There were over ten million arrests made in 2019 in the United States. We’re currently operating our country as if the following is true: American civility and safety are dependent on whether or not millions of arrests involving African Americans occur without injury or death. The white examples of the exact same act are, for this rule, irrelevant to the public discourse.
In this past week, with violent protest and disregard for property rights still occurring in Portland, the Minneapolis City Council approved a $27 million civil settlement with the family of George Floyd over the man’s death in police custody last year.
“The family of George Floyd and our legal team are very grateful to Mayor Frey and the city council for not just saying you care about George Floyd, but showing that you care about George Floyd — not just saying that black lives matter, but showing the world that black lives matter,” George Floyd’s family’s attorney Ben Crump said.
While Crump also called the taxpayer-funded settlement “historic,” there is nothing particularly new about this genre of high-ticket extortion, utilizing public guilt and the threat of violence for the goal of monetary gains. According to the NAACP, $175.9 million in civil judgments and claims for police-related lawsuits were paid by just New York City during the 2019 fiscal year. $500 million was paid out by the City of Chicago between 2004 and 2014 for police-related lawsuits.
Then, after these massive hits to local budgets, we’re told to celebrate advocacy groups in their successful effort to cut $840 million in direct cuts from US police departments and obtaining $160 million investments in community services on a national level. It would seem we’re both voluntarily and involuntarily slashing all funding.
There is also a considerable cost to the “mostly peaceful” protests, with a new study suggesting that $2 billion worth of damage has occurred since the death of George Floyd.
Some believe numbers such as those previously stated are a drop in the bucket towards remedy, yet this theater of public lashing is only driving its supporters further from any stated economic goals. Rather, the effort continues to reduce public funding, while politicians use the language of or against the disenfranchised when needing a vote.
Counter argument
To be fair, many disagree with me on the current state of America’s economy. The completely apolitical and upstanding Center on Poverty & Social Policy at Columbia University expects our problems to be a thing of the past. In fact, their recent study found that Joe Biden’s recent stimulus package, containing a one-time payment of a few thousand dollars going to each American family, should “nearly halve child poverty, and would more than halve the rate for Black and Hispanic children.” The annual poverty rate would fall from 12.3% to 8.2%, according to those projections.
By those estimates, we’re only $4 trillion away from 0 poverty. Someone get the Federal Reserve on the phone – I have an initiative.
Yes he died in police custody ,but he would have never made that amount in his life time. This is plain extorcion of guilt and lawyers getting rich. How much went to pay the lawyers? Same as BLM taking money to not destroy your Business or house.
Gẻoge Floyd’s family already received over 12 million from public donations, and now, they received additional 27 million from Minneapolis city (total = 39 million).
Whow ! If George Floyd was alive would he be able to earn just 10% of that amount ? This will create a precedence for any ex-cons who do not want to work.
Some things that are forgotten will need to be relearned. The current narrative that police actions are inherently racist are farcical and misleading. Clearly there are bad cops as there is bad in every group of humans. The unfortunate reality is there’s never been a reliable solution for the endemic violence and criminality in the economically stunted areas of our nation. Also unfortunately these economically depressed areas are predominantly black. That very fact speaks to the real problems we’re facing. Ask anyone on either side of the welfare programs and without exception no one is satisfied. Tax payers aren’t satisfied with continuously mounting costs and recipients are always searching for any means both legal and illegal to obtain more. Welfare is a societal necessity and we truly need that particular safety net yet its no secret much too many are unnecessarily recieving benefits. Since inception of Johnson’s “Great Society” the black man has been left out of the conversation. When devised massive building of prisons were and still are part of the equation. Lessons of the past reminds us that elimination of the father in the household creates a scenario in which children spend most of their time unsupervised. When an entire community of people live without hope of a better future criminal behavior becomes the norm and not the exception. Statistics show in almost every category that the American black population is the predominant purveyor of crime. It’s ludicrous to blame police across the board for doing their jobs. I’ve heard from several police officers that they are in fact jaded. It’s a natural human reaction to seeing and dealing with the worst humanity has to offer day in and day out. The problem isn’t a racial issue its about have and have not. The billions of dollars in handouts every year has had no positive impact on society as a whole. Simply put it doesn’t work. Forcing black residents into traditionally white suburbia only creates what we all know as white flight. Property values drop crime rates increase and the end result is more of the same. We can’t blame blacks who only wish to improve the quality of life for their families and we can’t blame whites who don’t want to live in a crime ridden area. The ridiculous nature of handouts and apologies while defunding the only organization that stands between criminals and the law abiding public has shown these policies are failing and will continue to fail. The only true permanent solution is to foster an environment that creates economic opportunities within the black communities. Tax incentives used to incentivise businesses to build job creating manufacturing plants would create a legal economy that would serve to help all concerned. Politicians beat the drum of racial justice and constantly talk about handouts and white shaming never actually make any real attempts at change. They only seek to garner votes by catering to these ridiculous claims that police and all whites are racist. Never do any of them offer up real and lasting solutions. Biden has held public office for 50 years and has done nothing. Pelosi Schumer Waters all the same. It’s rather unfortunate that those who hate Trump based on what his detractors say because in fact he understands the real problem and solutions. When he claims he was doing so much for blacks he meant jobs and economic opportunities not handouts and apologies. We are never going to hear the end of racial division until we face the realities of classism and the the division created between the black and white races in America.
It’s time to look at real change instead of catch phrases and handouts.
BLM is a racist,militant anti AMERICAN cult of kooks.