Bazelon weakens her own case with this line: "The victim was not hurt and the crime itself lasted less than two minutes." It's almost funny that her "side" considers not using someone's pronouns as an act of harm, if not outright violence, but here she dismisses the impact of an ARMED robbery on a victim. Really? It took two minutes so being threatened and robbed with a gun or knife is no big deal? If her client is innocent, clearly what happened is a miscarriage of justice, but this line sort of unmasks her real perspective.
When someone accuses a person in public of something heinous, like being a racist or a pedophile, they'd better have some evidence to back up the accusation, and if they don't, we should make them pay a price.
Ms. Bazelon insinuates that Mr. Cannizzaro had racist motives, as he invoked the habitual offender law "more than 3,000 times, overwhelmingly against Black people, many of them teenagers."
The detail that Ms. Bazelon omits is that crime in New Orleans, especially violent crimes like murder, assault and car-jacking are overwhelmingly perpetrated by young black men, many of them teenagers. And everyone who lives in our city knows it.
Mrs. Bazelon is therefore a mendacious liar who owes Mr. Cannizzaro a public apology.
I've always wondered about the utility of talking about white privilege ,as if I stole it from a black person, and need to give ti back now. So what are privileged whites supposed to do? If they wear blackface so the so-called racists everywhere can discriminate against them too, they're accused of racism and "cultural misappropriation." So if a white can't change their color or give back their "privilege, "what's the point?
This is great, Bari. Please do more. I'm especially glad to have Lara Bazelon's contribution here, because I instinctively agree much more with Kmele Foster. It's good to have a reminder that terrible injustices still occur, and if you're not going to call certain of them "systemic racism" then you probably need to come up with a framework that captures the same injustices, unless you think you can just wash your hands of what your country does to your fellow Americans.
I have written here before that much of the criminal justice system in America is racist; some police, some prosecutors, some prison administrators, are tainted by racism. The war on drugs is the most racist policy our government has pursued since Jim Crow.
However, I do not believe America as a whole is systemically racist.
Those who proclaim systemic racism cite disparate outcomes as evidence of that racism.
Does anyone see the flaw in the syllogism?
• A systemically racist nation causes disparate outcomes in wealth, income, and education for the oppressed class.
• In America, African Americans have disparate outcome in wealth, income, and education.
• Therefore, America is systematically racist.
The flaw is that there could be other causes for the disparate outcomes. Culture, for example. The high rate of out of wedlock births and the frequency of single parent families among African Americans is known to be a factor in the disparate outcome in education, which in turn leads to disparate outcomes in income and wealth. I have often thought that if every Black child at age 13 had to go through the rigors of a bar mitzvah, there would be a lot more Black kids in the top universities. If every Black family had a Tiger Mother like Amy Chua, Harvard would have to have a cap on the number of Black kids it admits.
I agree that historic racism in America contributed to the culture, but it must be addressed if the disparate outcomes are to be eradicated.
If the adults can’t agree, how could children possibly be given a full, honest vetting of the differing perspectives and issues at stake and decide more wisely than adults? I can’t bombard someone else’s child with my theology or belief system. I can’t make someone else’s child “sit in uncomfortable silence” and contemplate their “sin”. Replace the word racism with sin, racist with sinner, white supremacist with “devil” and you’ll instantly see the theological game that’s being played. If critical race theory is just a humble tool for helping understand race or teaching “racial literacy”, will these teachers teach it alongside the strongest arguments against it? What is equity, who gets to decide, and is it a stable, tangible goal to aim for? What is racism and who gets to decide? How can the school unilaterally commit everyone’s children to antiracism if there is no consensus on what it means? Just because today’s generation chooses to fill the void in their spiritual lives with anti-racist theology does not mean everyone else subscribed to it, nor does it mean that they have a right to use public funds to hold people’s kids a captive audience to their super-empirical claims? The left is all about separation of church and state, but this belief system is just too tempting. They can see the utopia on the other side
Many great comments and in agreement on most of those,but nobody mentioning the horror story from Louisiana by your first participant. This manner of egregious injustice seems to occur most in the South and must be ended. Too bad the race hustlers don't focus their energies on stopping genuine injustice such as this. Thanks for including that take.
I notice a consistent failure of those who promote "systemic racism" to even attempt to demonstrate that the things that they complain about are "systemic". It's as if the adjective just means "a lot of".
Of course, in many cases, "racism" isn't demonstrated either.
A single anecdote about a wrongful conviction justifies neither term.
this was interesting Bari but-- nobody really answered the question straight-on. you might have framed it as "what do users of the term mean when they say it, and if we can agree on a definition (not guaranteed), does it exist?" I don't think we're going to get very far on this one. 30% of the country believes in astrology, after all.
A term that gained prominence in the USA in the later part of 2020. The term was developed by race-baiters to advance their ability to extract $$ from corporations and others who are afraid they may be called a racist if they do not go along with the extortionist agenda. Most susceptible are consumer-facing companies, like retailers, and CEOs who care greatly about their public image and are therefore easy targets for race-baiting extortionists.
The term "systemic racism" is often used together with the term "white supremacy" in a way to smear all Whites. Both terms are central to "Critical Race Theory" (CRT) which was developed based on writings of Ibram X. Keni, a Progressive university professor who wrote a book titled "How to be an Anti-Racist". Ironically, the "anti-racist" book name actually calls for racism. It justifies using actual racism as a means of fighting perceived racism or historical racism.
Kendi's book promotes coercive techniques in the sense that you're either on board with the program of racism against Whites - or you're a racist. All problems faced by Black people are blamed on white racism (no consideration of the role Black culture may play in perpetuating their own problems). Kendi and his followers are "neo-racists".
CRT is designed to apply Kendi's ideas on race. Like the book, CRT is coercive. It is designed ensure every White person is defined as racist - even the least biased people are racist - if they happen to have White skin. They find bias in the unconscious - which is called "unconscious bias" or "implicit racism". So, Yes, if a White person breathes air, they are deemed a racist under CRT. And therefore, CRT requires Whites to go through a range of brainwashing techniques that are often used by cults. For example - if you question any of the CRT dogma - its a sign that you're racist. If you do not denounce yourself, your family and friends - you're racist. If you associate with people who have not adopted this dogma - you're racist.
All this may seem a bit confusing, since Biden and Harris both said recently that America is not a racist country. In fact, racial discrimination has been outlawed since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. You'll understand better when you realize that Race-baiters need racial discord too make money. Racial progress and racial harmony kill their business model. For example, BLM does not care about black lives - they can't use black lives to make money. It should be called BDM - Black Deaths Matter. Because they use every black person killed by police as an emotional tool. And the media is happy to oblige because they get more viwers and more "clink bait" and therefore they also cash in on racial discord. Not saying there is no racism in the USA. Just saying that some have an incentive to "stir the pot" - so to speak.
So, CRT is a system that is advanced by neo-racists to promote an anti-White dogma. It's a system for racism.
Wait - I think we finally found the actual definition. "Systemic Racism" is the system advanced by the Neo-racists to classify all Whites as racist.
I'm sure others have made the point but the first time I heard this take on CRT was from Sam Harris. he said (paraphrasing): "critical race theorists think that we need to affirmatively discriminate in favor of Blacks to offset historical anti-Black racism. they think for example that Blacks have no chance of getting into Harvard on their own in open competition..... you know who else feels that way? .... white supremacists"
Few, if any, seem to differentiate racist behavior that occurs within a governance system, and racist governance systems. Instead, everything is "systemic racism". Almost no one looks at racist behavior to determine why it occurs. Instead, everything is about "personal animus".
If we could take the time and expend the effort to truly understand discrimination, we would likely be very surprised. But then a WHOLE LOT of people would lose fat income streams and unmerited political power.
A great example of systemic racism is our public school system. Teachers and their unions contribute to politicians to get them elected. In exchange the politicians fix the system to protect the public schools from competition by limiting vouchers and charter schools. People who can’t afford to move to good school districts, more often minorities, are adversely impacted.
America's systemic racism is exemplified by teacher unions. In California the largest is the CTA and the second is the AFT. Both of these Unions block School Choice which would introduce competition and change the lives of minority kids. The teacher unions do not want children & teenagers to choose a school that works for them and they openly politick against School Choice.
Trump: “Folks, this is the Democrats newest hoax. It’s called…systemic racism. First it was the Mueller witch hunt, then the Kung Flu. And now, they’re saying that the blacks are victims of systemic racism. Can you believe that, folks? It’s unbelievable, folks. Unbelievable. They don’t wanna give us credit for all the good we’ve done for the negroes. Blacks have never had it so good under our administration. We’ve made blackness great again.”
And if you bother to read the comments on this blog - you'll find both liberal and conservatives voices that are concerned that race is being used to justify massive societal changes.
Biden, Harris and others have recently said that America is not a racist country. So why are neo-racists trying to push a racist agenda to blame Whites for all issues faced by the Black community?
BLM SAID CHAUVIN WAS A RACIST COP AND A POSTER-CHILD FOR WHY THE POLICE ARE SYSTEMICALLY RACIST AND NEED TO BE ABOLISHED.
>> BUT IF HE'S A RACIST - WHY DID THE PROSECUTION PRESENT ZERO EVIDENCE OF IT AT TRIAL ?
>> WOW. COULD IT BE THAT BLM LIED ?
The problem is this. For 6 months we had riots and arson (and dozens died) because - we were told - Officer Chauvin was a racist and he's an example of why the whole system is racist. Society and police had to be upended and "re-imagined", we were told.
BUT WAIT. The prosecution did not present one shred of evidence that Chauvin was racist or that any of his actions were motivated by race. And YOU CAN BET that they would have highlighted any piece of race-related evidence - no matter how insignifciant - if they had it.
I kept watch the trial - waiting for the moment they presented evidence that Chauvin was a racist. All America expected to see the evidence. BLM said he was. CNN, New York Times, MSNBC, ABC, WaPo, all the media outright said he was a racist copy and others implied it. Millions were moved by what they were told was a manifestation of pure evil racism. Some of my friends went so far as to say they hate Chauvin because he's a MF'ing racist.
So the trial was instructive for what was NOT presented as much as for what was presented.
It seems apparent from what we NOW KNOW that Chauvin is NOT a racist and his actions were not motivated by race. So the entire BLM narrative is just built on a foundation of Bull Shit. They HAD to make Chauvin the poster boy for Cop Racism and yet they found nothing. You can be sure, they investigated every aspect of his life. They NEEDED to show Motive to make prove intent (intent is a necessary element of a charge of murder vs a charge of manslaughter which requires no intention). This is not the fitst time BLM has manipulated the public - but it was the most egregious. As a result of this propaganda, people are falsely calling the USA a "racist country".
Remember in July when CNN was talking about Chauvin as an example of white supremacists. Yeah, they stopped that narrative when they discovered he was married to an Asian (for those who are not clear on this - people who think their race is superior don't go marrying into other races). Even CNN realized that they look stupid trying to sell people on a guy being white supremacist while married to a person of a different race.
Having pushed for months the idea that Chavin is a racist - it's too late for BLM to walk that back. And yet City of Minneapolis paid out $27 million because they were led to believe Chauvin is a racist. That's why they needed to be sure Chauvin was convicted and sent away a long time. They don't want reporters or the public to look back and start asking some hard questions (actually, the reporters today will not ask any hard questions). People might say "wait a second, weren't we told that we have to DEFUND police because Chauvin is an example of racism inside the police ?" And "wasn't Chauvin the poster child for police racism and white-supremacy inside the police - and therefore a compelling example of why we need to destroy policing as we know it and upend society as we know it?"
In hindsight, all that BLM told us was lies used to manipulate us.
There will be a backlash. As people slowly start to realize the truth. Progressives and BLMers will learn that once people realize they have been lied to by you - FOOLED BY YOU - they NEVER trust you again. BLM undermines black people and sets-back races relations by 20 years. They clearly care about black lives ONLY to the extent such lives can be used by them to manipulate people and to get more $$ for Progressives, Marxists and BLM.
All Americans should be outraged and angry that they have been so badly deceived. And that this deception is being used as a pretext for even more hard to our society. Canges in the way our kids are taught. Expansion of new-racist dogma that will lead to further race-based division. Forced indoctrination via CRT.
I grew up in a liberal democrat household in NYC. But my eyes have been opened. Myself and many other liberals see Progressives as pulling the Democratic far from its core. Since when does the Democratic part stand against "free speech" and look the other way when news is censored ? ? I never thought I would see that day. Since when does the Democrat Party stand with Big Business ? Same is happening to Republicans. The polarization causing parties to become more extreme. It is not serving the people.
When lies are needed to win elections and are used to shape society - the parties no longer serve the people - they serve only themselves.
We all know what racism is. So the real question is what does the word "systemic" mean in this context. It means "I'm so complex, thoughtful, compassionate, wise, wonderful, and altruistic that I use that word in front of 'racism' to make me seem smarter than you and that I have the 'silver bullet' answer and that you should not ever question me or my motives and if you do that means you are part of systemic racism and probably as evil as Hitler".
The election of Barack Obama to two terms as President was emblematic of how far America has come from the days of slavery and Jim Crow, emblematic of how far America has come in eliminating barriers to black achievement and success, and testimony to how no country has done more to right the wrongs of its past than America has. And if the Democratic Party and its leaders had an ounce of intellectual honesty in them they would have said as much to their constituents. But instead of telling black voters these truths and trying to reduce the despair, hopelessness, and violence that sadly pervades too many black communities, the Democratic Party upped their drumbeat messages of despair. And since there wasn't enough identifiable racism to point to, the Democrats were forced to invent new forms of racism; invisible racism that they would call "unconscious bias" or "implicit bias." And because there were no longer enough identifiable groups or individuals engaging in racism, they had to invent the all encompassing term "systemic racism." When asked to identify which systems and which individuals within those systems were engaging in racism, the purveyors of this mythical racism were often left speechless. On college campuses indoctrinated foot-soldiers of this fraud created "safe spaces" for minorities who were being terrorized by the "micro aggressions" of evil racist white students. Race hoaxes became commonplace as the demand for racism far exceeded the dwindling supply. To silence white resistance to these lies the woke mob set out to maximize white shame and guilt and began battering whites with with the racist guilt inducing term "white privilege." This strategy apparently worked as little resistance was offered as ugly examples of antihite racism began to proliferate. This anti white racism was encouraged through new theories, books, and projects designed to promote the deceit that America and its white inhabitants are irredeemably racist. The "Critical Race Theory", the book "White Fragility", and the "1619 Project" are but a few examples; and this will only get worse until enough people begin to vote against the Party that is promoting this scourge. This Democratic Party is "all in" on keeping women and minorities believing that they continue to remain victims of oppression from evil white Republicans. Leftist propaganda exaggerates incidents of white on black racism and likens those incidents to eras of legitimate racism. This strained effort to convey that America is no less racist today than it was 6 decades ago would be comical if it wasn't so pervasive. At every opportunity Democrats strain to use the words "lynching", "Jim Crow", "slavery", "KKK", and "White Supremacy" to disingenuously link their manufactured narratives and hoaxes to periods of racism long passed. While white racism has become a phenomenon of the insignificant fringe, the left's accusations of white racism have escalated to the point of terminal absurdity. Thus BLM continues to describe America as "white supremacist nation" against a country that outlaws racial discrimination, that has twice elected a black president, has recently had a black four star general of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two black secretaries of state, three black national security advisors and two successive black attorneys general along with thousands of black elected officials, mayors, police chiefs, and congressmen; and now a black female vice-president.
Bazelon weakens her own case with this line: "The victim was not hurt and the crime itself lasted less than two minutes." It's almost funny that her "side" considers not using someone's pronouns as an act of harm, if not outright violence, but here she dismisses the impact of an ARMED robbery on a victim. Really? It took two minutes so being threatened and robbed with a gun or knife is no big deal? If her client is innocent, clearly what happened is a miscarriage of justice, but this line sort of unmasks her real perspective.
When someone accuses a person in public of something heinous, like being a racist or a pedophile, they'd better have some evidence to back up the accusation, and if they don't, we should make them pay a price.
Ms. Bazelon insinuates that Mr. Cannizzaro had racist motives, as he invoked the habitual offender law "more than 3,000 times, overwhelmingly against Black people, many of them teenagers."
The detail that Ms. Bazelon omits is that crime in New Orleans, especially violent crimes like murder, assault and car-jacking are overwhelmingly perpetrated by young black men, many of them teenagers. And everyone who lives in our city knows it.
Mrs. Bazelon is therefore a mendacious liar who owes Mr. Cannizzaro a public apology.
VV
I've always wondered about the utility of talking about white privilege ,as if I stole it from a black person, and need to give ti back now. So what are privileged whites supposed to do? If they wear blackface so the so-called racists everywhere can discriminate against them too, they're accused of racism and "cultural misappropriation." So if a white can't change their color or give back their "privilege, "what's the point?
This is great, Bari. Please do more. I'm especially glad to have Lara Bazelon's contribution here, because I instinctively agree much more with Kmele Foster. It's good to have a reminder that terrible injustices still occur, and if you're not going to call certain of them "systemic racism" then you probably need to come up with a framework that captures the same injustices, unless you think you can just wash your hands of what your country does to your fellow Americans.
I have written here before that much of the criminal justice system in America is racist; some police, some prosecutors, some prison administrators, are tainted by racism. The war on drugs is the most racist policy our government has pursued since Jim Crow.
However, I do not believe America as a whole is systemically racist.
Those who proclaim systemic racism cite disparate outcomes as evidence of that racism.
Does anyone see the flaw in the syllogism?
• A systemically racist nation causes disparate outcomes in wealth, income, and education for the oppressed class.
• In America, African Americans have disparate outcome in wealth, income, and education.
• Therefore, America is systematically racist.
The flaw is that there could be other causes for the disparate outcomes. Culture, for example. The high rate of out of wedlock births and the frequency of single parent families among African Americans is known to be a factor in the disparate outcome in education, which in turn leads to disparate outcomes in income and wealth. I have often thought that if every Black child at age 13 had to go through the rigors of a bar mitzvah, there would be a lot more Black kids in the top universities. If every Black family had a Tiger Mother like Amy Chua, Harvard would have to have a cap on the number of Black kids it admits.
I agree that historic racism in America contributed to the culture, but it must be addressed if the disparate outcomes are to be eradicated.
If the adults can’t agree, how could children possibly be given a full, honest vetting of the differing perspectives and issues at stake and decide more wisely than adults? I can’t bombard someone else’s child with my theology or belief system. I can’t make someone else’s child “sit in uncomfortable silence” and contemplate their “sin”. Replace the word racism with sin, racist with sinner, white supremacist with “devil” and you’ll instantly see the theological game that’s being played. If critical race theory is just a humble tool for helping understand race or teaching “racial literacy”, will these teachers teach it alongside the strongest arguments against it? What is equity, who gets to decide, and is it a stable, tangible goal to aim for? What is racism and who gets to decide? How can the school unilaterally commit everyone’s children to antiracism if there is no consensus on what it means? Just because today’s generation chooses to fill the void in their spiritual lives with anti-racist theology does not mean everyone else subscribed to it, nor does it mean that they have a right to use public funds to hold people’s kids a captive audience to their super-empirical claims? The left is all about separation of church and state, but this belief system is just too tempting. They can see the utopia on the other side
Many great comments and in agreement on most of those,but nobody mentioning the horror story from Louisiana by your first participant. This manner of egregious injustice seems to occur most in the South and must be ended. Too bad the race hustlers don't focus their energies on stopping genuine injustice such as this. Thanks for including that take.
I notice a consistent failure of those who promote "systemic racism" to even attempt to demonstrate that the things that they complain about are "systemic". It's as if the adjective just means "a lot of".
Of course, in many cases, "racism" isn't demonstrated either.
A single anecdote about a wrongful conviction justifies neither term.
this was interesting Bari but-- nobody really answered the question straight-on. you might have framed it as "what do users of the term mean when they say it, and if we can agree on a definition (not guaranteed), does it exist?" I don't think we're going to get very far on this one. 30% of the country believes in astrology, after all.
"Systemic Racism" Defined.
A term that gained prominence in the USA in the later part of 2020. The term was developed by race-baiters to advance their ability to extract $$ from corporations and others who are afraid they may be called a racist if they do not go along with the extortionist agenda. Most susceptible are consumer-facing companies, like retailers, and CEOs who care greatly about their public image and are therefore easy targets for race-baiting extortionists.
The term "systemic racism" is often used together with the term "white supremacy" in a way to smear all Whites. Both terms are central to "Critical Race Theory" (CRT) which was developed based on writings of Ibram X. Keni, a Progressive university professor who wrote a book titled "How to be an Anti-Racist". Ironically, the "anti-racist" book name actually calls for racism. It justifies using actual racism as a means of fighting perceived racism or historical racism.
Kendi's book promotes coercive techniques in the sense that you're either on board with the program of racism against Whites - or you're a racist. All problems faced by Black people are blamed on white racism (no consideration of the role Black culture may play in perpetuating their own problems). Kendi and his followers are "neo-racists".
CRT is designed to apply Kendi's ideas on race. Like the book, CRT is coercive. It is designed ensure every White person is defined as racist - even the least biased people are racist - if they happen to have White skin. They find bias in the unconscious - which is called "unconscious bias" or "implicit racism". So, Yes, if a White person breathes air, they are deemed a racist under CRT. And therefore, CRT requires Whites to go through a range of brainwashing techniques that are often used by cults. For example - if you question any of the CRT dogma - its a sign that you're racist. If you do not denounce yourself, your family and friends - you're racist. If you associate with people who have not adopted this dogma - you're racist.
All this may seem a bit confusing, since Biden and Harris both said recently that America is not a racist country. In fact, racial discrimination has been outlawed since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. You'll understand better when you realize that Race-baiters need racial discord too make money. Racial progress and racial harmony kill their business model. For example, BLM does not care about black lives - they can't use black lives to make money. It should be called BDM - Black Deaths Matter. Because they use every black person killed by police as an emotional tool. And the media is happy to oblige because they get more viwers and more "clink bait" and therefore they also cash in on racial discord. Not saying there is no racism in the USA. Just saying that some have an incentive to "stir the pot" - so to speak.
So, CRT is a system that is advanced by neo-racists to promote an anti-White dogma. It's a system for racism.
Wait - I think we finally found the actual definition. "Systemic Racism" is the system advanced by the Neo-racists to classify all Whites as racist.
I'm sure others have made the point but the first time I heard this take on CRT was from Sam Harris. he said (paraphrasing): "critical race theorists think that we need to affirmatively discriminate in favor of Blacks to offset historical anti-Black racism. they think for example that Blacks have no chance of getting into Harvard on their own in open competition..... you know who else feels that way? .... white supremacists"
has stuck with me ever since.
Few, if any, seem to differentiate racist behavior that occurs within a governance system, and racist governance systems. Instead, everything is "systemic racism". Almost no one looks at racist behavior to determine why it occurs. Instead, everything is about "personal animus".
If we could take the time and expend the effort to truly understand discrimination, we would likely be very surprised. But then a WHOLE LOT of people would lose fat income streams and unmerited political power.
A great example of systemic racism is our public school system. Teachers and their unions contribute to politicians to get them elected. In exchange the politicians fix the system to protect the public schools from competition by limiting vouchers and charter schools. People who can’t afford to move to good school districts, more often minorities, are adversely impacted.
America's systemic racism is exemplified by teacher unions. In California the largest is the CTA and the second is the AFT. Both of these Unions block School Choice which would introduce competition and change the lives of minority kids. The teacher unions do not want children & teenagers to choose a school that works for them and they openly politick against School Choice.
Trump: “Folks, this is the Democrats newest hoax. It’s called…systemic racism. First it was the Mueller witch hunt, then the Kung Flu. And now, they’re saying that the blacks are victims of systemic racism. Can you believe that, folks? It’s unbelievable, folks. Unbelievable. They don’t wanna give us credit for all the good we’ve done for the negroes. Blacks have never had it so good under our administration. We’ve made blackness great again.”
Just so you know, Trump is not President anymore.
And if you bother to read the comments on this blog - you'll find both liberal and conservatives voices that are concerned that race is being used to justify massive societal changes.
Biden, Harris and others have recently said that America is not a racist country. So why are neo-racists trying to push a racist agenda to blame Whites for all issues faced by the Black community?
SYSTEMIC RACISM ? ?
BLM SAID CHAUVIN WAS A RACIST COP AND A POSTER-CHILD FOR WHY THE POLICE ARE SYSTEMICALLY RACIST AND NEED TO BE ABOLISHED.
>> BUT IF HE'S A RACIST - WHY DID THE PROSECUTION PRESENT ZERO EVIDENCE OF IT AT TRIAL ?
>> WOW. COULD IT BE THAT BLM LIED ?
The problem is this. For 6 months we had riots and arson (and dozens died) because - we were told - Officer Chauvin was a racist and he's an example of why the whole system is racist. Society and police had to be upended and "re-imagined", we were told.
BUT WAIT. The prosecution did not present one shred of evidence that Chauvin was racist or that any of his actions were motivated by race. And YOU CAN BET that they would have highlighted any piece of race-related evidence - no matter how insignifciant - if they had it.
I kept watch the trial - waiting for the moment they presented evidence that Chauvin was a racist. All America expected to see the evidence. BLM said he was. CNN, New York Times, MSNBC, ABC, WaPo, all the media outright said he was a racist copy and others implied it. Millions were moved by what they were told was a manifestation of pure evil racism. Some of my friends went so far as to say they hate Chauvin because he's a MF'ing racist.
So the trial was instructive for what was NOT presented as much as for what was presented.
It seems apparent from what we NOW KNOW that Chauvin is NOT a racist and his actions were not motivated by race. So the entire BLM narrative is just built on a foundation of Bull Shit. They HAD to make Chauvin the poster boy for Cop Racism and yet they found nothing. You can be sure, they investigated every aspect of his life. They NEEDED to show Motive to make prove intent (intent is a necessary element of a charge of murder vs a charge of manslaughter which requires no intention). This is not the fitst time BLM has manipulated the public - but it was the most egregious. As a result of this propaganda, people are falsely calling the USA a "racist country".
Remember in July when CNN was talking about Chauvin as an example of white supremacists. Yeah, they stopped that narrative when they discovered he was married to an Asian (for those who are not clear on this - people who think their race is superior don't go marrying into other races). Even CNN realized that they look stupid trying to sell people on a guy being white supremacist while married to a person of a different race.
Having pushed for months the idea that Chavin is a racist - it's too late for BLM to walk that back. And yet City of Minneapolis paid out $27 million because they were led to believe Chauvin is a racist. That's why they needed to be sure Chauvin was convicted and sent away a long time. They don't want reporters or the public to look back and start asking some hard questions (actually, the reporters today will not ask any hard questions). People might say "wait a second, weren't we told that we have to DEFUND police because Chauvin is an example of racism inside the police ?" And "wasn't Chauvin the poster child for police racism and white-supremacy inside the police - and therefore a compelling example of why we need to destroy policing as we know it and upend society as we know it?"
In hindsight, all that BLM told us was lies used to manipulate us.
There will be a backlash. As people slowly start to realize the truth. Progressives and BLMers will learn that once people realize they have been lied to by you - FOOLED BY YOU - they NEVER trust you again. BLM undermines black people and sets-back races relations by 20 years. They clearly care about black lives ONLY to the extent such lives can be used by them to manipulate people and to get more $$ for Progressives, Marxists and BLM.
All Americans should be outraged and angry that they have been so badly deceived. And that this deception is being used as a pretext for even more hard to our society. Canges in the way our kids are taught. Expansion of new-racist dogma that will lead to further race-based division. Forced indoctrination via CRT.
I grew up in a liberal democrat household in NYC. But my eyes have been opened. Myself and many other liberals see Progressives as pulling the Democratic far from its core. Since when does the Democratic part stand against "free speech" and look the other way when news is censored ? ? I never thought I would see that day. Since when does the Democrat Party stand with Big Business ? Same is happening to Republicans. The polarization causing parties to become more extreme. It is not serving the people.
When lies are needed to win elections and are used to shape society - the parties no longer serve the people - they serve only themselves.
We all know what racism is. So the real question is what does the word "systemic" mean in this context. It means "I'm so complex, thoughtful, compassionate, wise, wonderful, and altruistic that I use that word in front of 'racism' to make me seem smarter than you and that I have the 'silver bullet' answer and that you should not ever question me or my motives and if you do that means you are part of systemic racism and probably as evil as Hitler".
The election of Barack Obama to two terms as President was emblematic of how far America has come from the days of slavery and Jim Crow, emblematic of how far America has come in eliminating barriers to black achievement and success, and testimony to how no country has done more to right the wrongs of its past than America has. And if the Democratic Party and its leaders had an ounce of intellectual honesty in them they would have said as much to their constituents. But instead of telling black voters these truths and trying to reduce the despair, hopelessness, and violence that sadly pervades too many black communities, the Democratic Party upped their drumbeat messages of despair. And since there wasn't enough identifiable racism to point to, the Democrats were forced to invent new forms of racism; invisible racism that they would call "unconscious bias" or "implicit bias." And because there were no longer enough identifiable groups or individuals engaging in racism, they had to invent the all encompassing term "systemic racism." When asked to identify which systems and which individuals within those systems were engaging in racism, the purveyors of this mythical racism were often left speechless. On college campuses indoctrinated foot-soldiers of this fraud created "safe spaces" for minorities who were being terrorized by the "micro aggressions" of evil racist white students. Race hoaxes became commonplace as the demand for racism far exceeded the dwindling supply. To silence white resistance to these lies the woke mob set out to maximize white shame and guilt and began battering whites with with the racist guilt inducing term "white privilege." This strategy apparently worked as little resistance was offered as ugly examples of antihite racism began to proliferate. This anti white racism was encouraged through new theories, books, and projects designed to promote the deceit that America and its white inhabitants are irredeemably racist. The "Critical Race Theory", the book "White Fragility", and the "1619 Project" are but a few examples; and this will only get worse until enough people begin to vote against the Party that is promoting this scourge. This Democratic Party is "all in" on keeping women and minorities believing that they continue to remain victims of oppression from evil white Republicans. Leftist propaganda exaggerates incidents of white on black racism and likens those incidents to eras of legitimate racism. This strained effort to convey that America is no less racist today than it was 6 decades ago would be comical if it wasn't so pervasive. At every opportunity Democrats strain to use the words "lynching", "Jim Crow", "slavery", "KKK", and "White Supremacy" to disingenuously link their manufactured narratives and hoaxes to periods of racism long passed. While white racism has become a phenomenon of the insignificant fringe, the left's accusations of white racism have escalated to the point of terminal absurdity. Thus BLM continues to describe America as "white supremacist nation" against a country that outlaws racial discrimination, that has twice elected a black president, has recently had a black four star general of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two black secretaries of state, three black national security advisors and two successive black attorneys general along with thousands of black elected officials, mayors, police chiefs, and congressmen; and now a black female vice-president.
"Race hoaxes became commonplace as the demand for racism far exceeded the dwindling supply."
That's a memorable line in an excellent rant.