Excuses For Rioting

Once again a black man has been shot and killed by a police officer.  But that's where the similarities with the raft of police shootings of black men end.  In this instance, the black man was carrying a weapon and pointed it at police, and a black police officer shot and killed the armed black men.

So of course, there are riots in Milwaukee.

Nevermind the facts of the situation, the fact that a black man was gunned down by a cop gives those with an entitlement mentality to riot, burn buildings, assault police and target white people for beatings.  That the man shot by police trained a firearm on them is of no consequence.  That the officer that shot the man was black doesn't matter a bit.  No, this was a call to action. Racism at the core of the shooting and the public weal be damned.

That there is a grievance within the black community about its situation is a fact.  And the reasons for the situation are myriad.  Yet the simple truth is that white America is the cause of all of black America's problems:  Unemployment, lack of opportunity, murders, drug problems, lack of education -- you name it.

The truth is much more gray than that.  Although white America bears responsibility for setting up the conditions that led to a lot of black America's problems, much has been done over the last fifty years to ameliorate them.  We finally have a black president (albeit, technically, a biracial president) and a black first lady, we've had blacks in several high-ranking positions in the government, black Supreme Court justices, black athletes who have worldwide renown, more blacks above the poverty line and in the middle class than ever.  That there are ghettos that are largely black is irrefutable.  But there have been plenty of attempts to correct those situations, yet they continue to exist.

Is it the fault of white America that they still exist?  Perhaps. But what of black responsibility?  Is there no burden that the black community bears for its own advancement?  And what of the rioting that takes place after an event such as the one in Milwaukee?  Sure, there's frustration and outrage, but where are black leaders trying to quell the anger and prevent legitimate businesses and innocent people from bearing the brunt of that frustration and outrage?

Part of the problem, as always, is the media.  Quick to sensationalize a story for the benefit of ratings, the MSM fuels the rush to judgment before all the facts are in.  Much like the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, that led to the destruction of so much in that town, salient facts weren't reported initially that might well have headed off at the pass the destructive riots that followed.  Would the rioters have committed these acts had they heard the ultimate resolution, or even the facts?

What's more, why use this an excuse to riot?  Whatever happened to peaceful protest?  Wasn't the election of President Obama the answer to racial inequality?  Wasn't everything going to be righted upon his taking office?   Either way, the rioting is wrong.  There's no other way to say it.

I can't feel the same anger and frustration that blacks feel.  I wasn't a member of an oppressed class.  But the reason for rioting has to be something greater than a criminal being shot dead by police after he pointed his weapon at them.

(c) 2016 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles