Black Lives Matter

They're at it again.  Here in St. Paul, they blocked 94, the main freeway that comes out of Chicago, through Wisconsin by way of Madison, and cuts through the twin cities.    This isn't the first time local provocateurs impeded traffic.  Two years ago, they marched on 35W, the western half of the 35 split that runs through Minneapolis and down through Dallas.

I have no idea if I read the tea leaves right, but I can't imagine this is the best way to ingratiate oneself to non-partisans.  It's certainly not how I'd go about it.

Tangentially, it's also an interesting example of the spurious nature of white privilege.  It's almost impossible to think of a time that any other group would be brazen enough to shut down a major freeway.  The cops supposedly hate black people so much they've taken to murdering them, but we can't get even get them off the streets.  Logic is not a strong suit with this sort.

On the one hand, it's not as if BLM doesn't have something of a point.  Cops aren't held accountable for their actions.  Like secretaries of state.  Or teachers.  Or even priests for that matter.  Those who reflexively defend cops are missing the point.  Police do shoot innocent victims and although the next of kin may win a handsome award (courtesy of the taxpayer), bad cops are almost never charged and prosecuted for felonious behavior.

On the other hand, BLM is based on two rather large lies.  First, "hands up don't shoot" never happened.  Well, it might have, some other time, but not with Michael Brown.

Second, blacks are not being shot with impunity by the police.  More whites than blacks are killed by cops.  Since there are significantly more whites than blacks, more to the point: blacks are killed in approximate proportion as the rate of black violent crime relates to that of non-blacks.  Because the blacks crime rate is roughly seven to eight times that of whites, the former are proportionally more likely to die at the hands of cops than are whites.  Once the disparity in crime rates is accounted for, this supposed anomaly disappears.

Besides, even bad behavior on the part of the civil authorities doesn't allow one to block of major thoroughfares and throw debris at the constabularies.  The pro-life movement is standing on higher moral ground (think of all the black lives that haven't mattered to the abortion industry), yet we -continue to march peacefully on sidewalks in front of clinics.

This doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon, so we'll leave matters here for a bit.  Look for cops to avoid policing in black neighborhoods; crime will increase concomitantly.  Look for BLM to continue protesting, often violently, no matter the facts relating to the particular incidence of outrage.

It would seem we are in store for a very interesting summer heading into election season.