The jackweeds at Fox News and their compatriots on the far right have a standard talking point they love to raise anytime an incidence of police brutality or murder of a black person by a white cop becomes a headline: Yeah, but what about all the black-on-black crime?
Perfect example: Fox News hack Leland Vittert and lifelong asshat Cal Thomas were discussing the indictment of Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke, who is seen on video shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times, killing him. Which led Thomas to whine:
“Black-on-black crime in Chicago is virtually ignored, certainly by the national media. But that doesn’t seem to concern the mainstream media as much.”
Yep, good old Cal managed to get that preprogrammed line out in order to deflect from the real issue: the harassment, assault, and murder of young black men by police officers across the United States.
Fortunately, some sanity was also present for this on-air discussion, in the form of Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times. With one line, Sweet said exactly what should be said when those on the right want to try and change the subject:
“There has been tremendous attention to crime in Chicago. I don’t know how any person who is familiar with the situation says that there’s not. So I don’t even understand the premise of where you’re coming from on this one. Respectfully said.”
Generally speaking, when Republicans talk about being tougher on crime, what they’re really advocating is that more people of color be arrested and imprisoned. Because hey, they seem to believe, better safe than sorry, right?
Wrong! As we are seeing, our decades-long experiment with mandatory minimum sentences and arresting everyone who looks the least bit suspicious has not solved the problem. It has only led to us being a nation that incarcerates more of its citizens than any other, including China, Russia, and Iran.
Next time you hear this diversionary talking point used, be sure and counter with what Lynn Sweet said. It cuts right through the attempted obfuscation and gets to the heart of the matter. Facts are funny things. They may be subject to debate and discussion, but nothing will ever make them stop being facts.
