Hobbs Friday Flashpoints: Conservatives show true colors in analysis of the Ferguson Grand Jury decision exonerating Officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Mike Brown, 18 It never ceases to amaze me when conservative pundits or my more conservative friends take a look at the protests following the Mike Brown case---or Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis and others before his---and pose the question why dont these protesters protest black murder rates across America? First, recognizing that many who deem themselves conservative have limited exposure to black people outside of what they observe on television, I understand the question and the simple answer is that across America, most of the same folks who protest cops and vigilantes killing black folks can be found working hard within their communities to address crime rates, too, including yours truly, Ol Hobbs. But what troubles me greatly about the pivot to black crime when blue (police) crime is raised is this: folks, most (not all) of you are bright enough to consider two or more issues at the same time. I mean, on any given day, Fox News, National Review along with Rush Limbaugh and his ilk address any number of topics that may be within the same family of issues but are separate topics, still. I mean, you never hear a conservative exclaim that he cannot talk about the unrest in the Ukraine and Russian aggression because Israels right to occupy Palestine out of self-defense (in their opinion) is a more pressing matter. Nope, one issue will be analyzed within a given segment or editorial and the other will be analyzed in yet another. So my point is that when a conservative smirks and asks why we protest Ferguson but not the untold number of deaths by blacks across our land, again, not only is such factually inaccurate, but it also reveals what seems to be an I/we dont give a damn about what your concerns may be about police excessive use of force in your communities. Second, so that my conservative friends can never say that they were not told, those blacks who riot and loot do not speak for all black protesters no more than the Klan and those who lynched blacks from 1867 to 1981 spoke for all whites who opposed integration. Consider what the preceding sentence suggests carefully because make no mistake, there were millions of whites across the Jim Crow south who agreed with segregation even if they found the methods of enforcing such by the Klan and their sympathizers distasteful. The same holds true in this scenario as far as black looters/rioters being given equivalent status with peaceful black protesters who remain anguished by a system that seemingly does not hear nor is concerned about the decades old adversarial relationship between the police and the very black communities they are sworn to protect and serve. As such, whenever I read or hear a conservative making such false equivalences, I hear a dog whistle that says I/we dont give a damn about what your concerns may be about this issue.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 13:48:41 +0000
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