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| The police at a burning building in Kenosha (NewYork Post) |
I have never seen anything like it. At least not since the height of the Viet Nam War. Where protests were pretty violent. Maybe time has compromised my memory of how violent they were. But the protests going on now seem even worse than they were then. Despite the fact that issues of life and death were far more significant back then when over 40,000 Americans were killed in a controversial foreign war.
If you are on the left, all you can see is systemic racism that permeates police departments all over the country. Many voices on the left are calling for defunding police departments all across the country - replacing them with social workers that will deal with what they say is the underlying cause of all the looting and violence taking place right now. As if replacing the police with social workers will do a better job of protecting the American people than the police did. Although not every protester believes that police department ought to be defunded, the fact is that some major cities (e.g. Minneapolis) are doing exactly that – or at least reducing the funds allocated to their police departments (e.g. New York) .
On the other side people are scared. They see cities burning every night on the nightly news. They see looting and rioting. With the police in those situations being portrayed as storm troopers by the media. Thus becoming increasingly impotent in their response to the violence.
I cannot get over the fact that so many people refuse to see what the other side is talking about. I do not understand why so many cannot walk and chew gum. It is not an either or situation. Both sides are expressing legitimate concerns. And yet listening to one side you would think their issue is the only thing that matters.
I don’t know how many times I need to say it. The grievances expressed by the left are real. Racism still exists in this country and the black community suffers the consequences of it.
Despite the fact that the black community is now more integrated into the vast middle class, are better off financially, and experiencing unprecedented access to opportunity, there is still unfortunately racial bias even against law abiding middle class black people in certain situations. And if a black man is from the ghetto, that prejudice is multiplied in cases where the police are involved.
So the vastly improved lives of black people in socioeconomic terms has not brought with it the equality they deserve. Far too many people see a black man in questionable circumstances as guilty unless proven innocent.
While the left sees only racism, the right sees only violent protest. It is as if there are two different realities. The problem is exacerbated by the mainstream media that gives a lot more attention to the left then they do to the right. Add to that left wing entertainers and sports figures… and that lends the left’s argument a lot more apparent credence. The media might briefly mention the story of a cop getting shot. As was the case last night in Chicago where two cops were shot. But the focus of almost every news story is on the ‘peaceful’ protests against systemic racism. That ‘sometimes’ turn violent even though most protesters are peaceful.
The net result is a media fueled bias against law enforcement.
I believe that the media bias will backfire in this case. The mob rule that seems to be on display every night does not go unnoticed by the vast majority of Americans despite the best efforts of the media to minimize it by focusing more on the racism issue.
The only question is whether there will be a backlash at the polls this November by voters who at the core want to see their world restored to a peaceful and orderly one where the law is enforced; crime is reduced; people are protected, and racism is eliminated.
If these protests continue the President will get reelected. And the left will have only themselves to blame.