Baltimore ...

I am totally confused …

I have to admit it. I do not understand politics, and perhaps, I never will.

The news reports concerning police brutality and racism have left me totally confused. I am a strong believer that all lives are sacrosanct, be they white, black, yellow, brown, or red. Discrimination still exists. Not only about race, but also about gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and handicap.

Some say that it is an American phenomenon, I disagree. It is part of the make-up of the human being. It exists everywhere, often morphing into many shades, ranging from the ridiculous to the sophisticated.

Some Examples

·      In Italy, it surfaces as those from the North versus those from the South, disparagingly called terroni or from the dirt. It also shows up whenever locals talk about extra-communitarians, meaning from outside the European Union.

·      In Israel, it manifests in the attitudes that the Jews from Eastern Europe have toward Jews from North Africa and Ethiopia. It also shows up vividly in the views of Palestinians and Arabs in general. Let’s not overlook the perception of some that non-believers are unclean.

·      In India, discrimination is pervasive between different casts. Some folks are even called the untouchable. Male children are preferred over female, who are often provided fewer educational opportunities.

·      In Japan, foreigners are looked down upon. A country that celebrates 97% national purity looks less favorably toward those who come from inter-marriages or other races.

·      In Mexico and Argentina, those who have European ancestry feel superior to the natives or indios or those who are of mixed race, often called mestizos.

·      In South Africa, during the apartheid days, people were categorized into three distinct groups with different rights and privileges: white, colored, and black.

·      In France, the French referred dismayingly to folks returning from the North African colonies as pieds noirs (black feet).  The French’s attitudes towards non-French are well documented.

·      In China, those who do not come from the main ethnic group, feel discriminated. Tall people from the North, I was told at a symposium in Shanghai years ago, look down on their to shorter countrymen from the South.

The case of Baltimore

It was easy to accept the notion that part of the problem in Ferguson, a predominantly Black town, was lack of representation by Blacks in the police force and in local government.

But Baltimore is another case all together.

The Democrats have been in charge of Baltimore for the past 58 years. A two billion dollars stimulus was earmarked for Baltimore during the Obama’s administration. Not a dent was made to the conditions of the poor.

Where did the money go? Some suggest that it was mostly spent to create bureaucracies to administer the stimulus, and to satisfy local union demands. Sadly, little reached its intended beneficiaries. Some suggest that corruption and mismanagement had a hand too. 

Since the launch of the Great Society by President Johnson the country has spent more than 22 trillion dollars to fight poverty.  Yet the number of poor people has grown, albeit the standard of living has risen a little.

In Baltimore, the Mayor is Black, the prosecutor is Black, and two members of the House of Representatives are Black (Cummings and Edwards). Unlike Ferguson, people expected an even-ended investigation of the death of a young Black male at the hands of the police. It has, so far, not turned up that way.

What we have witnessed to date is incompetent statements by the Mayor and a rush to judgment by the Prosecutor. Outcome? No justice and a temporary truce!

The Chain of Command

In the chain of command, we have a Back President, a Black Attorney General, a Black Mayor, a Black Prosecutor, a Black Police Commissioner, and a 45% Black Baltimore Police Department.

One would guess that they should be able to put their arms around the problem. So far, we have witnessed the actions of an F-Troop, a popular comedy of yesteryear, where all well-intended actions resulted in utter failure.

Senator Moynihan’s 50-year old analysis of the needs of the Black Community was ignored.  He had deafly isolated the issues that matter, but the politicians have ignored them. The chickens are now coming home to roost, they say.

Similar problems to Baltimore exist in all the urban ghettos of America. Democrats cannot blame Republicans for these failures. The failures transcend political parties. The solution? A non-political one, for sure!

Your thoughts???