7 Lessons from
Ferguson
by Ben Shapiro 14 Aug 2014
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/08/14/7-lessons-Ferguson-Missouri
The outbreak of rioting in Ferguson, Missouri has drawn the
attention of the nation – and for good reason. Its toxic mix of racial
politics, mass violence, and police malfeasance has created a perfect storm for
media and politicians eager for the spotlight.
Today, President Obama gave a surprisingly measured response
to the situation, stating, “Now’s the time for healing, now’s the time for
peace and calm on the streets of Ferguson.” Meanwhile, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri traveled to Ferguson, explaining, “We
will not get the healing that we all need if the only response from the public
is, ‘Y’all just be quiet.’”
The various narrative strands of the Ferguson situation make
for jumbled messaging and confused solutions. Here are seven lessons going
forward from the Ferguson situation:
The Media Will Always Run With a Racism Angle.
On Saturday, 18-year-old black student Michael Brown was shot by a police
officer and died at the scene. Police say that Brown pushed the officer into
his car and attempted to take away his firearm, prompting the shooting.
Witnesses said that Brown held up his hands and was then shot. No full
investigation has yet taken place; there is, as of now, no evidence that the
shooting was motivated by racism.
Nonetheless, the media immediately leapt into action to
suggest that racism lay behind the shooting. The Washington
Post ran an article suggesting that “racial questions hung over
police.” Why? Because the police department “bears little demographic
resemblance to the citizens of this St. Louis suburb.” The article also cited a
study from the Missouri attorney general’s office stating that “Ferguson police
were twice as likely to arrest African Americans during traffic stops as they
were whites.” The media’s favorite game is to suggest that statistical
correlation implies racist causation, even when there is no hard evidence to
back that position.
Once Racism Comes Into Play, Justice Goes Out The Window.
Appearing on Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC, race-baiter extraordinaire Al
Sharpton explained that only protesting in the streets could prevent racism in
the criminal justice system – even though Sharpton provided no evidence of
racism in the criminal justice system in this case. Sharpton explained:
53 policemen in a city that is 67% black, only 3 policemen.
No blacks on the board of education, white mayor, the white chief of police.
The whole city is polarized and it's in that polarization that this
occurred…we’ve got to solve the problem and we've got to make the criminal
justice system work for people like Michael Brown, otherwise we're not the
country that we claim to be.
How exactly pressuring the police for answers before an
investigation has taken place solves the problem remains unexplained.
Looters and Rioters Will Take Advantage of Any Racial
Situation, Claiming Victimhood. No matter what the situation, those who
prey on innocents will take advantage of it to benefit themselves. Looters and
rioters have rightly been condemned by virtually everyone across the political
spectrum. Nonetheless, a perpetual feeling of communal victimization leads
rioters and looters to justify their outrageous behavior, as Deandre Smith, 30,
of Ferguson explained
as a local QuikTrip burned in the background: “This is exactly what’s supposed
to happen when an injustice is happening in your community.” Don Lemon of CNN summed
up the all-too-lax position of many on the left toward looting: “I hate
when people riot and what happened in Katrina…but when people are put in dire
situations, you don't know how they are going to react.
Police Act Far Too Defensively In Their Investigations.
One of the justifiable complaints about the Ferguson police lies in their
mishandling of the public aspect of the investigation. After originally stating
that they would announce the name of the officer involved in the shooting, the
police then backed off that position, with chief Thomas Jackson averring, “The
value of releasing the name is far outweighed by the risk of harm to the
officer and his family.”
As Kevin Williamson of National Review points out,
“Here’s a microcosm of the relationship between state and citizen: We know the
names of the nine
people charged with felonies in the Ferguson looting, but not the name of
the police officer at the center of the case.”
Militarization of Police Should Trouble Americans.
For years, libertarians have complained about the militarization of our local police.
Today, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) summed up their complaints in a column for Time:
The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson
resemble war more than traditional police action…. Washington has incentivized
the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help
municipal governments build what are essentially small armies—where police
departments compete to acquire military gear that goes far beyond what most of
Americans think of as law enforcement.
Overall, as the National
Journal reported today, “Since 2006, the Pentagon has distributed 432
mine-resistant armored vehicles to local police departments. It has also doled
out more than 400 other armored vehicles, 500 aircraft, and 93,000 machine
guns.”
The images from Ferguson of local police in full military
gear disturb many Americans. Ironically, those images disturb many Americans on
the left who loudly maintain that the Second Amendment is passé, and that only
law enforcement should have access to firearms. We can all agree that law
enforcement must have the resources to protect property and lives by stopping
rioters and looters. But we should also be able to agree that a fully
militarized police presence presents the constant threat of violation of
rights.
Advocates of Big Government Will Call For More
Authoritarian Solutions. Despite the fact that some on the left realize the
threat of militarized police, some of those same folks are calling for more
authoritarian government. Today, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) called for military
intervention in Missouri:
President Obama should use the authority of his office to
declare martial law. Federalize the Missouri National Guard to protect people
as they protest, and people should come together. Reasonable elected officials,
community leaders and address what is happening there. If we fail to act, the
fires of frustration and discontent will continue to burn, not only in
Ferguson, Missouri, but all across America.
Media Mobilize Against Government Overreach Only When
Media Are Targeted. The police’s alleged targeting of journalists is
certainly troubling. According to the Huffington Post, Ryan Reilly of the
Huffington Post and Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery were “arrested
and physically assaulted.” Video shows police firing tear gas at an Al
Jazeera news crew; as John Nolte writes,
We don't know the full context of what was going on around
the scene, but watching police officers dressed in military gear dismantle
camera equipment would seem to contradict any excuse that the situation was
dangerous. If there's an immediate threat somewhere off-camera, it's hard to
believe the cops would take the time to tear down video equipment.
Suddenly, the media began revving up the outrage. Ryan Grim
of the Huffington Post stated, “This is what happens when local police are
allowed to become para-military units.” That outrage is appropriate. But
outrage against government seems to be reserved solely for situations in which
the media themselves are targeted. When it comes to federal overreach, the
media were significantly less concerned about the IRS targeting conservative
citizens than about the Department of Justice bugging the phones at the
Associated Press.
The media, in short, consider themselves a special breed of
Americans entitled to better treatment than ordinary folk. No wonder reporter
Stefan Becket tweeted (then later deleted) this:
“Reporters are granted a privilege by the Constitution. Like it or not, their
rights being violated rise above that of an average citizen’s.” He then
followed that up with, “Sorry, that was stupid. Deleted. My point was that the
outsized attention is understandable because the arrest crossed a definitive
line.”
The situation in Ferguson remains ugly. Unless we correct
the underlying problems with that situation, however, we remain destined to
repeat the experience – over and over and over again.
Jay Nixon
Jay Nixon was the Missouri state government governor, a
member of the Democratic Governors
Association, and a director at Achieve
Inc.
Note: Christopher S.
Bond was the Missouri state
government governor, and the president of the Alfalfa Club.
Jeb
Bush is a member of the Alfalfa Club,
a supporter for the Common Core
educational standards, and was the Florida
state government governor; commerce secretary.
Dianne
Feinstein is a member of the Alfalfa
Club, a U.S. Senate senator, and
married to Richard C. Blum.
Richard C. Blum
is married to Dianne Feinstein, and
an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Diane S. Ravitch
was a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Education, and is a critic
of the Common Core educational standards.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, and was a director at the Joyce Foundation.
Joyce Foundation
was a funder for Achieve Inc.
Achieve
Inc. helped develop the Common Core
educational standards.
Jay
Nixon was a director at Achieve Inc,
the Missouri state government
governor, and a member of the Democratic
Governors Association.
Jerry Brown is a
member of the Democratic Governors
Association, the California state
government governor, and Kathleen
Brown’s brother.
Kathleen
Brown was the California state
government treasurer, is Jerry Brown’s
sister, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Richard
C. Blum is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and married to Dianne Feinstein.
Dianne
Feinstein is married to Richard C.
Blum, a U.S. Senate senator, and
a member of the Alfalfa Club.
Jeb
Bush is a member of the Alfalfa Club,
a supporter for the Common Core
educational standards, and was the Florida
state government governor; commerce secretary.
Christopher S.
Bond was the president of the Alfalfa
Club, and the Missouri state
government governor.
Jay
Nixon was the Missouri state
government governor, a member of the Democratic
Governors Association, and a director at Achieve Inc.
Achieve
Inc. helped develop the Common Core
educational standards.
No comments:
Post a Comment