Let America “Breathe Again?”

Let America Breathe Again!
(Can We All Just Breathe Again?)
June 1,  2020
Commentary by Darrell G. Young

As our nation just endured yet another chaotic week; I have sat here before my television and watched the constant churning of bad news. First it was the incessant frightening predictions about Covid 19. Now, the news is all about riots, protests, hate, looting, burning, racism, burning the American flag and killings.

The latest turmoil comes on the heels of the death of George Floyd, at the hands of a incompetent police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I didn’t know Mr. Floyd or Mr. Chauvin, the police officer now arrested in incident. But like most Americans I have seen the replays of the infamous video of Mr. Floyd lying down on the pavement, while Mr. Chauvin kept his knee placed firmly on his neck. Then comes the audio of George, pleading, “I Can’t Breathe.”

Why couldn’t Officer Chauvin have just removed his knee from George’s neck? It was the right thing to have done. Simple! There was No need for the excessive Pressure on applied to the neck. This policeman was simply in the wrong, le moo gally, morally, and humanely. Now Officer Chauvin will have to pay the price for some degree of murder. It may cost him his own Breathe!

As I watched the news, I felt immense sorrow at George’s unruly death. Then, I wondered what in the world George had done to warrant the police questioning him and finally arresting him. Apparently George had passed a $20 bill to a clerk to pay for cigarettes. The clerk of the store charged to police that it was a counterfeit bill. This was George’s big crime!

But apparently, some people feel like George’s big crime was simply being Black! This point of view is especially tightly held by those that are black; and whose ancestors of 155 years ago in America endured the atrocity of slavery. Therefore when a black person is killed by a white policeman; the tendency in some places is to blame America, and use the event to denounce the whole country as being racist, and established by bigots.

Even our former President, Barack Obama has stated on more than one occasion that “America has racism embedded in its DNA.” But is America’s struggle between races as simple as black and white!  It seems to be lost on many Americans alive today that America is the least racist country in the whole world. Americans fought a great Civil War 160 years ago over the issue of slavery and racism. Seemingly lost in the modern narrative is that over 400,000 White Americans gave their lives to rid our country of slavery! Try finding that idealistic morality in any other country!

And before that; at the founding of the United States in 1776,  our founders stated unequivocally that “all men are created equal.” At the very least, that declaration conveyed the noble cause of freedom for all future Americans as our society endeavored to perfect a system suitable for all mankind to live in harmony. Now, I know that history doesn’t record perfection in America’s journey towards its promises; but realize this: America is not Heaven on earth! But it is the noblest attempt ever attempted in the history of civilization to erect a system of laws, morality, freedom, respect for personal property, and liberty of conscience to be cultivated.

America was established whereby laws were established by the governed, to be enforced by the governing body for the mutual welfare of all. When our laws are disrespected, and our law enforcement officers slandered and assaulted, our entire society is at great risk. We have all heard the phrase, “the thin blue line.” It is a reference to our nations police forces! They work on the daily frontlines of lawlessness! They are an essential element of our nations ideals! They have the heavy burden of acting and judging instantaneously to protect, defend, and above all honor the nations ideal of freedom and justice for all. When just one officer, errs and acts irresponsibly, it harms the whole team of law protectors.

As we all watch the protesting, the looting, the rioting, the stealing, and yes, even the murder of policeman around the country; we all need to realize one thing. We are either a nation of laws; or we will become a nation of lawlessness! One crime does not necessitate the committing of more crime. Our laws will work, if we all follow the law!

My assessment of the looters and rioters running roughshod over the cities in our land is that they have their knees clamped down on the soul of America, and are attempting to squeeze the last breathes out of our nation! We rely on the law and law enforcement to stop them. Beyond that, we need politicians to stand up for the Constitution and defend our liberty, or they, the tools of Fascists will win.

I am also mindful of the nefarious fact, that there are sinister forces in play in these times that don’t want our laws to work. They want our “thin blue line” to dissolve. They want the Great American experiment of freedom and justice to fail, because they simply want to Change America.

Most people are blinded to the fact that a system of Slavery comes about in stages! Slavery is the byproduct of a culture that despises work and desires to use others to do their work. In ages past, slavery came about through conquest. Today, a modern form of slavery is being brandished upon American society through the means of Systematic Democratic Socialism. In this form of Slavery, the people are blindly enslaved because they allow a government to become the overseer of their total means of living. It is known as the welfare state.

The rioters in the wake of George Floyd’s death, are disrespectful of private property, free enterprise, and the hard Work of others trying to improve their lives. They don’t respect a Work Ethic! They embody a class of people who expect the government to give them whatever they want, or believe they deserve. They would destroy America!

I remember the eloquent words of one Rodney King, echoing across the decades from 1991, when he was accosted by an undisciplined policeman: “Can we all just get along?” His words are still reverberating within our society today. Why can’t we all just get along? The answer to this question has nothing to do with skin color, with DNA, with money, or with our nations history. It has only to do with the problems of the whole Human Race—an evil Heart!

So, in closing; let me say to all Americans, rich or poor, black or white, police and civilian; take a pause, refresh your mind, and get to Work! Go to work on yourselves. Heed the advice of Dr. Martin Luther King; when he encouraged us all, black and white, to improve the personal Content of our own Character! Perhaps, if we all work on the Content of our Character; then maybe we could all get along! Then maybe America can Breathe Again! Maybe We Can all just Breath Again!