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Everyone still missing the point on the Berkeley, Missouri shooting
Driving out to Texas, I was listening to the news — in between having to endure my daughter Aubrey’s choice of music on Sirius XM radio — every now and then I snuck in Classic Rewind and 80s.
But the story that held my attention was the episode in Berkeley, Missouri. As reported by Yahoo News, “The mayor of the St. Louis suburb of Berkeley urged calm Wednesday after a white police officer killed a black 18-year-old who police said pointed a gun at him, reigniting tensions that have lingered since the death of Michael Brown in neighboring Ferguson.”
“A crowd of about 300 people gathered at the gas station where Antonio Martin was shot late Tuesday, throwing rocks and bricks in a scene reminiscent of the sometimes-violent protests that followed Brown’s death. A smaller crowd gathered Wednesday night. Dozens of protesters met at the gas station for a vigil, then marched to Interstate 170, at times blocking traffic, before returning to the station, according to local media reports. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall told KMOV-TV that six to eight people were arrested.”
However, it seems that there is a very distinct difference from this case, in a suburb of Ferguson, that protestors don’t wish to acknowledge. As we’ve seen, the anti-police movement has a defined objective and even with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio requesting a moratorium on protesting in order to respect the fallen NYPD police officers — they relented in doing so. I must ask, just how exactly does this progressive movement hope to maintain the moral high ground? Because it sure as heck isn’t happening using this modus operandi.
And in the case of Berkeley, rioting is absolutely unjustified — unless you really do want “dead cops” and “now.”
According to Yahoo News, “the shooting in Berkeley was captured on video and Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins said surveillance footage appeared to show Martin pulling a gun on the unidentified 34-year-old officer who questioned him and another man about a theft at a convenience store. “You couldn’t even compare this with Ferguson or the Garner case in New York,” Hoskins said, referring to the chokehold death of Eric Garner, another black man killed by a white police officer. Hoskins, who is black, also noted that unlike in Ferguson — where a mostly white police force serves a mostly black community — more than half of the officers in his city of 9,000 are black, including top command staff.”
So what is it exactly being protested in Berkeley? Are the rioters upset that Mr. Martin wan’t able to put the “pig in a blanket”? Are these rioters taking to the streets o further express their disrespect for the law, authority, and the officers entrusted with enforcement and keeping the peace? Are we now at the point where criminal activity must go without any challenge?
“St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar did not provide more details about the theft Martin was being asked about. He said Martin pulled a loaded 9mm handgun and the officer fired three shots while stumbling backward. One hit Martin, who didn’t fire his own gun. He died at the scene. “I don’t know why the guy didn’t get a shot off, whether his gun jammed or he couldn’t get the safety off,” said attorney Brian Millikan, who is representing the officer. He said that the officer was lucky to be alive and certain he had no choice but to use lethal force. Martin had a criminal record that included three assault charges, plus charges of armed robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.”
Once again we have an 18-year-old black kid make a decision that had fateful consequences — he lost his life. Martin’s decision to draw on the police officer did not happen that night — it was just the culminating event in a series becoming all too familiar for young black males.
The black Mayor of Berkeley has stated that this case involved an armed person drawing on a police officer — so what is this rioting about? The real story is that all this protesting and rioting is a distraction from what is really ailing the black community — the failure of progressive socialist policies.
I love to hear the usual race baiters talk about how we need to have a discussion on race in America — about two Saturdays ago I wrote about the real conversation that needs to be had.
However, when are we going to have that conversation about the lack of economic activity in the black community? Just ask yourself, how many of those owners who watched their businesses being burned down in Ferguson are going to rebuild?
From what I’ve read, they only had one grocery store — would you rebuild there? What happened to the days of black-owned businesses and professional offices in the black community — you know, doctors, lawyers, banks?
You see, the real conversation is the one about urban economic empowerment zones — the original concept of Art Laffer and now deceased former US Congressman Jack Kemp (who was a heckuva pro football quarterback). Laffer was President Reagan’s economic advisor and Kemp was a GOP Member of Congress — now is the time for their idea to be resurrected and made into policy.
We must defeat the rioters, protestors, and race baiters with the best weapon available — the power of economic growth and opportunity.
The best way to degrade, defeat, and ultimately destroy the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, NAACP, National Urban League, Louis Farrakhan, Congressional Black Caucus, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and their ilk is to expose their ideology and advance the antithesis, the antidote to their venom.
We must make it a mission to go into the black community and begin the quest of retaking it from that which has sent it into a death spiral — the failed policies of the welfare nanny-state and the dependency society as begun by President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. And we all know what Johnson thought of blacks and where their allegiance would be for what he believed 200 years – we just can’t print it here, or Facebook will take our page down.
What we must do is develop a policy that reverses the Great Society — which is really a failed society. And I cannot think of a better time to do this than in the 50th anniversary year of this covert advancement of a 21st century economic plantation.
So know that this is a mission for me. It’s not one of politics, but of sound policy that will save my community — and in turn my country. Unlike progressive socialist policies, I will not fail. And by the way, not holding political office is neither a measurement nor hindrance.
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