No Excuse

editorial-logo3Where does personal responsibility begin and end? I think that is a fair question. As little as a couple of decades ago, that question was more easily answered but things have changed drastically. Turn on the television and watch for a few minutes. It doesn’t matter if it is a fictional show, reality television or the 24 hour news reports, the basis is the same. We are a people and we have raised generations of people, who do not understand personal responsibility or boundaries.

So, you don’t like the actions of a handful of police? Hunt down anyone in a uniform and shoot them. That will make it right, after all, you are justified. Never mind that in this country we are afforded a trial by a jury of our peers if our actions may be outside of the law. Never mind that those that you are shooting are not those that may or may not have perpetrated the offensive action. One is as good as another.

We live in a society where large groups of people, of various colors, loudly proclaim the actions of law enforcement to be driven by race. These people make clear their disgust at the grouping of people by something as loose as race. Yet, I see no public outcry from these same people, no attempt to monitor their own, when the same alleged mass discrimination that has been the subject of protest after protest is applied to another group of color-those in blue.

I know that life is hard and I am not blind to the challenges that face those immersed in poverty. But, life is about choices. If you want a better way of life, you can have a better way of life. Perhaps not the way that you planned but plans often change and people have to adjust. We live in a Nation that has a racially diverse President. We have a racially diverse Attorney General, as well as members of our Supreme Court. Look around. This is not the 1950s. America is not white or black, we are brown. Yet, the closer that we come in color, the more some cling to ideas that are decades past their prime. Was there discrimination in the United States? Yes. And we spent decades doing something about it. In fact, we almost went so far as to tip the scales in the other direction. Gasp! I know that many will disagree, but middle class white boys don’t meet any diversity guidelines. They are the new disadvantaged but you won’t see anyone picking up a picket sign on their behalf. If you don’t believe me, check out scholarship opportunities and upper tier placements in higher education. Even our own flagship law school openly states that it looks for diversity in its applicants. Middle class white boys are simply not the stuff that diversity is made of, not by choice but by birth. Is this not the very definition of discrimination? And it extends to employment and even loans. Groups that meet the diversity criteria are pursued for loans. Not so? Yes, it is so.

The caveat is that there must be some committeemen from the applicant. I am talking about the diversity edge in situations when all things should be equal. At some point it must be up to the individual to start the climb. It is not the place of society to make the effort for the individual. Where does the personal responsibility begin? Recent research from the Pew Firm points to a break down in the family structure as one of the largest hurdles facing African Americans, as defined by African Americans themselves. Though more whites are arrested, according to information provided by the FBI, non whites are arrested younger and for the most violent young crimes. The family unit has always been the first line of defense for our children and research reveals that in the face of its breakdown children of any race will suffer.

It is wrong for anyone, including law enforcement, to act or react based on race. It is wrong for hatred to cloak itself in anything, including racial justice. We need to return to a time when our children, of whatever color, knew personal responsibility and understood that actions come with consequences. Safe spaces should be provided by families not college campuses. We are living in the most diverse time in the history of this great Nation. The problems we have are not an issue of color, they are an issue of choice. It is time that those of us who remember what was and can see what has become stand up and demand that the break down of our society stop immediately. The change will not take place on the streets, it will take place in the home. We should not be teaching racial diversity, we should be teaching love and respect, personal responsibility and consequences. The rest will follow. Home is our safe space and our mantra should be united. It is pure and simple. All lives matter. All lives matter. All-Lives-Matter!

Source: K. Depew, News Director