If you were looking for insight or intelligent analysis of the brutal Minneapolis police killing and its aftermath, television news has disappointed once again.

 

Most of the commentators are either frightened or angry, failing to provide desperately needed perspective. With lightening speed, the unnecessary death of George Floyd quickly became an opportunity for exploitation.  Looters and anarchists stole and destroyed, creating even more human misery.

On TV and social media, anti-Trump people quickly blamed the President, while pro-Trump folks defended him, placing scorn on a hapless Minnesota mayor and street “thugs.”  A word, by the way, that President Obama used to describe looters.

 

Hour after hour, day after day, Americans learned little about the reasons behind a vitally important story.  What readers and viewers did get was reinforcement of their own beliefs, as fallacious as many of them are.

 

So, let’s get down to it beginning with the police.  At present, there are approximately 800,000 law enforcement officers on the job in the USA.  Most are good, honest civil servants but perhaps 10 percent are not. And that’s an army.

 

I use that number because human nature dictates about ten percent of every organization is corrupt.  Always been that way.  That’s the reason almost all police agencies have Internal Affairs squads that investigate misbehavior or incompetence.

 

Some African-Americans believe a much higher number of law enforcement people are corrupt and actively target blacks. That belief is often based on negative, personal encounters they have had with the police or other white authority figures.  There is no debating personal experience - we all are shaped by it.

 

The essential problem between police officers of all skin colors, not just white, and African-Americans is crime.  Blacks commit felonies and misdemeanors at a higher proportional rate than any other group.  That means law enforcement confrontation is much greater, especially for young black males.

 

Also, African-Americans are the victims of crimes far more often than other groups and most of the time justice is not achieved. The horrendous, ongoing black on black murder rate in Chicago and Baltimore proves this beyond any doubt.

 

Therefore, there is bitterness in many African-American communities over the criminal justice situation.  Add to that the fact that poor Americans cannot afford to hire experienced lawyers to defend them, and you have intense animosity towards the “white power establishment.”

 

The cacophonous, empty slogans and virtue-signaling about “race” are almost painful to endure. Yes, there are emotionally disturbed bigots who diminish minorities. They will always exist.  Ask Jewish people. However, the vile embrace of prejudice is largely shunned in the American public square.

 

But that doesn’t stop idiot commentators from depicting the USA as a hateful cauldron of bias.  Some of these pundits are even justifying the dangerous behavior of “protesters” who are attacking police officers and destroying property.  Make no mistake, these violent rioters only want to tear down, not resolve anything.

 

There is only one real solution to deprivation, crime, and helplessness and that is to teach the children well.  But that’s absolutely not happening in this country.  Many schools are simply holding stations with little discipline and standards of achievement.

 

If a child cannot read, write cursive, do math, speak properly, and does not understand that skills have to be developed so honest money can be earned, that child will likely become an impoverished adult without much hope.

 

Therefore, Americans fed up with “injustice” should focus on the only solution that provides a measure of protection against it: a disciplined and enlightened educational system. If good people begin to demand that for all children, then poverty and all the horrid consequences of it will be diminished.

 

If we don’t, the race dilemma will continue to suffocate our society - one citizen at a time.