Statistical racism: Black people comprise roughly 13% of the US population, a neutral statement, and in theory statistics, involving race or otherwise, should be neutral and objective. In reality they are used to support or dispute political and cultural narratives, and are often manipulated, customized, or ignored in the process. This politization of numbers involving race are perhaps most common in polemics regarding crime, and to be honest crime stats are not supportive of progressive narratives. First it should be observed that the majority of what might be called “street crimes” are committed by young males, regardless of race, so the 13% figure is in reality much lower, i.e it’s not accurate to say “X” number of crimes are committed by 13% of the population who are black. However, a disproportionate number of violent crimes are committed by young males who are black. Regarding the most serious crime- murder- and keeping in mind that most murders occur within racial groupings, there is no question that the vast majority of black Americans murdered every year are killed at the hands of other blacks-generally about 90%; this is not unexpected. What is terribly disconcerting is that about half of murder victims are black (2018, of about 14,100 total murders, a little less than 6,100 victims were white, and a little over 7,400 were black), and approximately 50% of all murders are committed by black people. In 2018 approximately 6,600 black Americans were murdered in black-on-black violence. (https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-2.xls) This is sobering, considering that in the disgraceful era of lynching, generally considered to be from 1882 to 1968, roughly a total of 3,500 black Americans were killed by lynching.
Vastly different conclusions can be drawn from these disturbing statistics: racists can and do claim it is simply in the nature of black people to be violent, whereas racialist apologists can and do claim the murder rates are a result of poverty and “systemic racism,” implying a sense of victimization. As a conservative, and consistent with my life experience which includes the military and living in countries with primarily “black and brown” populations 1) I fully dispute that black people are naturally more violent, 2) that poverty is the primary motivating factor behind crime (indeed, I believe crime is largely a cause of poverty), 3) that crime and poverty are largely caused by failure to maintain family integrity- especially the presence of fathers- which is most acute in black communities in the US 4) the degeneration of family integrity has largely been caused by Great Society social programs, the rise of media anointed celebrity “civil rights leaders” who are motivated by self-interest, profit from government and corporate grants, and benefit from chaos associated with the loss of family integrity, and 5) the failure of local black community leaders, very much including religious leaders, to encourage responsibility that should be associated with fatherhood, and personal responsibility overall- it’s simply easier to say blacks are victims and are incapable of governing their own lives, that extrinsic factors are primarily to blame.
==worth worden
comment is regarding your article on racism part 1+2 You certainly are making one intrepid effort to draw attention to a rather intricate subject. I ,agree with your intrinsic look at the various possibilities as one might ponder just what true racism really is. Hopefully, your article will cause people to pause before screaming foul when they hear an accusation of racism. This was a very nice article!
Carole Ann Milljour
As always Reid, you came up with another great topic of discussion. You certainly have been around the globe and experienced far more than most! Your articles always give much to think about for sure!
I feel that It is a sad state of affairs when the left creates such obstacles to bring about their communist agenda. This is not just their country; this is all the US citizens' country! Black Lives Matter was born out of a horrific situation, one which a young individual who was already a career criminal, caused his own demise because he had no respect for a police officer only trying to do his job! Not only that, the officer was trained on how to subdue someone which was the exact protocol he utilized. So main street media portrays it as suffocation, which in fact, it was not. The officer did not have his knee on his throat, but on the side of neck which was the exact protocol he was trained in. The other two officers didn’t have to do or say anything because they knew it was the correct procedure. This came from a conversation I had with Worth the other night who understands this type of martial arts procedure. How the left took a hold of this and caused a social platform that has developed into such a destructive tear down of society as we know it, was dishonest and gave their cause of tearing down society, a massive way to accomplish it. All the while, they were blaming DJT for the massive criminal activities in many US cities they themselves perpetrated. With the pandemic as a big excuse to allow voting fraud, coupled with the BLM and LGBT movements, the left has certainly gone all out to destroy a great nation.
I have lived in Rochester and Syracuse and worked with many wonderful black people. I once worked with a woman who was both black and American Indian and she was beautiful to say the least, but as you probably will understand, many gals in the office hated her…. not because she was mean, a poor employee, a gossip, no, it was simply because they were jealous! I actually had the privilege of meeting her then boyfriend/finance' who was at that time, a Dallas Cowboy! That was in the early 70s! Those gals certainly didn’t know what they were doing when they treated her like trash…they missed a golden opportunity to get to know someone who rose above them in so many ways. I was proud to have her as my friend! As it turned out, she ended up moving to Florida and marrying that football player!
The left wants to change this country into something we probably will never recognize if they get away with it, but I don’t believe they will.
I sometimes feel that I am in a science fiction movie! This cannot be real. We in America, for the majority at least, do not hate blacks, do not fear blacks and some of us may even be part black.
People who get paid to be antifa followers are not doing it because they have a cause, they do it because they are getting paid to be fear mongers… sadly, it’s working.
Racism is something that is learned. A child playing with another child, does not discriminate against that child…. they’re having a good time! My parents brought me up to believe in God and I do, mainly because I was given the opportunity to know God through years of going to Church and learning about my religion. I thank God for my wonderful parents and my fantastic religion and upbringing. So many people do not get the kind of parenting many of us who are now seniors got! Sad world; maybe someday when all is said and done, people will wake up and change their negative, nasty behaviors. I recently got the notion that anyone who tears down is useless, but anyone who builds up, is priceless! I’d like to see more builders! The left doesn’t seem to want to! Maybe when they start to fall prey to their own agendas, they will! God only knows!