Wow, have I been mistaken?

The left-wing Democrats and their media allies have finally convinced me of a fundamental flaw in my thinking regarding civil rights and the impact of de facto racism in minority ghettos in our major cities.

You see, I always thought that the obvious racist policies of Democrat political machines oppressed those trapped in the largely Black and Hispanic segregated neighborhoods.  I assumed that the folks in those neighborhoods suffered from poverty, lack of jobs, lack of education and high crime rates – and that they hated it.

My view of life in the ghettoes was drawn from some 50 years of active on-the-ground involvement in those depressing and dangerous environments.  I thought the problems stemmed from those in charge of the big cities – and they were all Democrats.  I thought the fact that virtually every major protest, demonstration and riot grew out of the frustration over being deprived access to America’s opportunity society – out of anger at being abused by police, and just about every other agency of municipal government.

So, I started speaking out – pointing the finger of blame at those who run the big city political machines.  It seemed significant to me that the worst regions of Black and Hispanic oppression happened under the rule of Democrat one-party political machines.  It was the residual racism that flowed out of 89 years of slavery and an additional 100 years of de jure segregation in the solid Democrat southland and racist policies in the major cities.

But when I pointed out that fact, I was told that my thinking was all wrong – that I was a partisan Republican racist hack for even suggesting that Democrats would oppress Black folks.  After all, Democrats and minority folks in the ghettoes were friends.  Blacks and Hispanics overwhelmingly voted for Democrats.  Those Black and Hispanic folks in the inner cities were the happiest of Americans with their political leadership.  It reminded me of how Democrats in the past claimed that all those slaves were happy campers – they did not need freedom because they got their needs met for food and housing – terrible as the food and housing were.

The vote was proof that my concern for my Black brothers and sisters was ill-founded.  After all, I am just another White guy who cannot relate – cannot empathize – with the Black experience.  I assume that must apply to Hispanics as well.

I seem to have a White perspective.  I always thought that if I lived in broken-down homes in shabby neighborhoods – with decrepit parks and crumbling infrastructure – I would not be happy or satisfied with my local government leadership.  I would not want to live in a world where gangbangers and drug cartelians were shooting up the neighborhood – recruiting our children, raping our daughters and otherwise killing a whole bunch of innocent people.  I would not want to deal with a police department that is more likely to shoot me than those folks in the so-called “better neighborhoods.”

I also learned that all that oppression, carnage and death in the segregated communities is nothing compared to requiring voter I.D. cards – THAT is real racism according to the Democrats.

Since the gangs – such as MS13 – were more likely to ply their evil trades in my neighborhood than those White neighborhoods and the suburbs – except the all minority suburbs, of course — I think I would be happy with leaders who want to stop the illegal immigration that allows the bad actors to slip by in the ranks of good people.  I would want to have everyone seeking refuge in America to be vetted to filter out the criminals that would otherwise be heading to my neighborhood.

I always believed that every parent wanted better for their children, but Democrat leaders seem to know better.  One generation of minority children after another are deprived of the kind of education that can get them into college and on to career-level jobs.  I feel bad for all of America because so many of those kids could have made great contributions to society as doctors, business leaders, inventors, Internet geniuses.  Instead, they languish in low end unskilled jobs and serve as the farm team for the gangs.

But my Democrat friends say I am all wrong.  If Blacks and Hispanics were not happy with their lives in the inner cities, why would they keep voting for Democrats?  I guess they have a point.

Blacks and Hispanics have lived with segregation, oppression, injustice, poverty and crime for so long that it seems to be an accepted way of life.  After all, they do have all those welfare programs that provide bare sustenance.  They may not be able to enjoy upward mobility, but they are happy with the meager hand-outs that are the backbone of liberal racial ideology.

After 50 years of doing what I could to end the oppression of Blacks and Hispanics in our inner cities – believing that that is what they wanted — I have to concede that Democrats have been much more successful at keeping Black and Hispanic voters happy with the folks who have ruled over them for generations.

Oh, I will keep fighting for the values and principles that I believe makes America exceptional.  I am one of those fools who believe in integration and assimilation – everybody given an equal opportunity to succeed.   I will continue to speak out against oppression where I see it.

It is just that I have come to understand that I may be facing a cultural divide too wide to bridge in my lifetime.  It appears that the Black and Hispanic communities will be casting their lot – and their votes – with the welfare providers as usual — instead of using the power of the ballot box to kick the oppressors to the curb and bring in new leadership that will improve the plight of millions of Blacks and Hispanics currently trapped – physically, politically and economically — in those urban racial ghettoes.

As Mother Theresa once said – when facing the impossible task of feeding all the hungry in India – God does not require a person to be successful, just faithful.

So, there ‘tis,