Tolerance is a loaded word. It means I find you offensive but I will compromise my values and put up with you. Conflicts arise when behaviors become intolerable. Americans are tolerant. They will accept social norms that are unacceptable in other cultures. However Americans draw the line when they feel something is mandated or forced upon them.
Despite what pollsters and pundits say, America is not divided by color, class or race. Most Americans understand the world isn’t black and white but has many shades of grey. Americans are tired of people who want to create social upheaval. It is safe to say that Americans are fed up with the factions that want to keep people angry and divided.
Political parties don’t want to find solutions. Instead, they become entrenched in ideological talking points. Liberals are disdained for having a naive vision of the world and having no tolerance for those who disagree with them. Conservatives are the carbon copy of liberals except they are more bellicose and belligerent.
Truth is people are fed up with the public and private institutions that claim to work in their public interest. They realise that these organizations are not working for the many but the few.
As a group, African Americans have been the most disaffected by these institutions. Since the days of W.E.B. Dubois, historically black civil rights groups, nonprofits and churches have claimed that political involvement is the way to economic advancement. However, evidence casts doubt on this claim. In spite of facing hostilities and bigotry, Asians, Indians and West Indian minorities have advanced economically despite having very little political representation or the backing of the kind of organizations that have worked for the African American community.
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Since the 1960s, most African Americans have given the Democratic Party their unquestioning support. Yet while Democrats control major cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, DC, these cities have symbolized the failures of liberalism. Considering the high concentrations of poverty, high crime and massive deficits in these places you would think the poor residents of these cities would have had their fill of black pastors and politicians, but they keep following them and listening to them.
As an African American, I find what’s happening in Ferguson, Missouri troublesome, yet not for the same reasons that others are outraged. So my words are not taken out of context, I want to make this clear: I am not taking sides or defending the police officer that shot Mike Brown. While the military policing is disturbing, what has me scratching my head is the plethora of African American pastors, politicians and activist all breaking their necks to get on TV, claiming to be a voice for the downtrodden while their constituents sit there misguided, misled and broke.
You would think by now, we would be hearing from a few dissenting voices questioning the failure of liberalism and black alignment with the Democratic Party. You would think after centuries of being broke there must be a better way than this.
I’m not suggesting Republicans are a better alternative to Democrats, however, members of the black community deserve better than Barack Obama, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
A wise man once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It is insane to see the same people line up behind Al Sharpton along with all the other race hustlers, while no one comes forward to call out and challenge these agitators. How many more Tawana Brawleys or Trayvon Martins does one need to realize that Al Sharpton is a civil rights wannabe who defames the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. ?
How can you cry injustice, then justify looting and destroying the black businesses in your own community? This is what transpired in Ferguson. Its hard to blame black poverty on whites when we don’t support our black businesses but instead loot and rob them. These same African Americans who won’t give a black businessman a dime will empty out their bank account supporting Walmart then cry about how Walmart doesn’t provide jobs in the black community.
As the events of Ferguson continue to unfold, you hear black leaders declare that “Now is the time to have an honest discussion.” I for one say that discussion should focus upon the question of why African Americans are unable to break away from the institutions that claim to help them but continually fail them.
