Back when Black Lives Matter and its adjunct cause—Defund the Police—got underway following the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2015 (justified, according to Obama’s Department of Justice review of the incident), critics such as Heather Mac Donald, Charles Murray, and others predicted that blacks would become the principal victims of this movement. Of course they were right, but the response was always, “Shut up, racist!” You’re not allowed to say this.
Yesterday the Oakland, CA, chapter of the NAACP released a public letter whose contents are a complete vindication of critics such as Mac Donald. It calls for declaring a “state of emergency” over rising crime, and advocates for hiring more police urgently. The letter commits one heresy after another against the progressive and Critical Race Theory catechism. I’ve posted the complete letter below, but here are some highlights (with emphasis added in bold):
Oakland residents are sick and tired of our intolerable public safety crisis that overwhelmingly impacts minority communities. Murders, shootings, violent armed robberies, home invasions, car break-ins, sideshows, and highway shootouts have become a pervasive fixture of life in Oakland. We call on all elected leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency and bring together massive resources to address our public safety crisis. . .
African Americans are disproportionately hit the hardest by crime in East Oakland and other parts of the city. . .
Failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney’s unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric have created a heyday for Oakland criminals.
Unfortunately, progressive policies and failed leadership have chased away or delayed significant blue collar job development in the city, the Port of Oakland, and the former Army Base. . .
We also encourage Oakland’s White, Asian, and Latino communities to speak out against crime and stop allowing themselves to be shamed into silence.
There is nothing compassionate or progressive about allowing criminal behavior to fester and rob Oakland residents of their basic rights to public safety. It is not racist or unkind to want to be safe from crime.
It will be interesting to see whether this NAACP chapter gets blowback for defecting from CRT, or if this common sense spreads to other chapters elsewhere the country.
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