, IMHO. To summarize: pre-1970 United States, you had an excellent case for your argument. Jim Crow laws. Separate but equal laws. Separate, more severe lending practices for Blacks vs Whites, etc. But the tumultuous 1960s brought about astounding, much-needed change–and accomplished their goals. The Civil Rights bills of 1964 and 1965 erased most, if not all, of the codified legal racism in the system. Affirmative Action policies shifted the pendulum swing of hiring, borrowing, business contract granting, and college admissions to the Black community. It became MUCH easier for a person of color to get loans, get admitted to colleges, and get awarded preferential treatment regarding business processes than Whites. In the NBA, they refer to that as a ‘make up call’—missed the last one, so I’ll make it up to you on the next one. So, for the last 50 years, the US has tried to ‘even the playing field’, even to tilt it a bit toward the Black community to make up for past transgressions. There is no factual argument that denies the terrible legal and business biases in place prior to 1970.
But the notion that in 2020, the same hurdles are in place for the Black community is completely unsupported by facts. Many folks have stated the death-by-cop statistics of late, since the George Floyd incident: not only have such incidents decreased dramatically overall in the last 10 years, but more so for Black and Hispanic folks. But that is no longer the issue.
The White children of all ages, that feel compelled to apologize for all Whites to all Blacks, perform as racist an action as any during 1960. When you decide all of ANY race are guilty as a group for ANYTHING, you are, by definition, a racist. When you ascertain guilt or innocence by race, you lose. People are still individuals. They are responsible for the good and bad that they do THEMSELVES.
Only in a country like the US, where so many of life’s basic needs are so easily fulfilled, do the idle youth (and some ‘adults in name only’) get to ponder such metaphysical nonsense. The riots and their aftermath are as close to anarchy as I’ve ever seen. Justifying looting and rioting—including destroying the life’s work of so many minority-owned businesses. Calls to defund and disband police forces, because any adherence to authority is somehow racist? Please. Read the demand list of the Portland, Maine Black Lives Matter posting on FaceBook, then tell me this is about race. No, this is about power and the desire to have one aspect of our society completely absolved from following the rules and laws of civilization—Hell, they even want reparations for all folks convicted of all drug and prostitution crimes! Let that sink in for a bit. As I said in the first paragraph, Sociologists will have a great time trying to understand this time period—because it does not conform to any definition of ‘Society’ that I am aware of.
Addendum in Summary: we will have a simple choice soon. Civilization or anarchy. Period.
Do you want a system of laws, and consequences for those that break those laws? Arguments can be made to refine the laws and their enforcement, but not their necessity.
Do you want a system of personal and property rights? That punishes anyone that violates those rights? No, we should not allow, condone, or endorse police brutality in any way–but we also should not allow, condone, or endorse completely unrelated mayhem, rioting, looting, and arson, just because we decided race was too sensitive to question.
Do you want a system that success is based upon YOUR goals, effort, planning, self-investment, skill, and abilities? Yes, there are advantages some have over others–such as it ever was, and ever will be.
If you answered ‘yes’ to anything above, noting that the exceptions are things to be worked on, rather than discarding the entire system, you chose civilization. If you answered ‘no’, stop reading. For some reason, you want to kill the very system that has raised more people out of poverty and starvation than any other system known to man. It astounds me that you would select that option, but you are free (here) to subscribe to such nonsense.
