Photo Attribution: D.A. Peterson / Public domain
Throughout the recent protests and debates over racial inequality in the United States, people on the left side of the aisle have succumbed to an acute case of tunnel vision. To them, race is the only issue right now. Apparently racial issues are so important that the pandemic has receded into nothingness in their wake. Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, decided to march with protesters and not social distance during the recent protests. This was just three days after she stated that, “Outdoor social gatherings and events are permitted so long as people maintain six feet of distance from one another and the assemblage consists of no more than 100 people.” Hypocritically enough, the protests certainly had more than 100 people. Unfortunately, political virtue-signalling will always triumph over rational thinking when it helps a politician get reelected.
However, even though these protests were not well thought out and congregated large numbers of people during a pandemic, pundits and political leaders alike have failed to recognize one of the largest harms that they create. They force us to focus on issues that are peripheral in extent to what we should be facing as a nation.
The U.S. has gone farther than any other country in extending the legacy of freedom to every racial group. Under the law all people are equal. Additionally, when dealing with police there is virtually no evidence that black people are disproportionately shot. If the U.S. is truly a racist place, then how could a majority elect a black president? How is Oprah one of the highest paid celebrities? Why did many universities stop using the SAT to accommodate students of color? Why is the NBA embracing Black Lives Matter? The answer is because most Americans are good-hearted people who don’t care about your race or background.
That is not to say that racial disparity is not an issue. However, the conversation has become so divisive and destructive that we are ignoring everything else. We are turning a blind eye to other abuses that are so sickening they make radical left wing groups like Black Lives Matter look absurd.
According to Foreign Policy over 1 million Turkic Uighurs are held in prison camps in China. They are sterilized, raped, killed, and tortured in an attempt to expunge their race from Chinese society. Additionally, around 500,000 Muslim children have been separated from their families and are held in Chinese custody. This is real and material racism to the highest degree.
Racism is certainly something we should address in this country, but the conversation has become so radical that no one can agree. The governmental policies in the United States are not perpetuating racism, but work can be done to stop racist incidents from happening in a calm and collected discussion of policy goals. However, the situation has gotten so out of control that college campuses focus on fighting microaggressions and people spend their energy trying to remove statues of Abraham Lincoln. All the while they ignore the fact that Uighur Muslims are being killed in China. In the United States, prosperity has been extended to all groups to a degree unparalleled in human history. Despite this, we are so stuck on inflated issues in our country that we are too selfish to extend that prosperity to others.
Your humble servant,
Silence Dogood
