[otseng]

[koko]

Allen West, a man who was convicted of abusing a police officer in Iraq. Imagine if he tried that in the USA, he would have been murdered by that same cop or his colleagues. Instead, all he got was a $5,000 fine.


He says, "There is nothing true or sincere about this ideologically aligned progressive socialist, cultural Marxist organization." In case he doesn't know it, BLM has 501(c)(3) status. If it was a subversive institution as he suggests it would have been stripped of that status by his hero Trump. Further, her says "BLM wants us to believe that there is some focused, dedicated, intentional genocide being enacted against the Black community by law enforcement." While this is clearly an exaggeration made against BLM I have personally gone on record as calling police cirminal actions a "holocaust". And who in their right mind would deny it? After all, the criminal actions of these police has cost taxpayers millions in damages arising from lawsuits. And now we see decimation on the streets with police undercover provocateurs breaking windows, attacking people, and slashing tires (see my videos previously posted on this forum). Note how West does not dare to address any of this. He wants to bury the messager but conveniently looks the other way at the causes of the troubles.

West condemns Margaret Sanger as one who promoted genocide. This while failing to realize that her financiers were all Republicans. I have documented that on this forum previously.

To him, Democrats are "consistent purveyors of systemic racism in America". This is delusionalism of the worse sort. Here in Minnesota Democratic party legislators attempted to impose police reform in order to prevent the tragedy we saw in Minneapolis just a few weeks ago. This would have saved people's lives while making society safer and while saving taxpayers millions in damages. But the Republican legislators refused to impose any such reforms. Therefore, the blood of anyone else who dies from future police criminality will be in their hands.

West is certainly entitled to his opinion no matter how odious it may be. But if he wishes to get any credilibility, he needs to document his claims and to stop parroting the same old tired nonsense spewed by radical Republican extremists every day.


One man's opinion on BLM. Ok, so now we know his view. There are millions of black men all across the USA and around the world who disagree with his warped views. Now let's see that matter addressed here.

[Deeogee]

[Replying to otseng in post #1]

Thank You for your service to the country Sir.

It was so good to read your letter. It was powerful and sincere.

[Bust Nak]

Black Lives Matter does not support the critical civil rights issue of this day. The major civil rights issue in America today is educational freedom. How many young black kids are relegated to failing public schools in failing neighborhoods? Where does BLM stand on that issue? They stand with the progressive socialist left and the teachers unions.

Where is the author going with this? Isn't standing with the progressive socialist left and the teachers unions exactly what you want for improving failing public schools in failing neighborhoods? Surely he is not suggesting we defund public schools and making home-schooling the default?

PS Kinda odd to see a conservative complaining about a government handout school voucher program being cut.

[Mithrae]

Black Lives Matter does not support the critical civil rights issue of this day. The major civil rights issue in America today is educational freedom. How many young black kids are relegated to failing public schools in failing neighborhoods? Where does BLM stand on that issue? They stand with the progressive socialist left and the teachers unions. Ask yourself, has BLM ever condemned the action of Barack Obama in April 2009 to cancel the DC school voucher program?

Where is the author going with this? Isn't standing with the progressive socialist left and the teachers unions exactly what you want for improving failing public schools in failing neighborhoods? Surely he is not suggesting we defund public schools and making home-schooling the default?

PS Kinda odd to see a conservative complaining about a government handout school voucher program being cut.

As I understand it (from this site) school voucher programs are in no way an additional government handout, simply a partial redirection of funds permitting greater educational freedom. That makes a lot of sense; better education tends to benefit everybody not just that student, and if children's education is heavily subsidized in a public school system but a parent is willing and able to scrape together enough (or almost enough) money for the perceived better quality of private schooling, penalizing that strive for better education by removing all subsidy for their child's education would seem quite counterproductive.

A 2019 report analyzed US school funding in terms of predominantly (>75%) white and predominantly non-white districts, finding similar numbers of students in each - 26% of all students in predominantly white districts and 27% in non-white districts - yet a vast funding disparity between the two: Non-white districts received $23 billion less than white districts, or $2226 less per student.

Allen West's ideology may or may not include better and more equitable funding for public schools, but either way perhaps he's onto something in labeling education "The major civil rights issue in America today." There seems to be a fairly plausible chain of causality touching on many of the disparities affecting black communities, of which inequalities in early education seems one of the most unfair and yet simplest to fix:
Poor early education leads to poor college admission/education, leading to lower employment rates > higher crime rates > more heavily policed neighbourhoods > higher incarceration rates > more single-parent families > lower household incomes > poorer neighbourhoods > poor early education...

But an emphasis on educational equality doesn't seem to be a primary focus of the Black Lives Matter organization - the word 'education' doesn't even occur in their "What we believe" manifesto summary - and the reality seems to be that these disparities in early education don't actually fit the political narrative of America's left wing very well at all: In fact, on a state-by-state basis (Appendix 1 of the report cited above) it seems that whereas decidedly Democratic states (<47% Trump supporters in 2016) on average had $2013 less funding per student for non-white districts, decidedly Republican states (>53% Trump supporters in 2016) were far more equitable and actually averaged $136 more funding per student for non-white districts. [If the large student numbers of Texas at 52.6% Trump support is included that becomes a slight funding advantage for white districts on average, though even Texas' $830 advantage to white districts is still much more equitable than the national or Democratic averages.]

Again, inequalities in early education may well be one of the first/most important links in the causal chain of disparities affecting black Americans, both the most unfair and quite probably the simplest to fix. Yet BLM focuses primarily on police violence against black people (which, incidents like the killing of George Floyd notwithstanding, overall is proportional to the black criminal incarceration rate) without mentioning education at all in its summary of main concerns. Why would that be?

[Bust Nak]

Yet BLM focuses primarily on police violence against black people (which, incidents like the killing of George Floyd notwithstanding, overall is proportional to the black criminal incarceration rate) without mentioning education at all in its summary of main concerns. Why would that be?

The same reason saving elephants isn't in the summary of main concerns of save the whales? It's a movement created explicit for the purpose of dealing whales / police reform.

[Mithrae]

[Bust Nak]

Do you not think that education is an important part (some would say the most important part) of social, economic and political opportunity?

I think education is the most important part.

For all the limitations of conservative ideology in general, is it possible that Allen West is right about BLM?

About it focusing on something other than the one key part of the solution to equality? He is right. Having said that, what BLM is focused on, police reform, is a lower hanging fruit then education reform.

[koko]

I wonder what Allen West's comments to disguised white supremacists who foment violence look like:


https://www.nbc12.com/2020/07/25/protes ... -set-fire/

https://www.wsls.com/news/virginia/2020 ... es-matter/


BLM was actually PRAISED for stopping violence created by white supremacists.

[Elijah John]

[Replying to koko in post #9]

Koko, are you saying that the police and "white supremacists" are responsible for all of the violence, rioting, looting and the arson going on in places like Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York, D.C. etc, etc? And that BLM and Antifa have nothing to do with any of it?

Film footage, chants, graffiti, history, arrests and common sense suggest otherwise.

Just one example, the Portland Police Union building was recently torched to chants of "every city every town burn the precincts to the ground".

White supremacists?