Take a Knee, Part I: What We Need is Clarity!

"Definition Leads to Clarity.  Clarity Leads to Understanding.  Understanding Leads to Good Decision Making. Good Decision Making Leads to Harmony."

By Rich Kozlovich

This will be the only post on Paradigms and Demographics today as I don't want anything else to distract from what I have to say.

My very good friend Mike Grace forwarded an e-mail to me of unknown origin, so I can't source it for you, but it was touching, profound and provocative, and it fits perfectly with this American Spectator cartoon.

It starts out like this:

"Take a little trip to Valley Forge in January. If you don't know where that is, just Google it from the sidelines. Hold a musket ball in your fingers and imagine it piercing your flesh and breaking a bone or two. There won't be a doctor or trainer to assist you until after the battle, so just wait your turn. Take your cleats and socks off to get a real experience. Then take a knee. "

The e-mail talks about those who stormed the beaches of Normandy with absolutely no protection from the bullets except the dead bodies of their comrades.  Vets who suffered in the jungles of Vietnam and then came home to be spit on by on by their fellow citizens exercising their "first amendment rights".

Real men and women gave up their lives in behalf of their countrymen all over the world on nameless hills, bloody beaches, sweltering jungles, and in freezing cold - doing their duty.  All the while there was not one cheerleader in sight, no announcers praising their actions, and no cheering fans high fiveing when they committed some selfless act of heroism.  And no multimillion dollar contracts for their service at the end of their tours of duty.  When they took and knee it was to pray.

So then what's it really all about? 

• Is it really about racism? 
• Is it really about police brutality or misconduct against blacks?
• Are cops, especially white cops targeting blacks?
• Is this really about equality?
• Is this really a First Amendment Right issue?

Actually these issues are all part of a larger agenda, which I will address later. One thing it really is though - this really is an act of disrespect for America, Americans and what each stands for and represents, and any blather from the NFL or the media to the contrary is horsepucky. 

Another thing is also clear.  It wasn't Donald Trump who started this divisiveness, and it wasn't Trump who made this a racial issue - it was Colin Kaepernick who did - and along with Keapernick, the NFL bears total responsibility for all of this. 

Let's take a look at Kaepernick and the seeming origin of this "protest". 

Keapernick claimed he wouldn't stand for the Anthem because - "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color." Yet at a post game interview he wore a Fidel Castro shirt giving the impression he was in support of one of the most oppressive murderous dictators who ever lived on this planet and a notorious racist.  He was also known to wear "pig cop" socks during practice.  So we really need to ask: Does he have a valid argument about cops targeting blacks?  Let's look at that first. 

Irrespective of what the media spouts about the "injustices" perpetrated by brutal racist cops - every one of these recent media crusades against cops over some killing - those killed were thugs and criminals.  Crime statistics show a cop is twice as likely to shoot a white criminal as a black perpetrator.  But statistics also show black crime is way out of proportion to their population.  If these activists want to lessen black confrontations with the police then encourage their community to stop perpetrating criminal acts.  With a few unfortunate exceptions, people who aren't committing crimes don't have confrontations with police. 

In the article September 29,2017 article, Blacks, Crime, and the Bended Knee, By Shari Goodman she notes:

It is not “whitey” who is committing 62 percent of robberies, 57 percent of murders, 45 percent of assaults in the 75 biggest counties throughout the United States. Despite comprising only about 15 percent of the population in those counties. 91 percent of blacks are murdered by other blacks . Blacks comprise 10 percent of the population, but commit 42 percent of the robberies and 34 percent of felonies. In a report from the Department of Justice, over a 30-year period between 1980 and 2008, blacks committed half of all homicides in the United States despite comprising only 13 percent of the population.

Furthermore, a 2007 FBI file reports there were 433,934 single-offender victimization crimes against whites by blacks compared to 55,685 crimes committed by whites against blacks -- eight times as many more crimes committed against whites by blacks. Interracial rape is almost exclusively a black on white crime with 14,000 assaults on white woman but not one case of a white sexual assault on a black female.

In her book The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe, Heather McDonald documents the inner city warfare committed by black males against other black males.  

In Chicago, 76 percent of all homicides are committed by blacks and 78 percent of all juvenile arrests involve blacks.

 Kaepernick's first and only justifications for his actions - "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color" - are blatant nonsense, especially from a mediocre quarterback who pocketed $39 million dollars over the last three years of his contract from his "oppressors".

Part II will follow.