Jesse Jackson was arrested, again, on Saturday. This time it was “when he refused to move away from the entrance to Chuck’s Gun Shop in Riverdale.” Seems Jesse thinks the gun shops proximity to Chicago allows it to provide guns to gang bangers, cause, you know, that’s where gang bangers get guns. They certainly don’t buy them from illegal sources.
This all stems from the shooting death of 16 year old Blair Holt. Blair, an honor student at Julian High School, was shot while riding a city bus. Jesse seems to believe it was the gun shop’s fault, not the kid behind the trigger.
Jesse’s protest of Chuck’s Gun Shop is symbolic, but solves nothing. It is not the gun that is to blame. That is like blaming the bus driver for driving past those kids with guns. The fault lies in those who chose to pull the trigger. Jesse’s efforts would be better served protesting the things that allowed the gang culture to bloom, not in protesting the firearms that serve the criminal.
Here are some things Jesse could protest that could actually make a change:
- In 1940, the illegitimacy rate among blacks was 19 percent, in 1960, 22 percent, and today, it’s 70 percent. Maybe Jesse could protest the fact that babies are having babies and then leaving them for the mother to raise. Maybe he could protest the nanny state that promotes single parent motherhood and allows daddies to leave, knowing the government will provide for the mother and the child. Jesse could be protesting the Department of Heath and Human Services. It’s welfare programs have helped destroy families in almost every demographic by making it easy to have a baby and have Uncle Sam raise it.
- Jesse could protest the thug culture that is constantly pushed by the rap industry. He could protest outside the companies that produce records that promote the ideals of the thug life, that reinforce the belief that women are just “bitches” and “ho’s,” that make slinging drugs the path to success.
- Jesse could protest the belief that success in school means you are acting white. Barack Obama nailed it when he said, “Go into any inner-city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.†Maybe Jesse could be protesting that Michael “Mario†Pace, the kid who shot Blair Holt, was not an honor student. Perhaps Jesse could start a national system of after-school study programs that encourage scholastic achievement and racial unity.
- Jesse could protest the attitude that cooperating with the police is “snitchin.” Jesse could protest stores that sells “Stop Snitchin’” t-shirts and attend police charity events to show the police are not all bad.
There are many problems in the black community that Jesse refuses to address. The main problem is that Jesse’s business depends on the continued belief that the black community is a community of victims. Maybe instead of protesting a gun shop, the black community needs to start protesting Jesse Jackson. His movement has not only built and reinforced the victim mentality, but profits from it. That would be a protest that could have a profound difference.
Maybe Bill Cosby could lead that protest. I know Jason Whitlock could.
