The reoccurring melodrama that is the disaster of America’s inner cities has surfaced again, and in Baltimore this time. There is nothing really new in the on-going upheaval – just another dead druggie and a community in revolt because of his demise.
Interestingly, it seems that the police rarely kill a young black man who is well dressed and on his way to work, school, or church. For some unknown reason the recipient of the bullet or the harsh treatment are always the least functional of society. Yes, I know that every human life has value, but some lives are far more valuable than others.
As in Ferguson, MO, the street thugs and chronic unemployed are out in the streets in mass attempting to fill the void between their welfare income and what others work for by stripping store shelves. The mayor of Baltimore actually encouraged this sad criminal behavior by suggesting that they should be allowed to steal and destroy as they chose. Nice policy, unless you own property that is being destroyed.
The federal government has sunk $1.8 billion into Baltimore in just the past few years. The population of the Baltimore metropolis is 2.7 million, which indicates a fund breakdown of 665 dollars per individual. But that figure is highly misleading because not a dime of the money went to the suburbs or the more affluent areas – it all went to the inner city. Unfortunately federal money is funneled through city governments, where it is diverted to things that have little, if any benefit to the folks who actually need help. And of course there is always the city council member who just happens to have a cousin or uncle who owns a business that needs some income. The milking of the white cow is after all the national pastime!
There are systemic problems in the inner cities of America, and they are neither new nor unique to Baltimore. Leading the roll of unfortunate circumstances is the fact that marriage and the presence of a father figure in the home is a rare occurrence. Also, there seems to be little motivation to attend school for the purpose of actually attaining an education – 55% of fourth graders can’t read! Fifty percent of students actually complete high school – far fewer truly receive a diploma! Thus, if there were jobs available in the inner city, there would be few individuals who could read a job application or perform the tasks associated with today’s mechanized work environment.
The desire to advance socially and economically does not seem to afflict the residents of the inner city. The insidious intentions of government to help the lower class have bred dissatisfaction by providing just enough to exist and curbing any desire to achieve. The results are people who are resentful, basically helpless, have little foresight or ambition, and more than willing to destroy what they did not build.
The mayor, police commissioner, prosecuting attorney, the president of the Baltimore city council, and most other Baltimore officials are black – what could only charitably be termed black leadership is inept and ineffectual. The self-appointed reverends who come into the inner cities are there for the face time and are little more than parasites – what have they ever done to make anything better for the citizens of Baltimore? Until the residents of the Baltimore’s of America decide to want effective representation, and something more than existence – nothing can change – and that is the sad truth.
If you are reading this article in the hopes of finding some solution to the chaos that is America’s inner cities – you came to the wrong place. From the White House to the outhouse, the resounding cry is RACISM. This is the constant convenient drumbeat that allows the politicians who have actually created this mess through their ineptness, promotion of racial divisiveness, and failed policies to hide behind the term and avoid any responsibility.
I am not a pessimist by nature, but I see no resolution for the problems that plague the ghettos. Throwing tax dollars at the problem may help cleanse the souls of politicians but does nothing to heal the problems!
Have a good week. Bill Shuey is a freelance writer from North Carolina.
Late Thursday, the glitzy electric car company Tesla Motors, run by billionaire Elon Musk, ceased to be just a car company. As was widely expected, Tesla announced that it is offering a home battery product, which people can use to store energy from their solar panels or to backstop their homes against blackouts, and also larger scale versions that could perform similar roles for companies or even parts of the grid.
Have you noticed that we are starting to be bombarded with images of troops in the streets? Have you noticed that the term “martial law” is coming up a lot in movies, news broadcasts and even in television commercials? In recent years, it seems like the solution to almost every major crisis involves bringing in troops. In fact, it has already gotten to the point where when something really bad happens a lot of Americans immediately cry out for troops to be brought in. And we are seeing the same patterns over and over again. Just remember what happened in Ferguson – protesters were whipped up to a frenzy, when the riots began the police were ordered to stand down and not intervene, and finally National Guard troops were brought in as the “solution” to a crisis that had escalated wildly out of control. This is the exact same pattern that we are witnessing in Baltimore, and as you will see below, National Guard troops all over the nation have been training for this exact type of scenario. A couple of decades ago, many Americans would have regarded the notion of “martial law in America” as absolutely unthinkable, but these days the threat of civil unrest is causing an increasing number of Americans to embrace the idea of troops patrolling our city streets.
