Charlotte’s Web- a Festering Disease that Spreads
In the run-up to Monday night’s debate at Hofstra University, between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, what is taking place in the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina is a microcosm of a disease that has reared its ugly head across America.
Many in the major media will say that this is the result of yet another black man being gunned down by the police and, as was the case in Ferguson, Baltimore, Dallas and several other cities across the United States, is based on nothing more than a lie- a lie that has been spread by members of the Black Lives Matter movement and by politicians who are exploiting the unrest for their own political purposes.
Let us be clear. When people loot and riot and assault police officers en masse, as has happened in all of the aforementioned cities, this has nothing to do with peaceful protest and everything to do with felonious activity on the part of criminals taking to the streets. There is an ocean of difference between holding up a sign, yelling about perceived injustice, and tossing a park bench through a storefront window so as to help oneself to cans of Red Bull, packs of cigarettes and Air Jordan sneakers. When such looting is followed by throwing bricks and stones at police officers, the bedlam that ensues has nothing to do with civil rights and everything to do with unleashed anarchy in the streets.
Worse, the one man whose gift of public speaking and use of words might otherwise quell and calm the anger which is fomented in the actions of the young and impassioned is curiously silent and this, in and of itself, speaks volumes about where he stands on the violence taking place. In his silence, President Barack Obama has effectively taken sides with the rioters and against the police whose job it is to protect lives and property and uphold law and order. From the onset of his presidency, Obama has driven a wedge of distrust and discord between whites and blacks, between law enforcement and communities of color, and between the left and right to an extent not seen in generations of presidents, and his is the virulent virus that is spreading pandemically across this country.
Into this year’s presidential election is injected this same illness, with Hillary Clinton exploiting the unrest in shamelessly pandering to gain the black vote, by ginning up another lie- the lie that Donald Trump is a racist, as are those who support him. Hers is the same tactic used by Adolf Hitler, to divide and conquer through the rhetoric of division and discord.
With any hope, these lies which have perpetrated the disease will, at long last, be rejected by enough of the American voters who seek change- real change in the way we go about dealing with the difficult issues of race and want and fear amongst our people.
Such change won’t happen with a president who expresses rage against his political opponents to a degree never seen against Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, and who refuses to condemn violence in the streets of his country. It won’t happen with a corrupt and callous candidate who has called the supporters of her opponent deplorable racists, and worse, and uses this divisive rhetoric to mine for votes. It won’t happen with the major media who spread such lies in an effort to boost their own ratings. It won’t happen on university campuses whose codes of political correctness seek to hide the real truth of what is taking place.
Yet such a change might happen with an outsider candidate who just wants to make America first in all his dealings, and who offers possible solutions to the many problems that plague the inner cities of a county led astray by the powers that be.
In this election year, such are the stakes with which voters are confronted.
-Drew Nickell, 22 September 2016
© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.
author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”
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