I know it’s impossible now, and probably always, but the healthy, ethical move would be to eliminate “Black History Month.” Segregating history is no better than segregating any other aspect of American society and culture. I’m sure there are other ethnic and racial “months” scattered around the calendar—did you know February is also Canned Food Month? National Bird Feeding Month? National Hot Breakfast Month?—but African-Americans are the only group that get this kind of special attention, as if that 15% of the population doesn’t already dominate news and social policy debate year round. Black history is American history. The celebration is divisive and fractures a nation that aspires to peaceful inclusion and equality.
1. Theory: Reasonable election security causes trouble for really incompetent and stupid people, so it’s best not to have any. The Vet Voice Foundation, Washington Bus, and El Centro de la Raza have filed a lawsuit challenging Washington state’s signature verification requirement on ballots. The three leftist groups are represented by the Perkins Coie firm, counsel to the Democratic National Committee. Signature verification is mandated by Washington law, and is the only mechanism that can ensure that the ballot submitted was completed by the registered voter. The lawsuits argue that the process is arbitrary, prone to errors, and disenfranchises young voters and minority groups. One plaintiff, Daisha Britt,feels disenfranchised because she has trouble signing her name as a “Black, Native American, and White” citizen who “has a self-described ‘complicated signature.’” The fact that only one party actively opposes ballot and voting integrity is one of many reasons the suspicions regarding the legitimacy of the 2020 election cannot be called “unfounded.” There is no reason to trust these people, and many reasons not to.2. Ethics Dunce: Kari Lake. The supposedly rising GOP star in Arizona, now challenging her narrow defeat in the race for governor, again displayed the recklessness that probably sunk her election chances. In the course of her claims that she was robbed of the office (you know, like Stacy Abrams), Lake tweeted photos of actual voter signatures. That’s illegal. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has made a criminal referral, noting, “The protections afforded by this subsection prohibit posting any information derived from voter registration forms or precinct registers to the internet, and under no circumstance may a person other than the voter or [a] statutorily authorized person reproduce a voter’s signature.” This is, needless to say, not a good look for an aspiring governor, or Republican leader.
3. “Think of the children!” Well, broadly speaking...In order to help ramp up the latest anti-gun push, the fake factoid that, as Chuck Schumer puts it, “The leading cause of death among children is a firearm” is showing up i op-eds and speeches. The only way that claim can be called “true” is if “child” is defined as anyone from the age of 1through 19. Including 18 and 19 year-olds allow all those gang shootings to be included in the count So, just as it inflated Wuhan virus deaths for political reasons, the CDC includes 18 and 19 year-olds in its gun-related death stats. 18 and 19-year olds are legally adults, unless it suits a pubic disinformation and emotion campaign for them to be something else. Hilariously but predictably, the left-biased hack fact-check service PolitiFact, supposedly checking Schumer’s falsehood, rated it “mostly true.” It’s a false statement of alleged fact: a statement is either true or it’s not. It’s not true for ages 1 though 17, and 18-19 aren’t children. PolitiFact’s Clintonian reasoning: it depends on what the meaning of “children” is.
4. Johnny Cochran and Jesse Jacskon were better at this kind of thing. Al Sharpton gave the eulogy at Tyre Nichols’ funeral today at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church. That alone was a tasteless and ugly choice, but Al was up to the challenge of making it worse. “If Tyre had been white, you wouldn’t have beaten him like that, that night,” Sharpton said. First, that’s terrible doggerel, not even close to the quality of “If the gloves don’t fit, you must acquit!” Second, by what theory does Sharpton claim that these five black cops were more likely to beat up a black man than a white one? Al can’t even manage to avoid disgusting demagoguery at a funeral.
Just last week, Sharpton told PBS that he still refuses to believe that Tawana Brawley’s rape hoax was what it was, and denies that he did anything wrong by stirring up demonstrations, racial unrest and slandering law enforcement personnel that she falsely accused. He’s an unrepentant ethics corrupter and ethics villain.
5. Oh, right…THAT’S why we abandoned Great Britain! Izoduwa Montague’s lawsuit against her daighter’s school finally was heard today. In 2018, her then-4-year-old son was compelled to participate in his school’s LGBT pride march despite his mother’s objections. The headteacher at Heavers Farm Primary School in Croydon, South London, informed her that the boy was not allowed to opt out of the march. When the mother made an appointment to discuss the issue, the deputy head arrived wearing a T-shirt with the words: “Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you could just be quiet?” Montague ultimately placed her son in a Catholic primary school, but also decided to take legal action. With the aid of the London-based Christian Legal Centre, Montague sued on the grounds of direct and indirect discrimination, victimization and breach of statutory duty under the Education Act 1996 and the Human Rights Act 1998. This is the first time a court in the U.K. has considered a challenge to the legality of imposing LGBT ideology on primary schools.
Ethics Alarms 
You know, I rather doubt that, if for no other reason than that there was no compulsory education then. Your prejudices are showing.
I admit to trying to get a rise out of you with that lead-in, which was oh, at least 85% tongue in cheek.
Prologue: LGBTQ+ Month in June is getting close to the kind of attention you mentioned, too.
1. Exactly. Election Integrity to them is Voter Suppression and is a hammer they can use to beat minority voters into sticking with them.
2. Sheesh. I’m thinking that a campaign team and its legal counsel should make a standard rule that, before taking on any candidate, said candidate must surrender his/her cell phone.
3. And, of course, all those people who think that, as long as they pay the bills, their 18+ children should be considered children are fine and dandy with that. Helicopter parents unite!
4. The narrative is what’s most important here. You can’t keep up accusations of systemic racism if black cops aren’t guilty of racism and black teenage girls don’t lie about sexual assault.
5. There but for the grace of God go we. With the First Amendment under attack constantly, we are in danger of having a citizenry that will vote to amend the Bill of Rights because of nascent totalitarians in this country who, like the deputy head, use intimidation to silence the opposition. What a shirt! That wasn’t intended to send a message, was it?
A M Golden wrote, “Election Integrity to them is Voter Suppression and is a hammer they can use to beat minority voters into sticking with them.”
“Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you could just be quiet?”
Why be an uppity Black when you could just be quiet?
What the hell is the difference?
Jack wrote, “[Al Sharpton’s] an unrepentant ethics corrupter and ethics villain.”
I understand your sentiment and those things unquestionably true; however, in my opinion that’s a gross understatement of Al Sharpton’s personal character.
In my opinion, Al Sharpton is the epitome of an EVIL RACIST! To a pure racist, like Al Sharpton, everything is about race, and he has proven to me beyond a shadow of any doubt that he is profoundly immoral and wicked in psychologically projecting his own racism.
Al Sharpton is an immoral piece of shit racist.
His presence on MSNBC lo these many years is sufficient cause for me to literally never tune in to that network. That fact alone shows the utter corruption and irresponsibility of that network, as well as the ethical…or intellectual…deficits of anyone who does view its distortions.
His de facto “presence” as Hope-n-Change’s Go-To guy on race relations will do nothing to allay that…?
“Why be racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic when you could just be quiet?”
That holds all the hallmarks of being pure unadulterated “don’t rock the boat” psychological propaganda used by totalitarians to stifle speech.
Sit back for a few minutes and count how many different extrapolations of that “don’t rock the boat” propaganda campaign you can think of.
I’ll start with a hand full…
Why be an outspoken Republican when you could just be quiet?
Why oppose the popularity of social justice when you could just be quiet?
Why be pro-life and have to argue with pro-choice activists when you could just be quiet?
Why voice your opposition publicly when you know the popular majority is going to win anyway?
Why oppose public school indoctrination and equity when your own children are for it?
You’re just one insignificant voice against a mob, everyone’s doing it, it must be okay, why not just join the mob?
etc, etc…
I say, stop paddling along with the irrational mob and start rocking the damn boat!
FYI; I think Al Sharpton’s statement “If Tyre had been white, you wouldn’t have beaten him like that…” is evidence to support answering “Yes” to my poll question Based on the race of all those involved, could this particular incident be used as plausible evidence that systemic racism exists in the Memphis Police Department?
Al Sharpton is literally using this incident as evidence that systemic racism exists in the Memphis Police Department, it doesn’t matter one bit if it’s true or not, it’s all about building the narrative. After all, a racist like Al Sharpton would certainly question; why would these five black police officers beat a fellow oppressed black man to death if it hadn’t been drummed into their psyche that black men are all violent criminals, they’re guilty until proven innocent, they’re less than human and not deserving of the same kind of humanity considerations that white men get. That’s the narrative in a nutshell.
The flip side is that you can take a cop out of the hood but you cannot always take the hood out of the cop.
Chris Marschner wrote, “The flip side is that you can take a cop out of the hood but you cannot always take the hood out of the cop.”
I understand that kind of view point, but I haven’t seen any evidence that these police officers, any of them, came out of the hood or anything that’s remotely similar.
P.S. That statement is also biased against the hood. 😉
Steve, I believe Jim Hodgsen alluded to or at least suggested that Memphis PD was recruiting from the bottom of the barrel. Another commenter offered the observation that disrespect cannot be tolerated in the black community and imbued in young men by their mothers who exert power over the family. In my definition of the hood it does not need to be a physical ghetto but a ghetto of the mind. Thus the hood represents a place of psychological orientation to society.
Chris Marschner wrote…
There’s something about all that that seems to make it worse in my mind but I can’t seem to put my finger on it right now.
Steve I am not sure what bothers you. I am open to an alternative POV.
Much has been said regarding community policing needing to draw more officers from the communities they serve. If the best and brightest within any given underclass community are able to choose career fields that offer greater opportunities then it stands to reason that high risk relatively low pay law enforcement career opportunities will be filled with lesser qualified candidates. This is not a racial issue at all it speaks to the issue of drawing from a pool of candidates whose inculturation is one that views policing as a means to power. I also made a point to say that my comment was not to be applied universally. The fact is we do have officers who see themselves as untouchable superheroes and believe their actions are justified without question.
It’s also National Library Lovers’ Month