Think Cops Are Racists? Think Again

https://newbostonpost.com/2020/03/28/think-cops-are-racists-think-again/

Many of the candidates in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates made this charge a key part of their campaigns. But her book, written not long after the racially charged incidents in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, marshals 233 pages of facts and data to convincingly make the case that this claim is baseless. Her book not only persuasively demonstrates that the criminal justice system is not “racist” but also shows how the anti-policing movement in many parts of the country has caused a major increase of violent crime, as police officers retreat from pro-active policing.

Then Michael Brown was killed by Officer Daren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The facts about the shooting, as revealed in the grand jury inquiry, are clear: Brown, weighing nearly 300 pounds, had stolen a box of cigarillos from a shop and was walking down the middle of the street. He was accosted by Officer Wilson. Brown then charged Wilson, who was in his car, punched him in the face, and tried to grab his gun. Wilson reacted as any policer officer would in self-defense and shot Brown. The grand jury (with three African-Americans on it) refused to indict Wilson. Later the U.S. Department of Justice investigation also exonerated Wilson.

Nevertheless, Black Lives Matters, funded in part by George Soros after the Ferguson shooting, made Wilson a rhetorical punching bag. In a bit of genius marketing, the group promoted “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” as a rallying cry, claiming that Brown said that before Wilson shot him. (It’s a demonstrable lie, as a grand jury found and as The Washington Post later reported.)

No matter. The lie worked, and it sparked a movement to this day that asserts that American policing is lethally biased against blacks.

Is there a way to reduce the prison population in America? In the final analysis, Mac Donald writes, “America does not have an incarceration problem; it has a crime problem. And the only answer to that is to rebuild the family – above all, the black family.” She quotes corrections expert Steve Martin, who says, “Young black males between the age of 17 and 26 drive the system. Family is the solution – and the work ethic. You show me people with intact families and those folks work – their chances of ending up in prison are zero.” Ms. Mac Donald rightly understands the cause of crime in America, but it is beyond the scope of The War on Cops to seek a solution for this intractable problem in our society.

This is the elephant in the room. Currently more than 70% of black children in the United States are born out of wedlock. Yet black boys need fathers at home to channel them in the right direction and help keep them out of trouble. Until America returns to its original understanding that the family is the first and most important department of health, education, and welfare, we will continue to have a crime program – not a criminal justice problem.