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“It’s not up to me to decide what activists should protest, but after years of dealing with the realities of street violence, I don’t understand how a movement called “Black Lives Matter” can ignore the leading cause of death among young black men in the U.S., which is homicide by their peers.” – Edward Conlon in The Racial Reality of Policing [at wsj.com]

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62 COMMENTS

  1. This was a good article. I wish that he didn’t use the term “gun violence” ’cause, as we all know, it’s a lame media term. OTOH, he was a cop and they use various terms that aren’t quite accurate (e.g., assault weapon, active shooter, resisting arrest).

    • That’s kind of ironic. You accuse him and police of using incorrect terms at the same time that you misquoted him. He used the term “street violence”.

      BLM will never be a legitimate movement because it’s narrative is false from the get go and it’s impossible to hide from.

      Great article.

      • In a rational world where up is up and down means down your assumption would probably hold water , but in this reality we are in , where everything has been or is being twisted ( totally transformed ) , I believe it is already a legit movement . Several leading presidential candidates have already had meetings with their leadership along with leading congressional members .
        It seems to not matter that most violent deaths perpetrated on black Americans is by Black Americans . I think it must be like using the N word , it only hurts if it comes from a cracker . I have some very close friends and many wonderful patients that are black Americans and it wouldn’t make any difference who assaulted them , to me , their life matters .

        • There’s legit and then there’s legit.

          From a purely pragmatic standpoint, sure, it’s a real movement. A lot of people have joined it, and it’s a big cultural phenomenon right now.

          From an ethical standpoint…not so much. It was launched by a lie and still relies on that lie for its slogan and much of its emotional force. The dishonesty at its core will always undermine any truth it might otherwise claim.

      • How well is “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” fading away?

        A catchy sound bite always does well. When it gives people confirmation of their prejudices and allow then to ignore inconvient facts, it does even better.

      • False from the get go? The point is to stop police brutality. How many videos need to be posted of unarmed black people being beaten or shot by police before the narrative is “legitimate?”

        • Number has nothing to do with it. “Hands up, don’t shoot” was a lie — witnesses and forensic evidence verify that no such thing occurred, and the guy who made the claim wasn’t even there when the shooting happened — yet it’s being repeated as if it has some kind of existential truth. Repeat a lie a million times, make 50 million people believe it, it’s still a lie.

          “Unarmed” also has little to nothing to do with it. If I’m unarmed and trying to kill you, and I’m big enough to make you believe I could succeed, then you’re legally and morally justified if you bring out a weapon to save yourself. (If I’m 75 years old and unarmed, and you’re strong and able, then not so much.) Circumstances matter. A lot.

    • At the end conk on does call for more gun control I guess that means a nationwide standard like the cities have. Our personal safety wasn’t discussed in his article at all

  2. Doubt a weekend goes by without thugs shooting thugs – then because one thug decided to accost a cop half his size whom he could have killed said cop with bare hands gets shot and other thugs burn down entire neighborhoods. Where’s my sign “thugs lives DON’T matter” ?

  3. The demographics go deeper still. Blacks commit almost 48% of all homocides in America, but are only about 14% of the population. Knowing that men are far more likely to murder than women, we can surmise that about 7-8% of the U.S. Population is responsible for almost half of the homocides. We don’t have a police problem, we have a crime problem.

  4. Nope. Does not advance the narrative that the “system” is the reason that so many blacks live in poverty, that so may blacks men are in jail.

    Just the one example of my friend, a first generation Vietnamese says it all. She came here as a child, everyone of her family except her mother, not speaking english. Her father worked construction until he learned english and got his contractors license. Her mother started as a cashier in a corner market, until she saved enough money to become the owner of that market. Between the three daughters and the son ended up with two bachelors and two masters and are living the middle to upper class american dream.

    This is not an anomaly. Vietnamese and Chinese immigrants have higher percentages of advanced degrees and being business owners than the white population.

    Hard work, good family values, start a business, get a good education; most anyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or gender, can succeed in america.

    But that would mean there are no such thing as a victim. That “white privilege” does not keep minorities poor and in jail.

    That cannot be allowed.

    • As MTV recently advised, black people can’t be racists. They can racially discriminate, but they can’t be racists. Only white people can be racists. Someone else on CNN–one of its reporters I believe–wrote that all white people are racists, but most just haven’t admitted it yet. But then there was a great rebuttal by an Irish American. Among his comments, he noted that the English have been trying to “solve the Irish problem” (that the Irish were Celts) for hundreds of years, and forced the Irish into a sub-peasantry for whom education was illegal, and who could work only the lowliest jobs. the reason so many Irish died in the famine is that the grains that could have fed them were being shipped to England by the “owners.” When the Irish came to America, they were widely despised by the ruling WASP class, and cud only get jobs in he lowliest of jobs–mining, tunnel building, anything dangerous and dirty. They lived in slums and died by the thousands. The same was true in the South, where the Irish were hired to do jobs that were too dangerous for their slaves–slaves cost money, Irish didn’t. And this state of affairs continued until the Irish became the cops and firefighters, and eventually took over City Hall.

  5. I’ll never understand how some people can take the actions of criminals as a means to deflect from an issue about police brutality. Criminals are criminals. I expect better from the police. That’s it. Plain and simple. I’ll quote myself, “you can’t take the actions of people who don’t see their own value (for whatever reason) as an excuse to treat them as if they’re right.” The #BlackLivesMatter(Too) movement is a statement to those who have accepted the responsibility of protecting citizens, to not be selective in whose lives hold value. All lives matter is a cop out and ignores the problem because if you as a law abiding citizen or member of law enforcement act/feel/perceive as if Black lives matter less, if at all, then you are negating your own “all lives” statement. And if you want to act like there aren’t other active measures taken to ensure low income people stay that way (which is a precursor to violence), well that’s just turning a blind eye. What is most alarming to me is the divided line between those who understand this movement and those who do not. Those who do not are the ones who cause me the greatest concern.

    • Greg, what the world sees is a group of people who hold rallies to incite violence. How can people who don’t understand their message get past hearing the chants to kill police and the social media cries from their ranks to kill all white people?
      If the movement is anything more than a hate group, then they need to get it together and show otherwise. This will involve solid leadership, a clear message, and getting their members on board. Right now, everyone is seeing a hate group that is actively and successfully inciting violence.
      Win hearts and minds my friend and you will accomplish big things.

      • I have seen no official word that says that The Black Lives Matter movement is a Kill White Lives movement. Are there some who feel this way and probably commit heinous acts under the guise of the BLM movement? Possibly; but that should not apply to all no who advance this movement any more than one white person who kills in the name of white supremacy should apply to all whites. That’s part of the problem. The movement has to say Black lives matter in hopes of getting the message across that the lives being policed command the same respect as if they were living in affluent areas. Again, let’s not stoop the level of criminals and say “well they kill each other, why should anyone care if we follow suit?” Because you want to be better than the criminals.

        I see nothing that says hate group. I see anger, hurt, and frustration and a cry to be valued. It doesn’t seem fair to me to tell an outraged group of people how to express that outrage. Especially when they’re being told to express it amiably towards the very same group of people who they feel value their lives less than other citizens. In a nutshell they’re being told, “be quiet, go home, don’t be outraged or hurt, and maybe at a later time we’ll hear your perspective. Maybe.”

        • The BLM is simply the political action arm of the FSA (Free **** Army). They believe they are entitled to commit crime and behave like animals without consequence and have their lifestyle bankrolled by us working stiffs. This attitude is present at all levels of the BLM movement; from the ghetto breeding units to the “intellectuals” of the movement. Reference the recent statement by the University of Wisconsin’s Director of Community Relations, wherein he stated blacks should be free to shoplift without legal repercussion.

          All human communities side with and protect their own. Given the hugely disproportionate number of blacks that are criminals and black America’s self identification with and acceptance of ignorant violent ghetto culture, it’s no surprise they should support the criminal members of their own community. What we are dealing with are communities where anti-social criminal behavior is the accepted norm. It’s no surprise they are in constant conflict and in opposition to those who try to maintain social order.

          At least these are the conclusions I’ve come to after living for years in the ‘hood and observing the savages on first hand basis.

    • The problem being is that the ones held up as poster children of police brutality, (Martin and Brown) were shown to be thugs and criminals and pretty much got what they deserved.

      ;So is there really a problem with cops targeting blacks unfairly? Or is the culture of confrontation, lawlessness, flash mobs, the knock out game, burning rioting and looting at the slightest excuse at some imagined “outrage” really a product of this victim culture nurtured and reinforced by the progressives?

      I’d say yes.

      • Are we justifying profiling and killing of unarmed citizens based on these actions? Why do we turn to negative acts committed by people as a justification to profile and use excessive force on everyone who “fits the description” of person of interest du jour? If I didn’t know any better I would think the prevailing attitude is “these minorities don’t know how to act so we should teach them respect by whichever means feels justified.”

  6. the leading cause of death among young black men in the U.S., which is homicide by their peers.”
    This is why we need more badly needed executive orders, legislation , and court rulings against OFWGs, gun shops and shows, the NRA, black rifles, high capacity magazines, shoulder thingies that go up, assault ghost guns with 30 caliber magazines, and anyone or anything else who really is not part of the problem.

  7. How can we say its a gun crime problem when peers are killing peers?
    How can we say who cares if a 15 year old shoots another 15 year old?
    Unless an innocent bystander gets wacked.
    How can we say its one races crimes against the same race?? For the most part.
    How can we say “X” is responsible for the killings of most “X”?
    Take this all out of the gun murder statistics numbers antis use.
    There wouldn’t be anything for the Antis to actually complain about.
    Or any real news to say about a city like Chicago on a daily basis,
    But that’s so “Politically Incorrect”. We cant do that. Can we??
    Its time to toss all this political correctness and fight fire with fire.

  8. By the way Cops as a whole have about the hardest job in America. Most are good people who have at times to make split second decisions based on the unknown at the movement. Yes some times mistakes are made.
    But the guys in Blue are also human beings. They do on occasion make an error in Judgment, I for one cant hold that against the majority of them. Im sure to them. All lives matter including their own, All they want is to go home at the end of a shift. Just as anyone else should.

  9. Interesting that Conlon bemoans premature deaths while smoking a cigarette. Cognitive dissonance much, Connie-boy? Or are you just trying to look butch?

  10. So, criticizing police brutality is the same as siding with gangsters. This is what bootlickers actually believe.

    Remember that police are nothing more than legalized gangsters who do absolutely nothing to lower crime, because their job is to enforce laws that often exacerbate violence.

    • It is when your movement is only concerned with the lives of thugs who rob convienence stores and beat up the clerks and not when those same thugs kill nine year olds in drive bys. In fact the only kind of person who thinks in those terms is the kind of person who used to join the Klan. So I guess that makes you a racist.

        • Non Sequitor.

          BLM is a gang front whose objective us to get the police withdrawn from the ‘hood so the gangs can go about their business unimpeded. You support BLM which means you wish to have gang control so black neighborhoods remain poor and dependent. You are basically the 21st Century version of a Klansman who wants to keep black people in their place.

        • Anyone who criticizes the cops are gangsters. 🙂

          So BLM is really the 21st century klan even though the cops are the ones roaming neighborhoods looking for people to fine and assault?

    • Sorry, I can’t hear your complaints of police brutality. They are drowned out by the sound of all the police ofgicers being targeted and assassinated by the people complaining about police brutality.

        • Well, Reason says it, so it must be true?

          Call me a bootlicker all you want. It just makes you look like a fool. There are certainly problems with our police forces, but I’ll stand with LEO all the way, versus the domestic terrorists known as BLM.

        • Please, actually read the linked statistics instead of griping about the supposedly biased source.

          So BLM are the terrorists, even though they don’t mutilate toddlers with flashbang grenades?

      • Chip,

        Reason Magazine supported the BLM movement from the beginning. Jacob Sullum was outraged that Darren Wilson was given due process. He was also outraged that The Mall of America refused to surrender their property rights to the mob.

        Reason is the home of Rothbardian anarchists posing as [faux] Libertarians. They see the gangs differently from the Progressives. The gangs are the model for Rothbardian free governance. Balko and Sullum see Somalia as a model and not a cautionary tale. If you just legalize drugs and sex, and elimate public law the ghetto will become a paradise. The gangbangers will become pillars of the cimmunity, sign civil union contracts with their many baby mamas, and sent their offspring to online universities. Who could object to that?

        • >Jacob Sullum was outraged that Darren Wilson was given due process

          Please actually post a quote and/or article that backs up this claim. Otherwise, confirmed yet another bootlicker not knowing what libertarianism is. 🙂

        • It doesn’t matter who supports what – numbers are numbers. This is the single safest year to be a cop in the USA since early 90s. And, in general, it’s safer to be a cop than a pizza delivery driver, and a dozen other professions.

  11. When recently pointing out to a controllist “black on black” violence is the leading cause of murder in America, I was told that fact was just a red herring and the NRA, firearms lobbyists, and gun companies are responsible for all the gun deaths. I believe I was also called a racist hick. Nice people on the other side of the debate.

  12. Good luck changing the culture into a normal peaceful one. That’s known as being white and will get you labelled an Oreo or Uncle Tom

  13. Headline of the article mentions “police misconduct.” Note how cops manipulate language. Hurting and killing citizens, planting evidence, and torture such as that carried out by Jon Burge from Chicago P.D. are police “misconduct.” Most cops are schemers and manipulators, which is how police unions manipulate state legislatures to routinely violate the most basic principles of the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta.

    Illinois just passed a body cam bill, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner in August. Sold as a Great Leap Forward, it supposedly requires cops to store vids for 90 days. Read the fine print, and there is no criminal penalty for cops who delete or “lose” video. State legislatures deliberately encourage cops to destroy evidence when they hurt or kill citizens. But you can be sure when the body cam footage can be used to prosecute citizens, it will be preserved for use in court.

  14. One day before Newtown were politicians calling for gun control because inner city youth were shooting each other?

    There it is.

    Mainstream America doesn’t think that Black Lives Matter.

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