White anti-government protesters armed with guns take to the streets, yet no one calls the National Guard, no curfew invoked and no media frenzy.
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More than two weeks ago, roughly around the same time an uprising of black youth in Baltimore captured America’s attention, a group of heavily armed, middle-aged white male protesters in Grant Pass, Oregon, threatened government officials and gathered at government offices to dispute what they perceive is a land-grab from the Bureau of Land Management.
The government’s response to the armed protesters in Grant Pass differed greatly from the manner in which unarmed—minus bricks and rocks—protesters in Baltimore were treated.
Young black protesters who were outraged at the death of Mr. Freddie Gray while in police custody had the National Guard deployed to their neighborhoods and a citywide curfew invoked all because a small group, on one day, chose to destroy property as part of their uprising.
The radical anti-government protesters in Grant Pass, however, have been given the freedom to reign and roam for days, as the local government shut down their offices to ensure their employee’s safety.
“Can you imagine what would happen if angry young men of color spouting insurrectionist rhetoric gathered outside a government building with handguns and assault rifles and prevented officials from doing their job? The government’s response would be massive and immediate. Political commentators would clamor for direct action to eradicate these ‘thugs,'” writes Mr. Josh Horwitz Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, in a post entitled “Baltimore and Grants Pass: A Tale of Two Uprisings.”
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Mr. Horowitz ends his piece on The Huffington Post with this truth:
“If we are going to use the power of the state to make sure that violent rioters in Baltimore don’t have the run of the streets, then there is no legitimate rationale for allowing armed insurrectionists to take over our public lands and threaten government employees with death.”
Mr. Horowitz, by penning his Op-Ed, has conformed to one of the social changes pushed by #BlackLivesMatters activists: breaking white silence.
For Blacks, this double standard is not only expected to play out in society, it’s the root cause for the uprising of Black youth.
And though, as Mr. Horowitz reminds us, there can be no legitimate rationale given for this duality in the application of freedom, many, I forecast, will attempt to provide one.
I can imagine that those who offer counter-arguments will say that local governments operates differently, and just because Baltimore’s Mayor overreacted during a time of uprising, doesn’t mean those governing Grant Pass should do the same.
My response to that would be this: it’s not about the government as much as it is about culture. There’s a culture that exist in America that empowers white people to take up arms when having a disagreement with their government, yet causes many Blacks to almost always flinch when simply hearing a police siren.
There’s a sick culture that exist in America when swarms of journalists will camp out in Baltimore waiting for another violent Negro uprising to validate why punitive approaches should be used against them, while there’s virtually no mention by mainstream media of Oath Keepers standing guard at the Sugar Pine mine.
There’s a disgusting, abhorrent and racist culture that exist in America, and if you don’t believe me, just Google the phrase “Dangerous Thugs at Sugar Pine Mine” and compare the number of articles you see on the subject to the many that come up when you search the phrase “Violent Thugs Destroy Baltimore During Uprising.”
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Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™