In the wake of the Zimmerman verdict, there was an outcry across America, and hundreds of demonstrators protested. It was a great day for America, much to the chagrin of the so-called Civil Rights Movement; now more appropriately being labeled as the Grievance Industry.
In previous times of racial unrest, you would see an outcry across the country far greater than we have just witnessed. In the wake of the truly unjust acquittal of four police officers on trial for beating Rodney King in 1992, Los Angeles erupted in violence for six days. Fifty-three people died, and two thousand were injured. In 1995, when O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder, there was no unrest, but in workplaces across the country, there was a clear divide along racial lines regarding the decision, despite indisputable evidence that Simpson was guilty of nearly beheading his white wife while in a fit of rage just a few feet away from his babies. How could anyone not be enraged by that sort of thing? For this author, that was disappointing and most revealing in the way my black friends were glad that OJ got off. The largely unspoken sense was that blacks had been subjected to generations of gruesome assaults, so turnabout is fair play.
After the Zimmerman verdict, the response was muted by comparison. Granted, this was a much less significant situation than previous events, but the race-baiters and opportunists took full advantage of the fact that Martin was black, and Zimmerman was billed as a white man. The left leaning media lent their full support, while Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton jumped on the opportunity to enflame the black population regardless of the likelihood that innocents would be harmed.
It was reported that New York City – a city of more than eight million people- saw ‘hundreds’ march in Times Square. In Chicago, the protest carried the weight of just two hundred people; a drop in the bucket for a protest, and roughly the same number of homicide victims that account for the blood bath in that city for the year so far.(3) Most astounding may be the response in the Capitol
This has certainly been a bad situation. People have been hurt, lives have forever been altered, and one young man is dead. Much of the black community disagreed publicly with the verdict. So-called leaders are stirring unrest and there is the potential for a simmering eruption in violence along racial lines. But historically, it could be a time to celebrate, for it may very well indicate the most significant effect of the Obama era. It is quite possible that we are witnessing a breakdown in racial barriers. Ironically for Obama and his Left, their wish may be coming true to the detriment of their own agenda.
Since he was elected, Obama has exposed the Left for what they are; an elitist class who care far less about substantive solutions than they do about maintaining power and the privileges that it affords. The impotent response to the Zimmerman verdict, when seen in the light of this exposure and coupled with a rising tide of black conservative voices since he was elected, may be the place where historians point to when they conclude that the black community stopped thinking as a group and began to truly integrate as individuals into the political process.
This isn’t going to show in surveys very quickly. The fundamental tenet of conservative thought is Natural Law, or human nature. We don’t necessarily stand up immediately among a hostile crowd and proclaim the right thing to do when it is unpopular among our friends and family. But when our minds know what’s right, our first step is to not act out in opposition to that principle. We may decide that we are too busy to go to that protest. As time goes by, our confidence grows and in the privacy of actions such as voting behind a curtain, we make the right choice after becoming weary of the wrong decisions. Soon, we speak out and others begin to listen. A growing number of blacks in America are at those early stages. The weekend after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, millions of black Americans were found not guilty of group think any longer. They are not ready to admit that they prefer a conservative agenda; possibly not even to themselves. But after Zimmerman, they decided that they aren’t going to be baited by hatred and their silence was so deafening that most people never heard it.
It is critical that we hold out a hand of friendship that doesn’t waiver.
This article first appeared on Lady Patriots. Bruce Navin is a staff contributor for Lady Patriots and a guest contributor of The D.C. Clothesline.
