Recreating the 1960's

It seems to me that lately we have a generation-the grandchildren of those who marched in Selma and who fought for civil rights for all people-intent on reliving and recreating those years. While I understand the legacy of slavery 150 years ago resonated in the dissolution of families and culture, there's nobody alive now who was a slave or a slave owner. Most of the victims of Jim Crow laws are quite elderly and unless I'm unaware of it, the openly racist tactics of pushing people of color into second class status have been over for quite awhile.

We have programs designed to help minority students acquire a high school diploma and even to advance to college and professional schools. So why are so many students failing to take advantage of the system set in place to help them achieve? We've culturally simplified the tests-we even offer a safety net of tutoring, retests and mentoring programs to help the historic underachievers. Here's a little secret some people may not know-Anglo kids fail too. And they have far fewer safety nets in place. The idea that being white somehow protects you is a joke and half to these kids.

So we move the most recent unpleasantness. Like the Trayvon Martin case, the Michael Brown case was tried in the court of public opinion by those who have social and political agendas. In both cases, evidence was misrepresented by reporters who should have known better. In a similar way, agents and provocateurs used both of these cases as leverage to get the locals to open their wallets. Be careful when someone claims to be here to help-ask who they are helping beyond themselves. As the result of this false "evidence" rioting was promoted and occurred. The end result of this has yet to be seen, but there's no doubt that some businesses and their associated jobs will go away. This means that as the result of rioting Ferguson will have fewer job opportunities and is almost guaranteed to drop in terms of the ability to sustain itself.

The complaints of the 1960's were discrimination in housing, in education and in jobs. With fewer businesses, there's less tax revenue meaning the schools get less money. Few businesses also means fewer jobs and more people on welfare. It's almost as if this was the endgame for the entire situation was to create more poor, minority people. When you look at the protests, they are based on complaints that are legally flimsy. While nobody wants someone killed, neither do citizens want petty thieves and bullies wandering the streets. For all the public complaints about Michael Brown's death there have to be those who know the real background. Brown was kicked out by his parents and by his grandmother-that's not what happens to "gentle giants". Brown had to make up high school credits after graduation. That's not what kids with a bright future do. That is what kids who have a history of disrupting classes, bullying peers and skipping school do. So why are so many so willing to protest? I'm not saying all cops are golden, but it seems like certain cases have been hand picked by DOJ and the media for some purposes beyond the peaceful promotion of racial equality.

Who is pulling the strings on this and why?