Holding and Folding the Race Cards

Group membership identity is a natural human (and, for that matter, animal) tendency.   It is not necessarily a bad thing.  Unfortunately, it is often used as a pretext for condoning if not supporting the poor behavior of particular group members.

Such a theme reverberated in this Blog's posting of 17 February 2010, which discussed the attitudes of certain Jewish groups and individuals to the execution of Florida cop-killer Martin Grossman, and the flak I as a Jew took on account of my refusal to subscribe to the supplications for clemency.

This is not to say that lenity doesn't have a place in the criminal justice system, but in the particular case of Martin Grossman, the criminal's serious recidivistic crime squarely warranted the penalty which was in fact imposed.

Within the African-American community are some very vocal spokespersons who are all too quick to use membership in their group as justification for excusing and encouraging the most violent of criminals.  It is not the purpose of this posting to analyze the reasons why such individuals hold so much sway in the African-American community, nor the connection of the actions and attitudes precipitated by such individuals to the reported percentage statistics of African-Americans as lawbreakers.  Those of us who advocate for a government of laws and not persons should be rooting for all law-abiding citizens regardless of race or ethnicity, and should support the imposition of the appropriate negative consequences upon those who violate the law, without regard to race or ethnicity.

With that as a background, I note that SEIU 1199, the scummiest of the scum as far as labor unions go, has cancelled a pro-gun control rally in Albany for fear of causing racial friction (or, more specifically, racial friction which would be inconvenient for their agenda).  SEIU's rank-and-file membership is largely Black and Hispanic, while the more vocal opponents of Governor Cuomo's gun-grab law are white.  There is no doubt in my mind that Cuomo, with his aspirations to sit in the Oval Office, was behind 1199's change in plan, being that he stands to have mud splattered upon him if a racial confrontation ensues.

My observations and comments on this:

A.  Given the historic use of gun control as a means of oppressing the African-American community, it is they who should logically be opposed to the Cuomo gun grab.

B.  Whatever the reasons may be for the disproportionate tendencies of Black people to commit crimes, the persons most likely to be the victim of a violent Black criminal are themselves Black.

C.  A story now making the rounds is that of Deyfon Pipkins, a Black man with a prior criminal record who was shot dead while in the act of burglarizing a home.  What is not being discussed in the news clips is that the event occurred in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, a predominately Black neighborhood.  The homeowner who performed the valuable service of permanently retiring Pipkins from the active criminal league's roster has not yet been identified, but there is a better than even chance that he is Black and/or Hispanic.

Maybe the SEIU 1199 leadership fears that this, too, might fall onto the table if it were to play its race cards at its now-scrubbed gun-grab rally.

Hot Rod: Some Dots to Connect

I am not, and have never been, an intense watcher of Illinois politics.

Accordingly, I will defer to those pundits whose working knowledge of the Chicago political machine is superior to my own (with due regard to their personal political agendas).

Having stated that, I cannot help but find a few dots to connect in the emerging Blagojevich scandal:

1. The Service Employees International Union ("SEIU") looms large in the Complaint against Hot Rod Blagojevich.

2. During the big 1989 hospital strike in New York City, Local 1199 -- which in 1998 affiliated with SEIU -- was greatly aided in their strike efforts by Jesse Jackson.

3. The Reverend Jesse Jackson's son, Jesse Jr., is a Congressman who hails from Chicago.


I make no presumptions and level no accusations. But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if, when all is said and done, Jesse, Junior and/or Senior, were somehow involved in this Hot Rod Blagojevich affair.