Condemn Racial Politics and Race Baiting - Granite Grok

Condemn Racial Politics and Race Baiting

To the Editor:

Attorney General Holder says we are a “nation of cowards” regarding race.   Perhaps that is because when people try to have an honest race related discussion, anyone who says anything outside liberal orthodoxy is called a racist.  But, the race baiters and the race hustlers are at it again in Sanford, Florida, and their inflammatory rhetoric deserves condemnation.

I reject Nancy Parsons’s (Laconia Daily Sun, 4/7/12) attempt to suggest that I am, or my letter was, racist or race baiting.  I didn’t charge Zimmerman or the police with racially motivated actions.  I didn’t threaten or urge anyone to violence.  Sharpton, Jackson, and the Black Panthers did.  I didn’t allege that Trayvon Martin was doing anything wrong.  I didn’t allege the race of the criminals who victimized Zimmerman’s community causing creation of a Community Watch.  I have not urged anyone to pick up arms to defend themselves against the Black Panthers and others who are instigating race war, or to retaliate for the overwhelmingly greater number of black on white crime than the reverse.

My letter condemned the race baiting actions of Sharpton, Jackson, Black Panthers, Congressmen, the media and others for their personal or political advantage.  There is not a peep from these people about the thousands of black on black crime and murders that happen every year, because they can‘t use that for their own profit.

I didn’t even mention Sharpton’s or Jackson‘s race.  But these race baiters have been making a great living for decades by stirring up and threatening to stir up racial problems.  In addition, talk by Sharpton, Jackson, and many like them has led too many people to believe they are victims who can’t get ahead no matter what they do.  As victims they accept lives of dependency  rather than getting jobs and working themselves up the ladder, like most people have to do, towards their dreams.

I lived nearby when Sharpton promoted the lies about Tawana Brawley being raped.  Friends of the Duke lacrosse team family related the impact of Sharpton’s false charges of rape.  Sharpton’s lies cause significant harm to innocent people and they stoke racial division which hurts our country and benefits no one except the race baiters.

Parsons suggests that Trayvon’s parents were searching for him for a long time before finding the bad news.  That is not supported by the articles I found which commented on this.  Apparently Trayvon’s father didn’t call anyone until the next morning.  When he called the police, they sent three squad cars over to meet with him.

Parsons asks why didn’t the police call on the cell phone?  I saw no comment on this in any article I read.  Trayvon’s girl friend says she tried to call him but didn’t get an answer.  Trayvon’s father probably called too.   Maybe this indicates the phone was broken or lost.  I don’t know.

Parsons suggests that Trayvon’s parents only called Sharpton and Jackson when they could not get answers from the police.  Or was it that the parents  didn’t like the answers that they received, that there was an ongoing investigation or that Trayvon was shot in self defense?  I don’t know.  I doubt that Parsons does either.

Will we find out the truth?  With all the racial tension that Sharpton, Jackson, Congressmen, President Obama, and the Black Panther’s $1 million bounty on Zimmerman have built up, was the Special Prosecutor pressured to charge Zimmerman no matter what her real conclusions?  (Of course she says “no”.)  Can an unbiased jury be found?  If Zimmerman is found not guilty, will that show the truth?  Will everyone accept that result?  Will threats of a race riot pressure a jury to find Zimmerman guilty?  If Zimmerman is found guilty, will that show the truth?  Not if the jury is tainted or pressured.  The race baiters have created a situation where we may never know the truth, and justice (whatever it is) may not be done.

I hate to comment negatively about grieving parents, but Trayvon’s parents seem to be making the most of their loss.  They have become important people, speaking out, getting lots of attention, testifying before a Congressional group, charging a racial motive for the shooting, and fanning racial tensions.  If they had spent this much time focusing on Trayvon after two suspensions from school, perhaps they could have prevented the third suspension that was a necessary precursor for his death.

Many unrelated actions came together to cost one man his life and perhaps  destroy another’s.  Was race a factor in the outcome?  I don’t know.  Does anyone really believe that Zimmerman would have acted differently if a white person had been acting suspiciously?  Did Trayvon’s actions seem more suspicious because he was black?  Maybe, and perhaps it was justified by criminal statistics.  Jessie Jackson stated in a 1993 speech that if he heard footsteps behind him, and started nervously “thinking about robbery,” he would “look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”

As Parsons says, humans will probably never be completely free of racism.  But while the rest of us try to improve race relations, to treat everyone fairly, to trust the legal system, and to judge others by their character and their actions rather than their race; the race baiters and race hustlers, for their own profit, take every opportunity to inflame racial hatred.  This behavior should be called out and condemned by every American.

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