Monday, May 7, 2012

The Rear View Mirror

The case of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman was, and continues to be, a tragedy for all concerned, including the entire country. Those who have a pedestal that the media will follow, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, for example, used the incident to incite a racial divide. Why do they do this without having full knowledge of what actually transpired.

The simple truth is that it is for their own benefit, not for Martin’s family or to help improve the plight of blacks in America.

Today, Leonard Pitts, Jr., a “News” columnist for the Miami Herald, discussed the stereotype of blacks. He made a comment that black students, who guess that 75% of whites who are murdered are at the hands of black offenders, are surprised that the actual number is only 13%. Of course, it is easy to manipulate numbers to make your article look good, so let’s take a look at the real numbers.

• Blacks were disproportionately represented as both homicide victims and offenders. The victimization rate for blacks (27.8 per 100,000) was 6 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000). The offending rate for blacks (34.4 per 100,000) was almost 8 times higher than the rate for whites (4.5 per 100,000).
• What is the percentage of blacks killed at the hands of white offenders? The answer is only about 5%.
• 93% of black victims were killed by blacks.

I do not know what happened in the Martin-Zimmerman matter, any more than Jackson, Sharpton or Pitts knows. In a previous opinion, Pitts made the statement “No justice – no peace!” relating issues to the Los Angeles riots after the Rodney King verdict. While I certainly did not agree with that verdict (I lived there at the time), I could not condone the violence that took place, which hurt many black business owners.

The issue is not that man in the mirror that Pitts mentions, and instead should be a matter of the rear view mirror. They make rear view mirrors in a car smaller than the windshield because it is more important to look ahead than behind. It would appear that black leaders do not agree with that, because they continue to point to the past and what has been done, instead of working within the black communities to point to the future.

Human beings will rise to the level of expectations that are set for them, especially children. Instead of raising the bar and expecting more from black communities, these “leaders” make every effort to keep those communities impoverished and dependent on government, as if it is owed to them for the “400 years of injustice,” which I had no part of and most blacks did not experience. The biggest obstacles in the black communities today are other members of the black community.

I do not care if someone is white, black, brown, yellow, red or plaid! If they make an effort, they are worthy of everyone’s support. If they are not willing to make an effort, then they are destined to remain bogged down in the swamp of sadness.

Work on making progress, rather than excuses.