Opuscula Black-on-black Murders ignored

ONE GAME INTO THE 2016/17 football season and we see players expressing themselves about social injustice in the U.S.

No one with eyes to see and ears to hear can honestly deny that America is not 100% fair. Never has been, never will be. The U.S. probably is “fairer” than most places; a listing of places with less – or zero – “social justice” would be boringly long. Many of those places are America’s political allies.

But in the U.S. people CAN express themselves; that’s guaranteed by the Constitution and backed up by the courts. There was a time when wearing a flag patch on the back of a pair of britches was a crime; no longer. Freedom of speech – expression – trumped respect for the flag.

Still, I have a problem with blacks “taking a knee for social justice.”

My problem is simple: if Black Lives REALLY Matter, and they should – indeed ALL lives should matter – then the blacks who are kneeling, and those that stand tall, hand over heart, need to take their concerns, their prestige, their money to the black neighborhoods where black-on-black killings are commonplace.

They need to redirect the young adults away from guns and violence.

They need to encourage the people to “see something, say something”; to help the cops find the people responsible for the murders. The killers are not selective – drive by shooters casually and indiscriminately slaughter the old and the young.

If someone wants to play with guns, let that person enlist in the Marines (where they quickly will learn a rifle is not a “gun”).

Perhaps if the shooters learned, as I did, to fire a rifle at the tender age of 6, they’d have more respect for weapons and the injuries they can inflict. ‘Course today’s murderers are armed with fully automatic rifles and pistols, so learning to aim a gun isn’t necessary. The .22 rifle I used was a bolt-action; fire a round, manually eject the shell. Takes time for a 6-year-old to manage that.

I realize, watching my children and grandchildren, that times have changed and continue to change, sometimes for the better, more often not.

But to blame America for a lack of social justice – translated as white-on-black shootings - is ignoring the real problem. It IS a “social justice” problem without a doubt, but it is not necessarily a white-vs.-black problem. No one who reads the papers, suffers tv’s talking heads, or reads internet blogs, will deny that there IS a very small percentage of bad cops; cowboys too quick shoot. On the other hand, if a cop FAILS to shoot, the cop could be murdered; would anyone march down the street with signs stating Cops Lives Matter? Think about that.

If black athletes – actually, any athletes – want to promote “social justice,” to prove that Black Lives DO Matter, let them get off their knees and go into the neighborhoods where blacks are killing blacks. Let them use their influence, knowledge, and money to improve the community, to get the shooters and wanna-be shooters off the streets.

Some super-jocks HAVE started and continued to support programs to educate and employ young adults who are on the fence between heading for respectability or heading for the penitentiary.

Let the guys “taking a knee” follow the example of those super-jocks.

Put up or shut up.

It’s plain. It’s simple.