The vitriol and obsessive hatred consuming Democrat leaders and their sycophantic supporters is driving them to pursue policies intended to damage Donald Trump. But the law of unintended consequences reigns supreme and the Dems actually are savaging the African American community. Turns out that under the Democrat calculus, Black Lives really don’t matter.
Covid fear mongering, in tandem with the BLM hysteria, is dramatically changing the landscape of education, from primary to post-graduate. Until March 1st, 2020, attending a class and mingling with other students was the norm in the United States, but that model appears to be going the way of the one room school house that ruled the Great Plains during the 19th Century.
Black children are much more likely than white children to inhabit a home with a single mother who is not a college graduate. Black children are much more likely to inhabit a home without access to the internet or even a computer. And black children are much more likely than their white, asian and latino counterparts to need the food provided at school.
So what is the Democrat solution? Keep the black kids out of school. Blame it on Covid and hope that the blame sticks to Trump. But the kids who are being most damaged by the coordinated effort of Democrat Governors/mayors and Democrat leaning teachers unions to keep the schools shuttered in the fall is not going to provoke an uprising against Trump. It ain’t Trump’s call.
Black children in the modern Democrat plantations–aka urban centers–already are underserved and uneducated. A black child in Baltimore is likely to pass through 12 grades and still be woefully unable to read, write or cipher at grade level. The Democrats’ solution? Keep them at home.
The turmoil and disaster in the elementary and secondary schools is now going to be visited on a broad swath of colleges and universities. Harvard and MIT already have announced no classes and no sports for the Fall season. Who does that hurt most? Black athletes on scholarship.
The ugly truth of our current system is that college athletic programs have been a critical vehicle for ensuring black students, primarily males, get a college education. These programs provide housing, meals, tuition, tutors and a discipline. If you do not follow the rules you may not play. The incentive of having to maintain a minimal grade point average has helped “inspire” athletes keen on staying in the good graces of their coaches to adopt the discipline of studying and attending class. If you do not do the work you may not play. What happens now when that incentive is erased? Moreover, what happens to those black athletes from single parent homes that still do not have computers or internet? How do “on-line” classes work for them?
I do not think the damage will be confined to so-called amateur athletics. There is likely to be spillover to the professional world. The XFL is the most prominent casualty. It is one of the earliest victims of Covid and with its demise jobs for more than 1000 black athletes disappeared. Poof. Gone.
When you mix Covid with the Black Lies Matter hoax you get a toxic brew that is likely to poison professional sports, especially football and basketball. Fans want to go to games. They don’t want to have their noses rubbed in politics of any kind. They want to cheer their homeboys and rail against opponents from some other part of America. That is gone for this year.
Football is not a sport where you can social distance. It is full body contact, both on the field and in the stands. Anyone who has ever attended a Philadelphia Eagles game can attest to that. A Washington Redskin fan, a black man, who showed up at games dressed as a Souix Chief learned that the hardway. He was assaulted and spat on. Not because he was black but because he represented a team the Eagles traditionally despise.
The majority of football fans who attend the professional and collegiate football games are white. They do not and will not tolerate being called racists. They especially bristle at being labeled as racists by 20 year olds making more money in one year than many of these fans make in ten years. Outraged fans will vote with their feet and dollars. And as the final riches that once flowed freely through the NFL dry up who do you think will bear the burden of no money? Black athletes. Hell, Helen Keller can see this coming.
My wife’s family has had Chiefs’ season tickets since 1964, when the team started playing in Kansas City. But new rules for the upcoming season are leaving my brother-in-law with no choice. He is giving up the family treasure after 56 years. Why? He has been told that he will not be able to sit in his seats that are twenty rows from the field on 45 yard line right behind the Chiefs’ bench. Apparently the NFL has decided to vacate the first ten rows in all stadiums. And each team is coming up with a different system that will only allow at most, 50% of the fans, to attend. I am told that the Baltimore Ravens, who normally fill their 81,000 seat stadium, will only permit 14,000 fans per game.
Last, but most critical, is the carnage sweeping black neighborhoods and communities in the major urban centers. All are under the jack boot of Democrats. With the vocal minority insisting on eliminating police–who despite media lies and propaganda, operate according to rules and under the power of the law–and replacing law enforcement with vigilante squads empowered by nothing more than capricious force. Most black Americans in these communities are horrified by this prospect. They are being left to fend for themselves and the early evidence points to a tidal wave of violence and mayhem.
The charade that Black Lives Matter will be fully exposed as a fraud in the coming weeks. All Lives Matter. The color of ones skin should not and cannot dictate whether or not you can live in a safe neighborhood. At present, responsible black parents cannot let their children play outside without worrying legitimately that they will be gunned down by some crazed gang banger. And yes, that gang banger is most likely black.
The Democrat and media mob persist in spreading the lie that police pose the primary threat to black men and black women and black children. Nope. Effective policing protects those black communities, or at least tries to do so.
The solution lies in fighting the lie that America is inherently racist. We are not. Our core values provide hope for all, not just for some. This is where the battle line must be drawn and where the fight must take place.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/why-you-cannot-placate-student-radicals-richard-pipes-russian-revolution/
From the comments
“The problem in academia is more insidious than most realize. Right now there are 70,000 jobs posted on indeed.com for diversity inclusion managers in the United States. The jobs are available in government, industry, and higher education. The average salary is $130,000 per year. Degrees are offered in Diversity and in many cases every undergraduate is required to take a credit class within the Diversity framework. Businesses are asked by their banks if they have a diversity program. Businesses are also asked if they screen supply vendors for their diversity and adherence to diversity. Literally every business and governmental agency is touched through programs implemented by a well-paid “Diversity Clergy”.”
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Jobs/Diversity-Inclusion-Manager
I doubt most small businesses will be able to hire a diversity manger but they will need policies in place mostly likely outsourced from consultant types as a liability hedge.
I think this has a great deal of run in it and a lot of damage to do before the country comes to it’s senses.
Finally cleaving public education away from the iron grip of the teachers unions will be landmark. This is a momentous opportunity. I pray it plays out well. Blunt instruments are not advised. Building positive momentum …”for the children” … is the best road to take when finally divorcing public education from the teachers unions.
Make the teachers unions show their own hand on this one. Either they get on board with school re-opening or they finally get exposed as the anti-education grasping special interests they have long been. Teachers unions keep winning voters locally because they own the emotional jugular…. for the children.
Careful incisions are needed to tease away this teacher union cancer from the vital life force of our nation – our pubic education system – designed originally to create an “educated voting populace”, when the Founders handed over the awesome task of representative governance.
Public education, under the oppressive domination of the teachers unions these past few decades, has created just the opposite.
Trump and DeVos, give this task your best shot. And may local voters finally understand what too many decades of teacher union dominance have done to their own local school boards and the generations of future Americans entrusted to their care for K-12 civics education.
Be sure to look at the bottom of your ballot, as well as the top of the ballot this November. Discard any teacher union backed candidates. Send them the one message they can here – being cut off from the steady supply of teacher union dues which rolls over exclusively to the Democrat party.
@T.G.
Neither Richard Pipes nor Rod Dreher, especially, are good sources on Russia’s history and especially on her WW I history which lead to both Russian Revolutions of 1917. In fact, “learning” from such “history” does a huge disservice to those who are trying to draw any parallels between Russia’s revolutions and what is going on in the US now. Two totally different realities, but then again, US has no historic experience or reference point to comprehend that Russians sustained almost three and a half million deaths as a direct result of WW I, not to mention wounded and maimed. So Russian “radicalism” of early 1900-s and American one of the 21st century have very little, if anything, in common. Even Pipes, admitted that in one of his bloviating and filled with BS essays. But then again, with historians like late Pipes who needs fairy tales.
All true, Larry. All sad and frustrating.
More insidious yet is that leftists have been cynically telling blacks for decades that whites hate them, the system itself is racist and that there’s no hope. That message, once absorbed and integrated, becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. It’s a crime and a great sin.
The whole thing reminds me of “some pigs are more equal than others” but I read today that some antifa fascists are now attacking Orwell himself. If they continue to succeed, I suspect that the resistance to them may lead to unrest, i.e, quasi guerrilla conditions.
I enjoy what you write Larry but this I think is your most thought provoking piece yet. Very sobering.
I am in England so we barely have the issues you mention as most government power is at national level as we don’t have an equivalent to tour States.
I won’t hazard a guess as to whether the full effects of the last 6 months are intentional or as a result of the Law of Unintended Consequences but the groundwork that allows it to play out has been assembled over decades.
Whilst some may accuse the Chinese/Russians I see this as the US being ripped apart from within with those two standing on the sidelines watching in disbelief, trying to avoid collateral damage.
For those of us who are non US based supporters I have a nasty suspicion that the next 12 months are going to be sad to watch.
Andrei
My understanding of the Russian revolution is probably much less than Dreher. I imagine one can spend a lifetime trying to understand it all.
I do think all the “Diversity Managers” are going to need to justify their existence. Plus they will get help from all the people who will want not be describe as “racist”. Of course 4 intersectionalities are good and 1 intersectionality is bad will be the starting viewpoint.
A failry big story out here in CA has been the “Tech CEO” caught acting like a shithead at a restaurant in Carmel. He was acting in a way to be sure he was noticed.
https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/barraging-asian-american-family-racist-rant-tech-ceo/story?id=71668880
following the links
https://heavy.com/news/2020/07/michael-lofthouse/
https://binginews.com/michael-lofthouse-solid8/4981/
https://www.google.com/maps/place/15559+Union+Ave+%23212,+Los+Gatos,+CA+95032/@37.2422797,-121.9321251,3a,90y,269.32h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1s28AGVYyc2HedACdYo_wmNg!2e0!3e11!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fmaps%2Fphotothumb%2Ffd%2Fv1%3Fbpb%3DChEKD3NlYXJjaC5nd3MtcHJvZBJKCjwJbcYJCzs0joARUpb76wdEPB4aKAsQ04W4QhofGh0KFgoUChIJbcYJCzs0joARYM_gqPsThqMSAzIxMgwqCg0AAAAAFQAAAAAaBAhWEFY%26gl%3DUS!7i16384!8i8192!4m5!3m4!1s0x808e343b0b09c66d:0x1e3c4407ebfb9652!8m2!3d37.2418331!4d-121.9321677
https://www.wework.com/buildings/650-california-st–sf-bay-area–CA
This Tech CEO has a “we work space” and some sort of PO box place as his addresses.
Who doesn’t know he can’t act like an asshole and not be broadcasted everywhere? I haven’t seen anyone interview any of his coworkers or staff on TV.
IMO, there is a big difference today compared to the civil rights era of the 60s. Then there were real leaders like MLK who had a message and had some specific goals like voting rights for the blacks. Today, it seems that wokesters are cynically using anarchist elements to destabilize just because Orange Man Bad. What they don’t get is that this could turn around and bite them in the ass.
If I were an arch-racist who was hell bent on repressing a hated minority population while stopping just short of exterminating them completely, I couldn’t think of a multi-generational strategic plan more effective at accomplishing my goal than what the Democrats have unleashed upon Black American communities for the last 60 years.
@T.G.
Yes, any bureaucracy needs justification for own existence. Especially in such a “field” as diversity–pays a lot, doesn’t require any substantive education, and allows one to satisfy own Napoleon’s complexes, what’s not to like. Seattle already started to implement programs in fighting “whiteness”. This will end very badly and, something tells me, with a whimper, not with a bang.
Traveling around my own state recently, in very blue California, one is struck the media picture of chaos and breakdown in America is the exception; and not the rule.
24/7 media coverage of US anarchy is simply not the experience of those who live here 24/7, even in uber-liberal and woke California. But it is an accurate depiction of a few blocks and a few thousand mainly young protestors in primarily Democrat run urban centers.
The story of America is far more vast, diverse, and deep – which simply does not present well in a few seconds of partisan media sound bites for global consumption.
No wonder the partisan powers that be in this state, during this particular election year, want us to shelter in place so we can only observe their media filtered version of events. Get our beyond the urban centers and one finds America is very alive, well and productive.
My advice – go take a road trip in America and let me know what you actually find – well beyond the influence of the liberal media elite.
Today, it seems that wokesters are cynically using anarchist elements to destabilize just because Orange Man Bad.
peacock, slightly with TG in mind, I am not so good in politics. But anarchism seems to be deeply rooted in the Propaganda of the Deed (propagande par le fait). Expressing one’s political ideas and aims via actions? Actions that speak for themselves? Nutshell: not a fan.
But: Couldn’t both the September 11 attacks just as the response or the ideology of preventive war be considered as different instances of some type of propaganda of the deed?
Daniel Larison, The American Conservative:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/state-of-the-union/the-u-s-doesnt-need-another-cold-war-to-improve-itself/
On top of all this, the last twenty years have seen the use of torture and the normalization of preventive war, indefinite detention, and the return of targeted assassination. On the domestic side, we have seen the expansion of intrusive, increasingly militarized agencies and the militarization of police forces in terms of both equipment and tactics. That has obviously had serious, deleterious effects on the rights and lives of Americans, and it has created strong vested interests opposed to necessary reforms of the police. Now imagine what a couple decades of a new anti-Chinese Cold War would do to our political system and society, and you can see why this would be deeply undesirable.
For whatever you can make of this:
I was valedictorian of my high school class. I had planned to major in history when I went to college. I loved all history: prehistory to modern history, foreign and American history, any sort of history.
My counselor told me that since I was not, however, interested in sports or even the history of any sports (except perhaps the ancient Greek Olynmoucs) I should not major in History as History majors would be required to coach something if they actually wanted a teaching job.
I, therefore, majored in English Education, wich I actually learned to love because I was required to read literature from ALL time periods and understanding that literature meant I had to know something about what was actually going on during the time period and in the place where that piece of literature was written.
After getting my first teaching position, I soon learned that my high school counselor was correct. History teachers were also all assigned to coach something.
And over the years, I observed history teachers showing movies in class most of the time rather than teaching history. They would pick movies perhaps that were set during some historical time period. But we all know that all movies aren’t nececessarily factually accurate or comprehensive depictions of those time periods.
The history teachers/coaches used class time to prepare for their upcoming games, since parents were really far more interested in their children who participated in sports earning an athletic scholarships.
We always had many more students graduating with athletic scolarships than with academic scholarships. The ones who did have academic scholarships and who were always the valedictorian or salutatorian of the graduating class came from our Asian student population. The Asian parents I dealt with were far more interested in making sure their children actually learned something.
On another note: While teaching at a Community College, I had to sit in on a faculty conference lecture by a professor from our “sister” College. He provided a lecture on the value of teaching logical thinking. He gave a short quiz on logical fallacies. When my colleague and friend and I (both of us taught mostly the required freshman research writing classes) were the only people in the entire faculty who could answer his questions about logical reasoning and logical fallacies, he accurately stopped and asked if we were indeed Englsih teachers and if we taught research writing. Teaching that class required that we teach some principles of Logic. The class required the student oto find a controversial issue or problem and research it and come to a conclusion about the correct means to solve the issue. We therefore had to teach them some logical reasoning ideas–such as understanding logical fallacies–so that they could form logical solutions to the controvertial issue they were researching.
History teachers were not assigned to teach the required research writing classes. Most of the History teachers I knew began to get into proposing all sots of “woke” type classes that involved the many isms: feminism, socialism, Marxism, racism, and on an on.
blum,
Yes. This increasing growth in the symbiotic relationship between big government and big business has been eroding liberty steadily. Mind you supported by both parties. This faux partisan and left-right battles and the propaganda of divide & distract are causing an increasingly illiberal environment. Rising market concentration across market segments. The Fed directly transferring wealth to the wealthiest. The offshoring of blue color jobs to benefit financiers and managements. Note that Cancel culture is designed to strip away freedom of speech, just as “safety” from terrorism is stripping away due process and other constitutional protections. We have seen how national security surveillance laws have been abused by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to even intervene in a national election with no consequence as of yet.
This is the backdrop. Rising stress on the working and middle classes. Growing wealth inequality driven by big government. The rise of demagoguery and the use of anarchic elements to further division and for political purposes. A “strongman” is in our future, IMO. Will it be from the”left” or the “right”? Could a Jefferson or Madison be elected today?
Andrei Martyanov
Pipes was not a Historian, he was a Chronicler with an Agenda.
The subtitle of his book – Vixi – is “Memoirs of a Non-Belonger” – a stranger.
He was one of those individuals that were traumatized by the events of World War II; his magical world of childhood as well as the social world & milieu which he and his family, relations, as friends inhabited – that of a Pole, regardless of his religion – was destroyed.
He did not belong in the new Poland, did not belong in Israel, and was never comfortable in US – his wife also was a Jewish refugee like himself.
He was treated very well indeed by America. Yet, in spite of that and his gifts, he only went on to poison the minds of Americans – in my opinion.
He may be contrasted to Art Buchwald – a true war orphan who would have been dead without a few GIs smuggling him into America – who did not.
Diana, great story. Let me add mine. Being involved also in a local community college we would survey our business community for their needs and skill sets that we could provide – did they need more tech skills, math, business, sales, marketing… whatever.
Our local business community told us, send us your English majors. We need people who can actually write in complete sentence and express their ideas coherently in written form.
This was before “tweets”, simplified code word jargon and the overuse of the F word in all communications, so things may have changed by now. I think they are saying now – send us more of your H-1 visa students.
He may be contrasted to Art Buchwald – a true war orphan who would have been dead without a few GIs smuggling him into America – who did not.
Posted by: BABAK MAKKINEJAD | 10 July 2020 at 04:50 PM
As far as I know Art Buchwald was born in NYC in 1925.
Larry,
Liz Cheney (daughter of former VP Cheney) and Dems are trying their darndest to keep us in Afghanistan and Germany. When Trump tries to get us out, Cheney and crew try to keep us in endless wars.
House Democrats, Working With Liz Cheney, Restrict Trump’s Planned Withdrawal of Troops From Afghanistan and Germany
https://theintercept.com/2020/07/02/house-democrats-working-with-liz-cheney-restrict-trumps-planned-withdrawal-of-troops-from-afghanistan-and-germany/
Larry,
I don’t think the individual in question in this article has the big picture of what is transpiring before his very eyes.
I’ll let you comment on this one.
https://connectingvets.radio.com/articles/opinion/utah-marine-protests-in-uniform-until-shoes-melt