Original art by Mark Valentine
A mostly White America elected its first black president…
Remember the term “post-racial?” It was our hope. Six years later, racial tensions are higher than before President Obama took office.
“Hands up. Don’t shoot.”
It has become a national protest slogan even though the incident that sparked the protest was proven to just be a cop acting in self-defense from a black attacker who never had his hands up. And cops were attacked nationwide because they were perceived as being racist.
How did this happen in post-racial America?
There’s a simple explanation that’s been missing from these conversations.
It comes down to hats.
Obama and attorney general Eric Holder came to power wearing activist hats. It was their job. It was how they made a living.
We liked it.
When they took office, they took an oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. That requires wearing a different hat.A hat they’ve been unwilling to put it on.
All hope was lost for our post-racial America.
I was and still am more worried when ‘the singing governor’ John Ashcroft gave a blank check for warrantless wiretapping that has haunted the US citizenry to this day. What hat was Ashcroft wearing that day? Which AG was the biggest threat to the common US citizen?
dude,
Your response is just shallow partisanship. I don’t have any problem saying Ashcroft was bad. How does that relate to our current problem?
Changing the subject is usually an admission of guilt.
Activism and upholding the law do not work well together. That was my thought.
I’ll agree with you about Holder being mostly worthless and deciding to ‘enforce duh law’ arbitrarily and capriciously. Where were you and the other “Patriots” decrying Ashcroft and Gonzales when they were literally taking a torch to the US constitution? Where were you?
Actually, White House Counsel Gonzalez took some documents out to Ashcroft in the hospital while the latter was AG and Ashcroft REFUSED to sign them because he thought they were unconstitutional. Before that you liberals thought Gonzalez was the hero because he was pro-choice and Ashcroft was the villain because he was the epitome of the religious right. It was hilarious to see you guys scramble on that one to rewrite history. “What do you mean we’re at war with Oceania ? They’ve always been our closest ally! Eurasia is the enemy !” Orwell,call your office. Same with Richard Clarke at the CIA. Right after 9-11 he was treated as a Republican hack by The New Republic (R.I.P.). When he broke with the Bush administration,after being passed over for promotion,he became a liberal martyr. As for Ashcroft and Gonzalez “literally” taking a torch to the constitution,do you even know what “literally”means? Don’t you mean figuratively?
Sigh.
“You liberals”, “you guys”, c’mon Dwight. You’re normally better than that. You are wrong to assume that all those that consider themselves to be liberals march in lockstep on every specific issue. I don’t believe that every person that considers themselves to be conservative marches in lockstep on every single issue. I know conservatives that don’t have problems with background checks on gun purchases and I know liberals who are much more rigid on the issue of immigration. As someone who has been unfairly attacked here as a contributor, you should know better than most that negatively using the phrase “you liberals” when responding to a single comment that was not even directed at you does not promote the civil discourse that you seek when you post here. You can make your point without using such a wide ( and inaccurate) brush stroke.
Split hairs much? When the media bias and political strategy reflect that very sentiment that nobody follows in lockstep with their affiliation then perhaps that statement will have merit. As the political play book unfolds generalities define both parties.
Call me a Communist, Socialist, Radical, Crazy but don’t call me a Liberal.
Liberals, hah. You have no idea who you are talking to you two bit, political hack chump. Go back to licking brownshirt’s boots you bag of hot air. And I don’t mean that FIGURATIVELY.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Really? Man, I’m sorry I left the last 30 seconds here. So, specifically, what part of the Constitution has he/they desecrated? The dude has it right on, the Patriot act was passed without nary a peep from the right, because it was your boy, and it was “to make you safe”.
You still have all the guns you had before, there’s no sharia law, and Israel still won’t lend a hand to fight ISIS.
I still have plenty of hope.
More now that republicans continue to race each other to the right.
I suppose Ted Cruz is your guy? Make sure for me you check his birth certificate with the fervor you did the guy who’s now the president.
Oh wait, it doesn’t matter, because he’s your boy, too.
Hypocrites.
What part of the constitution has he/they desecrated? That mindset is the most dangerous. Consider that once such a desecration occurs it will be too late to correct. No leadership will come right out and shatter the foundations of a nation. The more important question what has been done to protect the constitution? Leveraging the branches of government to execute one’s “fundamental transformation” is not leadership. As the saying goes “I have a pen and a phone” so too does the next person and those that live by the pen die by the pen. Circumventing the legislative process does nothing beyond the short term. Effective leadership doesn’t plan from term to term election to election.
false choices, really?
You want to pick a fight about Ted Cruz? How does that fit in this simple thought?
Activism and enforcing the law are 2 different jobs.
Maybe you should just yell,”Squirrel!” and see who gets distracted into a partisan fight.
That should take care of addressing my point.
With all the examples of state laws conflicting with federal laws, how can you say that activism and enforcing the law are two separate and different jobs. How about the issue of gay marriage as one. Plenty of activists concerned with specific issues around the country are merely seeking enforcement of the law. Activism and enforcing the law are NOT mutually exclusive.
Then the question is why do such conflicts exist? Because the roles of each are clearly defined in the Constitution. The answer is over-reach. And if special interests and lobby movements have proven anything it is that activism is becoming law.
He fits in with all the other scum who have held the position.
Another strawberry statement.
Exactly Orphan. Some are scummier than others as we all know.
Mark, your picture really pays homage to the weak chin of Holder. Nice. I like it.
Throughout history, weak-chinned people of power have sucked at their job.
For example-Queen Victoria.
Good topic Mark. There are problems on both sides here and neither side’s hands are clean. You are absolutely correct that Michael Brown is far from the perfect example to use as the starting point for a discussion but won’t you at least admit that racism clearly exists within some police departments around the country? Isn’t addressing that racism a part of the job description for the Attorney General? Isn’t addressing that racism consistent with protecting and defending the U.S. Constitution? Do you think all police departments around the country are blind to race?
Stomper,
Yes. Racism exists.
I saw the press conference of Holder. His speech was almost the opposite of the report.
He was asked to investigate a shooting.
Instead, he investigated how traffic tickets were issued.
He even said the protesters were justified.
He really does have a hard time wearing the top cop hat.
There is definitely a place for activism, but that isn’t his job.
I said it above but I’ll repeat it here. Activism and enforcing the law are not mutually exclusive. It’s semantics, I guess. What you see as activism is viewed by others as enforcing the law.
Imagine Rudy “My People” Giuliani holding a press conference and telling the people of New York that if he had a brother, he would look like John Gotti, or Sammy the Bull. Then, having his “enforcer” destroy law abiding organizations and individuals with impunity and accolades from a corrupt and loathsome, liberal 4th estate. At least, the Mafia has never come with in a universe of wrecking and or costing the country the kind of heartache and cash that violent armed gangs of hundreds of thousands of blacks do in this country every year.
The litany of Holder’s abominations are too lengthy for a comment section so lets just dwell on his most recent success. Ferguson.
Eric Holder, with assistance from the Main Stream Media, the President and Progressive politicians destroyed what was left of Ferguson in an effort to keep their fanatical, radical, racist base energized by way of a ‘Hands Up” lie that everyone acknowledges is a lie, but still promulgates. Coupled with the violence and interference from outside agitators like George Soros and your garden variety, run of the mill, wanna be Black Panthers, imported from all over the US, Ferguson burned every night on TV while cable talking heads made excuses, 2nd partied the blame and continued, overtly and covertly to give de facto permission for that violence to escalate and spread throughout the country.
Home values have fallen in Ferguson by 50%. Business, as bad as it was in a town with decreasing tax base and a minority majority is down and, without the help of the Federal Government, will wilt and die 20 years ahead of schedule. Welcome to Selma II. It is impossible for any rational human being to calculate the disgust and contempt necessary for these elected and unelected scofflaws who seek the destruction of our very way of life.
Ferguson has been fast tracked to an early death by Eric Holder and this attack on the Police Department is standard boilerplate procedure for dozens of other Police Departments around the nation. The accusation of racism, proven false, just leads to a Federal Investigation of the Police Department itself, where, studies riddled with “Self Reporting” statistics that ignore the penchant for the Disproportionate Criminality of African Americans and a per capita comparison, leads to the emasculation and penultimate destruction of the Police Department, followed by the coda, the destruction of the rule of law.
Holder and Obama, have taken every possible opportunity to throw gasoline on the fires of racial animosity to cause a conflagration that burns out the peace and the promise of progress in these matters.
Obama and Holder murdered those two cops, shot several more and killed those white folks with hammers (Along with the dozens of missed shots and hundreds of beatings of whites.) just as sure as if they pulled the trigger or swung the hammer.
This abrogation of the Rule of Law, in favor of black mob violence, which, in turn cowers the police, the populace and the few politicians with the stones to stand up to the Jack Booted Bastards (See Dem Menendez) is not just a shot across the bow of the tax paying middle class, it is a declaration of war, played out in the streets of America in a low level black on white intifada that the Press will NEVER repot on.
It’s going to be a hot summer.
First off, nothing was “proven” in the Brown case, the grand jury declined to indict. Secondly, the Ferguson PD stands (or falls) on it’s own merits, regardless of the Brown incident.
“Justice Department lawyers will recommend that no civil rights charges be brought against the police officer who fatally shot an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., after an F.B.I. investigation found no evidence to support charges, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and his civil rights chief, Vanita Gupta, will have the final say on whether the Justice Department will close the case against the officer, Darren Wilson. But it would be unusual for them to overrule the prosecutors on the case, who are still working on a legal memo explaining their recommendation.”
“No evidence was found”. Zero. Nada. Zilch.
I guess, if your straining to persecute someone in a “Half White” Zimmerman “Star Chamber” , you could break the news just like that fountain of veracity, Brian Williams.
“Today, the Grand Jury in Ferguson Missouri FAILED to indict Officer Darren Wilson.
Pathetic.
The forensics, physical evidence, and witnesses fit the account of Wilson. So plenty was “proven”, it just didn’t fit the desired narrative. If Holder could have charged Wilson , if there was a chance he could convict, you can bet he would have. When that didnt happen, he went for the low hanging fruit. Black folks in a majority black town were stopped more than the minority whites, who are largely late middle age to just plain ass old. Shocking! A small town was running a speed trap for profit. Show me a town or city that doesnt. Of all that threatens poor blacks, cops are way down on the list.
The only thing left to keep liberals and blacks united is the continued call of racism. They will milk this forever. As long as their is sin, there will be racism.
So far all I’ve seen from Obama and Holder are racial incitement and charges of racism and no solutions. I’m sure both will write books in a couple years — continuing their charges and makes lots and lots of money — just like their buddy Alfred.
BTW – I watched some of the PBS special last night about James Baker. I had almost forgotten how a President (Reagan and HW Bush) worked with Congress. It will be refreshing to see Washington work again after the current buffoons have left.
I’m sure that Reagan and HW’s success in working with Congress had nothing to do with the fact that the Speakers they worked with were O’Neill and Wright, Democrats who understood the need to compromise to accomplish forward movement.
Boeder and McConnell love to compromise.
It was never a case of race. In fact, to me, race does not exist. The concept of a melting pot, long forgotten, means that, for the most part, we are collectively all races. Perhaps, some of our leaders are so incompetent as to need the excuse of racism to cover stupidity, ignorance, and an idealism that has already been disproven. In all of the incidents from Ferguson to New York, the only thing we know is that the so called victims broke the law, and it wasn’t just a minor thing. In both of the cases, the victims added assalting a police officer and resisting arrest. These points are missed when you claim an unarmed teenager was shot for selling cigarettes without collecting taxes or stealing cigars, and the simple fact that we did not mention the teenagers in Chicago gunned down every night, simply reiterates the fact that it is a case of lawbreaking, not race.
Yes, racism exists. If you put 20 people in a room, the sociologist will tell you that you will gravitate to people that look the same as you do, but not knowing their heritage, it has nothing to do with race. It has to do with comfort in uncomfortable situations.
All of Holder’s records showing blacks getting stopped more that whites or American Indians relative to the percent of the population they represent, makes the assumption that people of all appearances commit crimes at the same rate, relative to their appearances, and it goes so far as to classify race on appearance only. Based on that, my sheriff is going to have to stop every vehicle on I-49 with an oriental, American Indian, or black appearing driver, just to come up with the Department of Justice average.
From inauguration day, this President and Attorney General have had a theory of race, and they have gone out of their way, ignoring facts, to document their case, from a beer summit to immigration.
Looks do not matter. I have always thought I was the best of all of the races, my father being adopted and his records sealed from San Francisco, California. He graduated from Oregon at the age of 16, acquired graduate degrees in physics and bio-chemistry, and went on to graduate from Medical School. My wife, a 1/8 Cherokee still cuts my hair, even though some of questioned my wisdom of allowing an American Indian to get that close to my head with sharp tools. The history belies the legend. White settlers often scalped American Indians.
Unfortunately, we have elected an idiot and chief, who proposes a theory and looks for cases to prove it, rather that finding a theory that fits most cases. He has selected a chief police officer that has his same beliefs, and is willing to enforce based on those beliefs instead of the laws he swore to uphold. I would dare to say that the next Governor of Missouri will be the Republican choice based on the actions of a Democrat Governor and a Democrat Attorney General, running for Governor, not based on race, but based on stupidity. The difference between race and stupidity is you can’t fix stupid.
1/8th, huh? If that 1/8th was black she would still be considered black under the one drop theory. Race as a concept is completely stupid but stupid people have to feel better and superior to others so race is something those idiots like to point to. What can I say, stupid people gonna do stupid crap.
“It was never a case of race. In fact, to me, race does not exist. The concept of a melting pot, long forgotten, means that, for the most part, we are collectively all races.”
Your lack of interest in “Identity Politics” and identity, defined as skin color, as an important facet of a personal or group subjective and intuitive tool for personal individuality in those same groups and individuals, is a non sequitur in an America obsessed with “Identity Politics” and identity as defined by skin color.
We all have anecdotal stories of ancestors from different geographical and demographical sources. That is no way assuages Progressive, Liberal thought leaders from consistently insisting that as opposed to assimilation, multiculturalism, in the face of the unambiguated evidence to the contrary, is an admirable and workable strategy all across the American spectrum. This endeavor on the part of the left, is money in the bank. Division pays, hence, Ferguson, Al Sharpton, Obama, Holder and the legion of race baiting archons that infect our air waves and populate the Media while shilling Socialist shibboleths for the hypnotized chickens in the barnyard.
Kumbaya.
This is exactly what is happening all over the country, where the Rule of Law, is replaced with the Rule of Black Mob Violence.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/03/the_old_man_and_the_sea_of_black_mob_violence.html
It would be surreal, if it were not so real.
George Zimmerman said of the president’s involvement in his case, “To me that was clearly a dereliction of duty pitting Americans against each other solely based on race.” Although an Hispanic, an Obama supporter, and a civil rights activist, Zimmerman apparently did not look enough like Obama’s son to get justice in “post-racial” America.