Why Don’t These #BlackLivesMatter?
As expected, the police and whites are being blamed for this summer’s urban unrest, including the recent police shootings in Dallas. The accusation is that white cops are doing nothing but running around hunting and shooting upstanding, law-abiding, unarmed black men. Never mind the actual statistics demonstrating that police shooting is in direct proportion to criminal activity; “The percentage of blacks fatally shot by police officers (26%) is almost exactly equal to the percentage of blacks committing violent crimes (24%).” Regardless of the facts, Hillary Clinton blames whites and cops for the deaths of young black men.
Who are these young black men? The ones covered under the #BlackLivesMatter mantra. Do all of these black lives matter to the media and politicians or only some of them?
Due to the media perpetuating the meme put forth by Clinton and many on the left, we have heard the now famous names. Trayvon Martin, who could have been Barack Obama’s son. The gentle giant Michael Brown, whose Ferguson death started the bogus “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” meme. Freddie Gray, who died while in custody of the Baltimore Police Department, with the farcical trials of the police officers involved thus far exonerating the police officers.
This week adds more names to the short list of now famous police shooting victims. More black lives that matter. Alton Sterling of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Philando Castile of St Paul, Minnesota. Undoubtedly additional names will be added to the list as Black Lives Matter protesters continue rioting in the streets of major U.S. cities. Attorney General Loretta Lynch supports the movement, as does President Obama. So expect last weekend to be a preview of coming attractions for the remainder of the summer.
Then there are these names: Dantrell Davis. Ryan Harris. Eric Morse. Anyone heard of them? Has Don Lemon, Lester Holt, or Al Sharpton mentioned these names on their news shows? Why is Trayvon Martin a household name but not Dantrell Davis? The three above names are black children killed in Chicago. Do their lives matter?
There are plenty more. Blair Holt, 16-year-old shot to death while riding a CTA bus in Chicago. Derrion Albert, also 16, fatally beaten in Chicago. Jonylah Watkins. a toddler killed in a Chicago drive-by shooting.
Ever hear of David Pounds? A black 15-year-old victim of a fatal drive-by shooting in Durham, North Carolina. How about Cederrius Hasting, a black high school football player gunned down in Griffin, Georgia?
Don’t these Black Lives Matter? Why aren’t they household names? Where is the media? Where is the president or the attorney general? Where are Jesse and Al? Are the only black lives that matter ones who are shot by law enforcement, typically during the commission of a crime?
Interestingly, President Obama neglected to mention the names of any of the slain Dallas policemen in his post-shooting comments. Not so for other shootings which Obama personalized, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
Shifting gears, let’s look at the abortion industry to see if Black Lives Matter there. Planned Parenthood disproportionately places its abortion clinics in primarily black and Hispanic neighborhoods. Black women, making up 13 percent of the female population, have 37 percent of all abortions. In New York City, more black babies are killed by abortion than are born alive. Why don’t these Black Lives Matter?
The answer is politics. For the left, abortion is at the top of their core values. Hillary Clinton admires Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood. The same Margaret Sanger who admitted, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.” If you listen to the media you would think those words were part of a policeman’s oath, not a racist eugenicist praised by the Democrat presidential nominee.
The Black Lives Matter website describes, “A world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.” Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry certainly fit this description. But not the city police departments, most of which have a black police chief, operating in cities predominantly run by Democrats. In fact, according to a University of Toledo study, as many persons are killed each year by police use of force as are struck by lightning. And of those, only one third are black. At this rate, “It would take cops 40 years to kill as many black men as have died at the hands of others black men in 2012 alone.”
Without police in inner cities, imagine the murder and mayhem. Chicago homicides outnumber U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan. In the wake of the Freddie Gray shooting in Baltimore, the murder rate skyrocketed, not surprising after the city tried to put policemen in prison for doing a dangerous job to the best of their abilities. #BlackLivesMatter took over and predictably the cops are being much more circumspect. Where are the protests over the reality of 90 percent of Baltimore homicide victims being young black men? Don’t these Black Lives Matter?
#BlackLivesMatter is protesting and focusing on the wrong reasons for the needless deaths of so many blacks. Politicians like Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton fan the racial flames as a get-out-the-vote drive for the upcoming presidential election. Not surprisingly, the riots and Dallas style sniper shootings will continue. Many more young black men will die at the hands of other young black men. Why don’t these Black Lives Matter?
Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver-based retina surgeon, radio personality, and writer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.