DIVERSITY

                                                        By Jim Lyde
                                                 Chief Operating Officer

Diversity is not the problem; reaction to it is the problem.  Americans are positively changing their views toward those who are different.  However, so many actions are borne of unconscious predisposed behavior traits.  Children have no control over the way they have been raised.  The false beliefs and understandings that have been ingrained in all of us must be deliberately confronted from within after education and realization.  With a nod to Martin Luther King, Jr.:  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.”  For an account of the change in the views of a typical Midwestern white boy born in the mid 1940’s, please read "Political Correctness," in the VINTAGE TLC section this site. 

But who among us has changed?  In my lifetime change has come more from whites than from minorities.  It seems that Caucasians have gained more from the eloquent verbiage and courageous acts of Martin Luther King, Jr. and others than have black Americans.  The basically pure motives of marches and demonstrations in the mid-twentieth century have grossly morphed into the deceitful activities of rioting and many other criminal acts.  Such behavior blasphemes the alleged intended purposes of the demonstrations.   It is an insult to a noble heritage of love and justice.  Larry Elders “tweeted” to Al Sharpton:  “Burn businesses, some mom & pop and black owned.  Then complain about ‘lack of opportunity.’  Nice work.” 

 Previous TLC articles have lamented the fact that black society has not fully responded to the lives of millions of successful people in its midst.  Hundreds of thoughtful, brilliant and communicative black leaders have promoted perseverance, education, traditional family and lawful behavior as keys to success.  They have not received responses to the degree they deserve.  Thanks to political correctness and evil race baiters, many people have been duped into viewing race relations, especially between law enforcement and black citizens, through a completely false prism.  We need to be jolted into a truthful vision.

For example, law enforcement legally “profiles” every aspect of criminal investigation except the race of those involved.  Racial profiling of black citizens is taboo, even though blacks commit crimes at a rate much larger than their population proportion would indicate.  If a suspect is described as being black or the area has sustained a lot of crime committed by blacks, that’s the type of person who will be prioritized.  Hispanics effectively complain about being profiled on our southern border.  That complaint is ridiculous on its face.  To date, very few illegal Mongols or Zulus have been apprehended.  A practical improvement could be gained regarding this situation by securing our borders.  If a suspect is described as being old, white, over-weight and driving a pickup truck my future might involve a conversation with the police.  Cops try to catch crooks, period.  Investigators profile for a simple reason:  it works.

James Comey, our new FBI Chief, believes that law enforcement and race relations are at a “crossroads” and that this confrontation should be addressed now.  He made a remark that deserves more scrutiny: 

“Two young black men on one side of the street look like so many others [an] officer has locked up.  Two white men on the other side of the street – even in the same clothes – do not.  The officer does not make the same association about the two white guys, whether that officer is white or black, and that drives different behavior.”

That is a valid statement.  My attention was drawn to the phrase, “…whether that officer is white or black…”  If a black officer is more suspicious of blacks than similarly dressed whites, is racial discrimination necessarily involved if a white officer agrees?

It is trendy to demonize those of any race who physically discipline their children.  Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings was accused of child abuse for switching his child.  Although there were a couple of introductions to switches in my childhood, the belt was a much more intimate acquaintance.  Corporal punishment may not be the answer, but DISCIPLINE certainly is!  Undisciplined children may grow up to become the "progressive populace," symbolized by the shrill and mindless “flap-jawing” of the liberal media, or perhaps even the thieves and arsonists that loudly pretend to demonstrate against injustice.  But noise is not usually related to logic.  Liberals actually think that avoiding issues by yelling and name-calling is a way to win arguments.  The liberal debating formula seems to be: distraction via insult = intelligence.  The question here is:  how many of these loud-mouths ever got their buttocks busted? 

Charley Wilkison has written a splendid article on Officer Wilson and the tragedy at Ferguson, Missouri.   Within this article is a haunting sentence:  "Imagine if law enforcement families encouraged burning down the area where a cop was murdered."   Let's let that sink in for a moment.  If only we could find a calm environment, free of the distractive noises from all sides, and asked that question perhaps a meaningful discourse could begin.