A report today says that people who live in and around Ferguson, Missouri are buying guns at a record rate.

That's because a decision on the police shooting of Michael Brown is due soon and there could be more rioting in that area.

All over the USA, liberal pundits continue to say that blacks are being mistreated by society in general but especially by the police.

They use phrases like white privilege, police racism ... things like that.

There is no question that African-Americans are struggling in our competitive country.

The black unemployment rate is almost 11%; it's 4.8% for whites.

Unemployment for blacks ages 16-to-24 is an astounding 22%.

Median household income for blacks, $34,600.

For whites it is $58,270.

The poverty rate is 27% for blacks; about 9.5% for whites.

So you can see that economically, African Americans are suffering.  There is no question about it.

But why are we truly a racist nation?  Or is there something else here?

A college education is the ticket to economic success.

But culture is also a big issue.

Enter commentator Ben Stein, who said this on Newsmax TV:

BEN STEIN: “You would think, if you read the liberal mainstream media, the main problem with race in America was poor innocent black people being set upon and mistreated by the police.  That's just nonsense.  I mean, the real problem with race in America is a very, very beaten-down, pathetic, self-defeating black underclass ((EDIT)) I mean, it's an amazing thing - blacks were on their way in this country, even after the horrors of slavery, and then drugs came in, the destruction of families came in, and the crisis in the black community is just absolutely unbelievable, and that, it seems to me, is something that Mr. Obama could have addressed, and he has ignored it completely.”

That's not entirely true.  President Obama has initiated the My Brother’s Keeper program, which is well thought out, to provide mentors to young black males and to get corporations to help black youth.

Because of history, America does owe blacks extra help.

But Talking Points has said over and over that it is the collapse of the African-American family that has led to the economic chaos.

The stats are well known.

Seventy-two percent of all black babies are now born out of wedlock.

Forty-five percent of all black homes are headed by a woman.  

The desertion rate for African-American men is astronomical.

That is the truth, and that is why the poor black precincts continue to suffer.

As everybody knows, poverty leads to crime, drug abuse ... hopelessness.

In Chicago, black gangs terrorize entire neighborhoods, essentially brutalizing their own people.

For some reason, the white power structure in Chicago, which is very liberal, is not able to control the black gangs.

For some reason.

President Obama has not paid much attention to the problem, although I think he grieves about it.

But there is only so much the feds can do; throwing money at the situation does not work.

Cultural violence and chaos is a local problem.

And to combat it, African-Americans should rise up and demand protection.  But more importantly, condemn irresponsible behavior by their own.

And that's the memo.