I Bear Witness to the American Devolution

Kindly allow me to begin by reprising my Facebook post dated June 3, 2020:

“I have a question for Thomas Lane, J.A. Kueng and Tou Thao. You saw your colleague, Derek Chauvin, with his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds on May 25. You heard the guy saying he could not breathe and asking for relief. Why did you not act? Why not jump up, kick Chauvin in the face, curse him roundly and help Floyd? Whether he had higher rank in the Minneapolis police department is irrelevant. You should have busted him then and there! Two of you are not even honks, so why is the honk community taking all the heat? Answer me, gentlemen….”

And this is the text of my letter to U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris, composed and sent 11 days later:

“I will get to the point. Visiting Gwangwhamun Plaza today, I turned and looked at the American embassy. The Stars and Stripes was flying, but the flag was dwarfed by a rainbow banner and a ‘black lives matter’ banner. Whose decision was it to put these up? Since President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are your bosses, I wonder whether they gave their approval. Did you do this unilaterally? Perhaps you wanted to prove that you are ‘woke.’

I have been living in Korea for more than 12 years, and I have seen a lot during that time. Never have I seen the embassy rocking a politically correct banner, much less two of them. As a heterosexual European-American, I am offended by the presence of both of these and urge their immediate removal. Your ‘message’ on the embassy web site emphasizes tolerance and diversity. I like those no less than you do. All Americans merit respect, whatever their ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Mr. Harris, get rid of those banners!”

Floyd did not deserve such treatment, obviously. But let’s admit that he had an impressive rap sheet (nine arrests and several visits to the Graybar Hotel), was high on drugs, was attempting to pass a phony $20 bill and resisted arrest. Floyd was black, but would Chauvin et al. have been easier on him if he were White? I do not know, although some people say yes. They contend that Floyd suffered at the hands of bigoted cops who are just part of a much broader problem—systemic American racism.

The terms “racism” and “racist” (the latter in both noun and adjective form) have been used much too freely since Floyd died and the protests, riots and frenzied destruction of statues and other public and private property began in 2,000 American cities. Not for a moment would I deny that what most people regard as racism (Whites feeling superior to, antagonistic or prejudiced toward blacks) lingers in the USA. Two hundred thirty-six years of slavery, followed by a century of Jim Crow in the South have left us with a woeful legacy.

I would like to think that Whites, blacks and members of other ethnic groups get along fairly well. After all, interracial relationships and marriages, leading to brown babies, are more common now than ever. After Floyd’s death, it seems that there has been a concerted effort to degrade and marginalize Whites, and blame them for every problem. (As indicated in my FB post, two of the officers that fateful day in Minny were non-White.)

The issue, if I understand correctly, is social justice or the lack thereof. Police brutality, they say. But the crime statistics reveal some unpleasant facts. Young black males (age 13 to 40) make up 3% of the American population but commit 57% of violent crimes. They would seem to be more often perpetrators than victims. I have never been involved in law enforcement, but it makes sense that police would pay special attention to this cohort. By the same token, I can see how young black males would get sick and tired of it. The upshot is a contentious and volatile relationship. Cops in many urban areas are spat upon, verbally abused and physically resisted; much the same thing often happens to firemen.

“Victim,” I believe, is the key word. Advocates of the only black lives matter (OBLM) movement contend that blacks are victimized, oppressed and denied their basic rights every day of the week. Being the victim feels good. A victim is inherently virtuous, deserving of sympathy and admiration. And, of course, a victim can portray whoever is mistreating him or her as the devil incarnate. That, in the present case, is Whites.

When black people like LeBron James use their “platform” to lecture us, I am not obliged to listen. Some Whites do, however. My opposition to OBLM has cost me one friendship (with a man I will call Billy Bob) and jeopardized some others (with Jimmy Jack, Tommy Ted and Debbie Dot). Billy Bob said I was out of step with the current zeitgeist. Jimmy Jack, although quite an intelligent person, blithely ignores context when it does not suit his left-wing purposes. Tommy Ted informed me that Whites are too often in “defensive postures” vis-à-vis blacks. Debbie Dot, bless her heart, got upset when I had the nerve to call the anarchists who took over downtown Seattle and Portland anarchists.

(James, by the way, is a phony. In October 2019, he had the chance to show support for pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong and declined to do so. This man, who earns nearly $38 million per year, kowtowed to the totalitarian PRC government. No wonder many former fans ceremonially burned his jersey in the streets of Hong Kong. Bron-Bron should stick to hoops.)

Let me tell you something. Despite having lived 67 summers, I am educating myself more thoroughly and rigorously than at any other time in my life. I do so by reading, researching and writing. Since coming to Korea in late 2007, I have read history books pertaining to the Vietnamese, the Romanians, the Chinese, the South Koreans, the North Koreans, the Spanish, the Aussies (before and after the Brits arrived in 1788), the Jews, the French, the Japanese, the Filipinos, the Indians, the Lebanese, the Turks, the Indonesians, the Iraqis, the Egyptians, the Brazilians, the Cubans, the Jamaicans, the Native Americans of both continents, the Maoris, the Arabians, the Russians, the Danes, the Norwegians, the Congolese, the Germans, the Portuguese, the English, the Peruvians, the Kenyans, the Italians, the Malians, the Cambodians, the Greeks, the Zulus and the Canadians. Of whom have I read most? Americans of African descent! In every case, I have sought to appreciate these people’s history and culture. The main lesson is a simple one—we are all equal in God’s sight. I know far more history than James or the purple-haired freaks who seem to make up such a big part of the ongoing cancel culture. Not a man alive can guilt-trip me or cause me to hate myself. Like B.B. King used to sing, “I’ve been around a long time. I’ve really paid my dues.”

Shame on the left-leaning mayors and governors who have stood aside or cheered as one statue after another was vandalized and demolished. Some of them, especially pertaining to the Confederacy, may have deserved their fate. But this has gotten out of hand. Christopher Columbus, Junipero Serra, Kit Carson, John Sutter, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, Ulysses S. Grant and many others have fallen to raging hate-mobs. (In one case in Wisconsin, they pulled down a statue just because it was of a White man, knowing nothing of his identity. It was later justified by the assertion that he “symbolized racism.”) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, are you kidding me? It has happened, and I do not doubt for a second that some of these knuckleheads would love to see our cherished monuments in Washington, D.C. toppled too.

Leftists—Billy Bob, et al.—find these developments of minor concern. I disagree. I am deeply troubled by the OBLM movement, which may or may not have a Marxist agenda. It is divisive and destructive, and I fear that the United States is sliding inexorably downhill. I can hardly believe my eyes when I read of OBLM people demanding (they do not recommend, suggest or ask, they always demand) that local, state and federal police be “de-funded.” Police have been skittish ever since Floyd died, and some citizens have taken advantage. During the weekend of June 28−30 in Chicago, there were 63 shootings and 16 deaths. I would be willing to bet every dollar in my savings account that none of the shooters in Chi-town were White. Cops, to state the obvious, are a necessary part of a civil society and require financial support.

In most cases, I back the blue. Who remembers Micah Xavier Johnson? He is the black man who ambushed and murdered one Hispanic and four White members of the Dallas Police Department on July 7, 2016. The victims of this racist attack were Patricio Zamarippa, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Krol, Michael Smith and Brent Thompson. Before being killed by means of a military robot, Johnson injured nine other officers and two civilians, all of them White.

In the wake of the “disturbances,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear pledged to give free health insurance to all of the blacks in his state. I cannot help but wonder how the mostly White residents in eastern Kentucky feel about this. Appalachia, now there is some serious poverty. I would love to watch Beshear explain himself to the people in Bell, Harlan, Martin, McCreary, Clay, Breathitt, Knox, Jackson, Floyd and Leslie Counties, all of which have high unemployment, opioid problems and endemic health issues. “What about us, Governor?” they might fairly ask.

I have had it with black jocks—the White ones darn sure better go along—kneeling or provocatively walking to the locker room when “The Star Spangled Banner” is played. NBA and WNBA players no longer have their names on the backs of their jerseys but that of a “victim” or some self-righteous political statement. They do it with the blessing of the commissioners and owners. The media are in lockstep, never stopping to ask how offensive this is to fans and sponsors. (Until Yahoo stopped allowing readers to make comments about a week ago, fervent opposition was almost universal.) When some of the black football players at my alma mater made a series of demands and hinted that they might not suit up for games in the 2020 season, Coach Tom Herman hurried to placate them, as did the athletic director and president. The only thing they did not get was having “The Eyes of Texas” trashed as the school’s fight song due to its supposedly racist origins.

OBLM supporters claim to be speaking the truth, and I do no less here. The aforementioned Jimmy Jack tells me that many White people have now begun a process of soul-searching. It permits them to grasp their own moral failings and those of the USA as a whole. “Jimmy Jack,” I respond, “I’ve been soul-searching for decades. This is nothing new for me, and I don’t need you Saul Alinsky-types giving me orders and telling me that I am ‘privileged’ because my ancestors came from Europe. Blacks are more privileged than me. They have now had 57 years of so-called affirmative action, benefit from all sorts of set-asides and are shielded from legitimate criticism.”

I am pained to see American culture and history so casually abused. Don’t call me a reactionary, but I wish the Minneapolis police had been firm in stopping the protests and riots. They should have nipped it in the bud. Instead, leftist mayor Jacob Frey told the cops to stand down, the anarchists ripped and roared, and the city became a scene of devastation. That was only the beginning.

The National Anthem, the Stars and Stripes, July 4th, even the Pledge of Allegiance, have taken on new meaning to me. Sure, I want justice for all people, White, black or whatever, but I cannot abide those who would destroy—whether immediately or one piece at a time—the greatest country in the world, its flaws notwithstanding.