Divisivism - The Real Issue

Divisivism - The Real Issue

by Thomas Balderston.  June 8, 2020

The GF Spark

America experienced a tragic event on Monday May 25 that will become an historical moment, yet the why and the questions continue.  Know it by its’ initial, GF. Racism rose to the top again making it all about ‘racism.’ But is that the truth, is that the real issue? 

The evening of Tuesday June 2, a retired police captain working in a Pawn Shop, met his fate at the hands of looters.  He was taken from his shop, beaten and left to die, all the while a posting on Facebook, showed live his body as blood poured from it until he passed away.  David Dorn was working.  This job was his livelihood.  He was sober. He was killed by thieves for whatever value there was in the items they carried away. 

GF was not working.  Police were called when as store owner reported attempts to pass fake $20’s.  GF was confronted, the details of any conversation with the police officers that arrived the scene are not known.  However he was taken-down, a knee put to his neck and he suffered loss of breath and, most unfortunately and wrong, the loss of his life.  An autopsy called it homicide.  GF was high on crack cocain at the time, and diagnosed with coronavirus.  He did not have symptoms of the virus, but was a carrier.  GF was murdered by what appears to be an overly zealous police officer.  That officer has been charged with murder 2, in Minnesota.  Other officers on the scene have been charged as accomplishes.  

Immediately after the GF incident protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis and soon thereafter, in many cities, in over 40 states, protesting ‘racism.’  The media has closely filmed the demonstrations that were referred to as protests but soon turned to riots involving pillaging, looting, marauding, breaking windows, arson, confrontations with police officers including stabbings and shootings, harming business owners, men and women, and killing David Dorn.

Everyday GF was heralded as the example of systemic racism in America and the protests and looting/rioting was to honor this black man claimed to be murdered by a member of the Minneapolis police force.  The legal elements of the case will proceed.  Whether it will be the outcome the protesters desire, or find as justification for their behavior, is another question. However GF was just a spark, a reason, a justification, an act sufficient, with the right elements to stir those that seek to divide America.  

There have been other GF like sparks.  There was Ferguson, or the Ferguson Uprising. A black man, Michael Brown was shot by police (August 2014).  The Rodney King incident in the spring of 1992. LA police hogtied, beat and kicked Mr. King. It was filmed. The officers were acquitted, even with video tape, by a jury. Riots followed the jury verdict.  King died in 2012 of accidental drowning, with alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and PCP found in his system as contributing factors. There was the Freddie Gray death in Baltimore in 2015, a man died in police cutaway while being transported to be incarcerated.  He was not restrained during transport and suffered a spinal cord injury believed to have resulted from sudden stops made.  Written on Wikidedia, “In a May 4, 2015, interview on Fox News, Alan Dershowitz said that he believes Mosby (Baltimore City State's Attorney, Marilyn Mosby) overcharged the officers in an attempt to satisfy protesters and prevent further disturbances.”  Problems between police and blacks, to include minorities have been ongoing.  They are not universal, but they exist. Ask why?

Self-Preservation

Policing and race relations are a task unto themselves.  Put yourself in their shoes.  White, black or hispanic.  As a police officer not all areas policed are quiet residential neighborhoods.  Where and how people live varies. Police assignments vary.  Over time your mind develops a profile based on experiences.  The experiences involving risk are in the forefront and self-preservation becomes a concern, such concerns most would consider valid.  In the same way when first meeting someone, before any words are spoken, we are all prone to making assessments.  Dress, composure, cleanliness, and eventually how someone speaks enters through our sensory passages, our body and mind more than AI.  If prepared before with verbal or written information on the person being met, our initial perception may be different.  The unknown always makes us leery, just as entering a dark room, or dark alley.  Humans are innately suspicious of personal harm, surprises from circumstances new, unexpected, and foreign.  Conditions and places where persons are first encountered can change attitudes.  This innate element of profiling, all based on what we know, have learned and experienced, is profiling, or a form of racism.  Social and economic factors are in play (socioeconomics). Outward appearances and nature of locations make a difference.  How we protect ourselves is another issue.  But ask should we all simply expect any situation we enter to be perfect, and to react with calm, even when confronted by someone impaired, belligerent, stronger than we are, loud, obnoxious, armed, or providing the impression they are prepared to attack and harm you?  Read and ask yourself that question again. We have our own defense mechanisms.  At times unprepared, when we’d prefer not to be.  If a police officer we are always to be prepared. 

When a police officer finally subdues an assailant, no longer facing a threatening situation, then further force, undue force is not needed.  Vengeance is not needed.  Few of us would readily volunteer or seek as a career path to be a police officer, especially a police officer in a known dangerous area.  That being said, if so employed, once in the dangerous area, getting to know residents, trying to help, you would get to know the good and evil of the environment.  You would know when to be more and better prepared given expectations.  Self-preservation prevails.

Defund the Police

Opinions abound. Some suggestions valid, others crazy.  Something must be done.  Change the model for how police provide security for our citizens.  Defund police. For many it is just about the numbers -  the disproportionate numbers of Indigenous and Black people in our prisons. The back stories are of less importance. Claims are made that bias and diversity training and the use of body-worn cameras have not done enough to change the culture of policing.  The cries ring out, white people are privileged, police are brutal, and inequities exist such that minorities, especially blacks, do not have the same opportunities, even access to the same opportunities.  It becomes a sociology question, and a socioeconomic question.  But there is more.

I was shared a story of a couple that opened an ice cream store in a small city in Florida.  A customer that got to know them one day asked how they came to this location.  The story told was a move from New York City where the husband was a police officer.  He had been shot 4 different occasions.  Enough was enough.  The wife offered to leave with him or without him.  A baby was expected.  He quit the force.  She wanted a husband and father alive to raise their child.  So what does her experiences suggest to her about the Big Apple.  She has her prejudices.  Prejudice and racism go hand in glove.  There will always be racism. 

Divisivism

So what is going on.  My contention is that ‘racism’ as used, when the opportunity caused by a GL like spark occurs, when the crowds that wish to protest police brutality peacefully, a fair cause, morphs into mob rule, anarchy and insurrection, then it is not about ‘racism.  It is about ‘Divisivism.

There are elements in our society that seek to destroy the freedoms we enjoy.  They use, actually abuse, sensitive issues to stir fear, create distrust, and cause division.  It is mostly political, but it has roots.  The roots are in the education of our children, from the earliest grades through college.  It is also the family structure.  There is a growing population of fatherless homes.  When did this begin? My date goes to the Lyndon Johnson era and the establishment of welfare reform, medicare and medicaid.  History tells us after the era of slavery, blacks in America began to find new freedoms.  It was not immediate and not ubiquitous.  But their church, their community, and their families became more important and an expression of their freedom and their willingness to take advantage of opportunities and show their localities, their States and the Nation they were vital contributors and just as human, with the same rights as others, primarily white people with whom they at one time found as their employers and oppressors. Yes, there was resistance.  There was prejudice.  There were superior attitudes.  It would take time for that to change.  Progress has been made.  Great progress.  Not enough progress by the tone of the protests.  Why the dividers? Progress will continue. Most Americans believe we are on the right path and want it to fully succeed. Equal human rights being equal.

Our politically correct culture has sewn a fabric of heightened sensitivity deriving from those who expect the world to be perfect.  In this perfect world everyone is equal, everyone is the same.  There are no poor.  There are no billionaires, or even wealthy people.  Achievers are wrong for their success, as they are in essence showing off to those less able, or less wanting to strive to the extent needed.  Jobs are shared, exchanged.  One day you are the boss, the next you are the janitor, and serve in all levels between.  In a fashion equality and inequality in a society are the same, yet different.  We are equal as to our rights and opportunity.  But we are unequal when it comes to outcomes, as we may not be equal in our hopes, desires, God given talents, and achievements.  We are different as to the sexes and as to our physiques.  Some exercise and some do not, creating inequalities.  So is that unfair?  What is fair about a child being born in a family without a father, or whose father leaves?  How do we equalize that child.  If up to our politically correct society government becomes the substitute for a father or mother, when there is only one as head of household.  But is government effective in that role?

Let me mention one idiom.  God is in charge.  But there are things we can control.  You can study.  You can work.  You can try harder.  This is what makes people different.  And to complain that those that do what they can do are creating inequality is just wrong.  It is a lame reaction to those that lack the desire and will to make an effort.  Followers of God must work at their believing, grow in their faith and become an example to others.  To be a believer does not make you better, it does not make you superior (as Islamism claims).  What it does is make you humble and more accepting of everyone.  If you need a path to less chaos, a more peaceful world, then seek God.  

The Liberal View

Why give up victimhood, it works for the race hustlers. This is a point made by Thomas Sowell, a black intellectual.

The world view of young millennials and others, I am talking liberals, is different from the older, 50’s, and 40’s, liberals. In part that may be due to maturing and successful careers, some with families, and experiences that in the radical leftist liberal Democrat environment become burdensome, troublesome, and less appealing. Passions substitute for the reality of life. Why liberals? The view from the mind of a conservative is different from that of a liberal, regardless of color. The conservatives, black or white, are not taking to the streets. They see the impact on jobs, businesses, and lives as destructive. It destroys opportunity and makes the platform position goals of those pandering to actual racism less attainable. It takes any progress to date and puts it in reverse. It may be temporary, but it impacts gains made. To get ahead you do not stomp on the toes of efforts, achievements, improvements and ongoing successes for minorities. You cannot say the whites are not trying. When you do you confuse, frustrate and stem advances. You create impediments by those making an effort to continuing, concerned, disappointed, saying, ‘what’s the use.’ Nobody cares, they just want more. 

Candice Owen, a black conservative, spoke out during the GF protests and looting saying words much different from those commonly spewed from the main stream media.  She does not give the police officer that killed GF a pass.  But she criticizes the culture of the black community that have repeatedly honored and defended the criminal element, seldom holding up the same of the successful, the accomplished blacks.  All too often the achiever as conservatives are called ‘uncle Toms’ or worse, and that by other blacks.  That is not the case for latinos or whites or other minorities.  She questions that.  But what it comes down to is the liberal lefts Democrats using the blacks, not helping the blacks.  This is Divisivism.

Here is Candice Owens You Tube discussion. 

Candice Owen noted that most uprisings, protests for police brutality of blacks, as a common habit, as if whites are not also brutalized by the police, the criminal element the issue, occur during election years.  Why is that?  Simply the left wants power.  And to get power they need the support of the black poor.  Keeping them poor, in blighted neighborhoods, with a weak economy and limited job opportunities helps Democrat politicians appeal for votes from this ID (identity) group.  Why do Democrats and liberal leftists seek illegal immigration, which takes jobs and primarily jobs that blacks can readily fill?  One answer, to keep them jobless and wanting the welfare checks and the largesse from government, offered by Democrats, if indeed they are the majority of the government.  Divisivism is political.   So too is Racism.

Statistics - Facts

Statistics are important.  What the left ignores are the stories behind the statistics.  In the last year deaths of unarmed persons at the hands of policemen were 9 black, 19 white, and what is cited is that the blacks as a percentage of society (13%) are not represented in that stat.  It is higher for blacks.  But the backstory is crimes in American are committed by blacks at a much higher percentage, 44%, than the 13% of society this minority represents.  

Conservative radio show host Larry Elder voiced support for law enforcement after police officers came under fire following the death of George Floyd while he was in custody.

Elder, who is black, noted that statistics show that more unarmed white people were shot and killed in 2019 than unarmed black people.

“How many unarmed blacks were killed by cops last year? 9. How many unarmed whites were killed by cops last year? 19,” he tweeted Tuesday. “More officers are killed every year than are unarmed blacks. When do the #BlueLivesMatter protests begin?”

48 felonious deaths of police officers occurred in 19 states and in Puerto Rico. The number of officers killed as a result of criminal acts in 2019 was 8 less than the 56 officers who were feloniously killed in 2018.  

From the Crime and Law Enforcement Society, “In 2018, there were 686,665 full-time law enforcement officers employed in the United States. The number of full-time law enforcement officers reached a peak in 2008 with 708,569 officers, and hit a low in 2013 with 626,942 officers.” That is about 2/10 of 1% of our Nation.  So to compare, 48 dead of 2/10 of 1% compared to 9 dead of 13% compared to 19 dead of 67%. I’d say the big losers are the police. Of the 48 officers 40 were white, 7 were black, 83.3% compared to 14.5%. 20 died serving traffic tickets or serving warrants or conducting various investigative matters not involving the use of weapons. 

From the WSJ, “The po­lice fa­tally shot nine un­armed blacks and 19 un­armed whites in 2019, ac­cording to a Wash­ing­ton Post data­base.... The Post de­fines “un­armed” broadly to in­clude such cases as a sus­pect in Newark, N.J., who had a loaded hand-gun in his car dur­ing a po­lice chase. In 2018 there were 7,407 black homi­cide vic­tims. Assuming a com­pa­ra­ble number of vic­tims last year, those nine un­armed black vic­tims of po­lice shoot­ings rep­re­sent 0.1% of all African-Amer­i­cans killed in 2019. By contrast, a po­lice of­fi­cer is 18½ times more likely to be killed by a black male than an un­armed black male is to be killed by a po­lice of­fi­cer.”

What is the Fuss?

Why all the hullabaloo? What Officer Chauvin did went too far. It is a tactic used by the MN police force, however this time it went too far. Police interact with civilians, it has been reported, over 375 million times per year. Accidents happen, passions can run hot, and errors in judgment can occur.  Many time events can unfold very rapidly resulting in tragic endings. How often have Americans peacefully protested the death of a police office, or a white bad actor. Why is it mostly blacks receive all the support, criminals no less, for the error of a police officer?  GF was not an innocent man. GF was not a community leader or pillar of the community. He was a black man that was committing a crime, possessing illegal substances, high on drugs, and known by the police due to his extensive police record and history of incarceration. He was not on the mend, reforming in his ways as portrayed by the liberal media. The truth is being hidden, while the murder is being exploited.

This is what the dividers, the divisivists, do. And it occurs most frequently in election years. No crises goes unused. The goal of Divisivism is to reduce any resistance to their objectives, which includes reducing the policing of their actions, reporting all the facts, exposing the truth, and debating their issues. When they can stir any pot of hatred it serves their purpose as they parlay the negative to make it the issue, magnifying any crumb that benefits the goal. They will attack the critic not the criticism. They will blame the one exposing their lies to avoid the lie and it’s connection to them. In Islam it is Takiyya, saying anything if it assists Islam, the truth be dammed. Divisivism has a Manuel, the Rules for Radicals, by Saul Alinsky. It could be the Quran, except the Divisivists embrace the LGBTQ, the Socialist, ANTIFA, and other hate groups.  As with Islam, who care only for the Muslim, the Divisivists only care for those that agree with their ideology. Their expressed hate for God exemplifies the positions they take, which does not avow, ‘live and let live.’  They will destroy their enemy. They boil with hatred. However, different from Islam, they can leave, become a conservative. As an apostate, seeing the truth, they change. Such change elected Donald Trump as President. The apostate of Islam is to be punishable by death. Wouldn’t the Divisivists love that!

The Divisivists have decried, some, not all, the use of military to quell destructive rioting and insurrection. On June 3, Tom Cotton (Arkansas Republican Senator) wrote an opinion piece published by the NYT, titled, “Bring in the Troops”, in which his final paragraph said, “The American people aren’t blind to injustices in our society, but they know that the most basic responsibility of government is to maintain public order and safety. In normal times, local law enforcement can uphold public order. But in rare moments, like ours today, more is needed, even if many politicians prefer to wring their hands while the country burns.” The NYT subsequently apologized to its readers for printing the piece, citing, on June 5, “After publication, this essay met strong criticism from many readers (and many Time’s colleagues), prompting editors to review the piece and the editing process. Based on that review, we have concluded that the essay fell short of our standards and should not have been published.” Everyone has a right to their opinion, but only if it meets media standards, established based on the bias and preferences of the editors and their audience. The NYT tilts left. The editor responsible has left the Times.  

In a Letter in early June to Trump by Cardinal Carlo Maria Viganò*, he wrote, “We will also discover that the riots in these days were provoked by those who, seeing that the virus is inevitably fading and that the social alarm of the pandemic is waning, necessarily have had to provoke civil disturbances, because they would be followed by repression which, although legitimate, could be condemned as an unjustified aggression against the population.…The American people are mature and have now understood how much the mainstream media does not want to spread the truth but seeks to silence and distort it, spreading the lie that is useful for the purposes of their masters.”  There are many seeing the Divisivists at work. 

The Cardinal's letter.

The riots and the many protests, the continued call for more, is a product of the deep state. Many protesters do not realize their passions are being used and mis-directed.  This is an attempt to overturn Trump in November.  After the 3rd of November all of this will quiet down.  If Trump wins there may be some residual uprisings as in the past from the ‘losers’ (call it, ‘upset uprisings').  Biden is being manipulated by those who want to promote the ‘deep state’ and have our Federal Government altered to favor the many forces of evil that appear inherent in their efforts.  He does not embody the goals and objectives of the deep state, but will do anything for the office of President. These Nietzsche übermensch are the ungodly.  Their first attempt to eliminate their competition was and continues, is the attack on God and the church.  Efforts to defund ICE and now the police are just a continuation of their want for a human morality that does not comport with human nature.  Attempts to convince people otherwise is via intimidation, name calling, lies and protests. Would you put your destiny in the hands of these people, the Divisivists? The Cardinal noted, “hidden behind these acts of vandalism and violence there are those who hope to profit from the dissolution of the social order so as to build a world without freedom.” And without hope and joy. 

The Divisivists, the deep state operatives, or as many refer to as the ‘children of darkness,’ have revealed themselves.  This uprising from a tragic consequence is reactive protocol of Divisivism.  Oddly they have as their champion for President, Joe Biden, now living in darkness, figuratively and actually. And as one would expect him to say, “Come’on man, help me outta here.”  But when he emerges from the darkness of his basement, his support for GF will be announced, but unfortunately GF will not be available to be his VP.

There is so much to consider in all this chaos.  Keep your mind open.  Be objective.  

Author:  T W. Balderston, author, blogger, and believer. 

* Titular Archbishop of Ulpiana

Former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America