Kansas City councilman Jermaine Reed wanted to have an “honest” discussion on race. But like Attorney General Eric Holder and former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, who made similar pleas before him, he did not really say more than that.
Green’s call for honest talk came after three years and dozens of episodes of black mob violence at the Plaza in Kansas City.
He wanted an explanation as to why police only cited black people.
I could not tell if he was unhappy with the black people for frequent and large-scale episodes of mob violence – or with the police for catching them.
So I asked him. Despite Reed’s plea for more conversation, he said he did not wish to talk about it.
But I did get an answer to my question a few days ago when I was on a Kansas City talk show in connection with my book, “White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Racial Violence to America.” Several examples of long-term and repeated racial violence from Kansas City are in the book.
Councilman Reed “tried to imply the police were racially enforcing the curfew,” Greg Knapp of KCMO told me on the air.
The cops did it. I hear that a lot.
There were other questions I wished I could have asked. Such as:
Councilman Reed, I’ve talked to police. I’ve talked to victims. I’ve seen video. I’ve read Twitter streams and Facebook pages. I’ve read comments on Kansas City news sites. And every single one of these sources confirms one fact: Everyone involved in the dozens of episodes of racial violence and lawlessness at the Kansas City Plaza is black.
Or are all those observers as racist as the police? Selectively noticing just the black people? Are whites or Asians or Amish also making the Plaza a mini-war zone? And are police ignoring them?
If so, did you happen to get their names? Or perhaps a video? There are lots of people who have seen the Plaza close up during this mob violence, including the mayor. He was 50 yards away when someone shot a gun.
So digging up a few white or Asian or Amish perpetrators should not be difficult.
The mayor won’t be much help: As soon as you made your insinuations to your colleagues at the council, Mayor Sly James rushed down from his office to defend the police.
Another question, Councilman Reed: I’ve documented more than 500 episodes of racial violence not too much different than Kansas City. Some bigger. Some smaller. Some more violent. Some less.
Sometimes people, like you, say it is not just black people causing the mob violence and lawlessness. I keep asking for videos, as I did on the air at KCMO. But I’m still waiting. What do you think of people who charge racism without proof? Isn’t that an even more treacherous form of racism?
There are, of course, some brave and brilliant voices on the topic of race: Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Taleeb Starkes and Jesse Lee Peterson, to name a tiny sliver of those speaking out against the ignorant political class.
But I still see so much resentment. So much anger. So much racism that appears in public that goes uncondemned. Even praised.
Just a few days ago, I read an article by a radio station executive who said black radio was the victim of all sorts of sinister plots. He talked about “the hateful indifference to blacks that dominates so much of what is considered mainstream media.” He accused crooked ratings systems of having “deprived black radio of a fair share of advertising revenue.”
This is a good example of Critical Race Theory in action: All institutions are racist. And racism is permanent. That’s former Harvard professor Derrick Bell talking. You remember: The president’s friend from Harvard.
Earlier this month, former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien criticized white people for refusing to talk about race. She said it makes them uncomfortable. What that really means is that fewer and fewer people are interested in racial monologues full of excuses for black pathology posing as genuine dialogue about a pressing problem.
Former Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver recently told a local news station that cracking down on black mob violence at the Plaza was a bad idea because: “All we are going to do is make a lot of black kids angry, and they are going to take out their anger somewhere else.”
Councilman Reed, another question: You want honesty? Then can you please honestly tell me where black people in Kansas got the idea that they can visibly and publicly break the law, hurt people, destroy property, over and over again?
And then brag on Twitter how much fun they had doing it? And then get you to pretend they are the victims.
Last question: You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you? Honestly?
