What The Right Is Getting Wrong About "Black Lives Matter"

NewsRadio1067.com:

Imagine you are black.

Imagine you’re black, you’re an American, you love your country and you’re not particularly political.

Maybe you vote in presidential years, you probably felt proud when President Obama took office, but you’re not a hard-core Democrat or liberal. You’re an American who happens to be black.

You see a news story about an unarmed guy getting shot by a cop. The guy is black and the cop is white. Part of you says “I wonder if this is racist” but part says “Hey, I’m no dummy—there’s a crime problem in my community. I’m going to keep an open mind.”

A few weeks later there’s another shooting with the same elements: Unarmed black guy, white cop. Within five days, there are THREE such cases, part of a string of these stories. In Atlanta, a police officer kills a black, unarmed, naked Air Force veteran. Unarmed…and NAKED? Where did the cop think he was hiding a weapon?

Once again, you’re an American and you get that cops have a tough job and that the black crime rate is a problem. But c’mob—even Martin Luther King, Jr would be struggling to show a charitable spirit at this point. It looks to you like there’s at least evidence—some would say overwhelming evidence--of a problem with the way your fellow black men are treated by police.

But being an open-minded, “consider-all-sides” sort, you decide to check out conservative, Republican media for their take on the story: Talk radio, Fox News, the blogs. And here is what you find:

THE COPS DID NOTHING WRONG! THE PROBLEM IS BLACK PEOPLE COMMITTING CRIME!! EVERY ONE OF THESE DEAD PEOPLE GOT WHAT THEY DESERVED!

If you think I’m exaggerating….

Conservatives—forget your statistics for a moment. Set aside your pro-cop bias for just a moment, no matter how justified.  Just ask yourself how you would feel if you were a black American watching “conservative America” response to the deaths of unarmed citizens—CITIZENS— at the hands of law enforcement. 

Is there any “I see your point,” or “yes, this is disturbing?” Or is it a non-stop screed agains the current state of black America? Is it “Hey, we’re small-government conservatives and we’re worried anytime citizens suffer at the hands of government,” or is it “Either do what the government tells you do, or you’re gonna get shot!?” 

Imagine you’re a black American listening to the same conservatives who never seem to shut up about fearing tyranny and the overreach of government and “pry it from my cold, dead fingers” but who suddenly embrace government agents literally killing unarmed citizens—when those citizens are black.  How would you feel? How should you feel?

I happen to think there’s a real problem with law enforcement in America. From the militarization of police forces to unnecessary (and sometimes deadly) no-knock raids to the use of  cops as revenue creators for court systems.  I also believe that black males get treated by cops in ways that none of my fellow Tea Partiers would put up with for a minute.

You may completely disagree with me on that issue. And that’s fine. But have you thought about what conservatives sound like to black Americans when they refer to unarmed black citizens killed by government agents as “rabid animals,” etc? 

At best, it sounds like conservatives could care less how many black people die at the hands of cops. At the worst, it sounds like conservatives are cheering the cops on.

Even if you honestly believe that the police should always be trusted and that they never misbehave (an astonishingly non-conservative attitude, by the way), surely you can see why black citizens of good will would have legitimate concerns. And surely you can see how callous many conservatives must sound as they offer their rabid, foamy-mouthed defense of the police and/or attacks on the protesters. Can’t you?

Why can’t—let me re-phrase that—why WOULDN’T small-government conservatives be leading the movement to discuss law enforcement reform? Why wouldn’t we be at least as full-throated in our criticism of bad cops as we are in our cheers for the many good ones?

If I were a black American listening objectively observing my conservative neighbors, I'd assume that they don’t give a damn about me.

My question for conservatives is how are we going to prove this is wrong?

Assuming that it is.

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