Its obviously been forever since I have updated this website.
So I've elected to take a few minutes during my lunch today to address what'd going on in Ferguson, MO this morning. As the entire world knows, to differing degrees, white Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson shot a young Black American male, Michael Brown, during a scuffle in August of this year. The grand jury, selected from the (70% black) Ferguson community, elected not to charge Wilson in Brown's death.
Of course, on cue, the riots begin. I'll leave the nuts and bolts of the story out of this post (Ben Shapiro addresses the issue best, I think) and just comment on what I think the important take aways are.
The riots are a reaction, we are told, to injustice. Where was the injustice, then? Brown was high, acting violently on tape. Wilson, doing his job, confronted Brown. If you are doped up, threatening a shop keeper and then struggling with a police officer, things are going to go south for you. The best case scenario is, you are arrested and have to face justice for your actions. Worst case, you end up like Brown did in this situation.
A Grand Jury from a 70% black community found no cause to indict Wilson. Let that sink in for a second .... Given the demographic from which this Grand Jury is drawn, its safe to say that they impartially looked at the evidence and came to this decision.
So if you are a minority rioting in Ferguson, you have to be asked, what injustice are you upset about? Chances are, you are upset about a perception. Watch Shapiro's presentation above, and you can pretty much concur that the Grand Jury was presented the same evidence.
Why don't you know this, then, if you are a Ferguson minority rioting? Because you have been given a faultier version of the events from people with a vested interested in keeping you angry. Darren Wilson, then, and the rest of the "white establishment" are not your problem, they are.
Black Americans born into this country are children of God, given the blessing of living in a free society with the rights to life, liberty and property that everyone else has. Some start off with very little, but with education, smart choices and honest living can succeed wildly, if they give themselves the opportunity.
Many in minority communities lack a father-figure role model to teach smart choices, honest living and the importance of education. So, they grow up in poverty, influenced by people who have given them a skewed view of the world they live in. Its an easy choice to stay pissed off at the world around you when you have never been taught the importance of our Founding Principles, and given the role models of rags to riches success through education, hard work, and honest living. So, what happened in Ferguson happens. People trapped in poverty have been pumped full of anger and resentment for years, and at the right opportunity, that anger boils over into civil unrest.
But to what benefit? If you are a Black American waking up this morning to the buildings you've burnt down, how is your life going to improve? You're still angry and still poor.
And chances are, its because you don't understand Freedom, you don't understand Wealth and how its created. You don't know the stories of minorities from all walks of life that have worked hard and succeeded in America over the past 100 years. You don't understand the special place America has in world history (which many of your grandparents and great grandparents had a huge role in defending and building). And if you do, your told that those Black Americans who have succeeded are "Uncle Toms" or "House Negros." So, you suffer. As long as you allow the grievance industry influence your life choices, you are going to have nothing but misery and poverty.
That's what is at the root of Ferguson, MO on 11/25/14. Not racism, not racist cops. Not a system stacked against you, if you are a Black American.
People who purport to have your best interests at heart are your real oppressors. The longer you allow them to pound the drum that you march to, the more you are going to live in misery and unhappiness.
And its not the fault of "the man." Its the fault of your "keepers."
