Race Relations, Violence, & "Self-Inflicted Wounds".

I find myself needing to respond to an article that my friend Mike Merli has posted.  The subject at issue is race relations, and violence. 

Now, being that the original article is quite long, I have chosen not to post it here.  The gist of Mr. Merli's argument is that if a black accuses someone of violence, they should always be believed.  In his post, Merli mentions such names as Donny Hathaway, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Tawana Brawley, and Anita Hill.  He says that America drove these men and women to their behaviors and bad choices, some of which have ended in death.

I think it's appropriate to, in this case, remind Mr. Merli about certain things.  Yes, whites have done a good deal of wrong toward blacks.  However, if my friend wishes to point his finger, he should know that in many cases, the finger can be pointed right back at blacks.  Let's look at some of the incidents that Merli mentions.

As Mr. Merli points out, black singer Donny Hathaway jumped to his death on January 13th, 1979, believing that he was targeted for death by whites.  In this case, nobody forced Mr. Hathaway to commit suicide.  Rather, the singer killed himself because of massive paranoia, and apparent mental illness. 

Now let's talk about Tawana Brawley.  She did indeed allege that a group of white men raped her.  However, Ms. Brawley could not name or otherwise describe her attackers, and forensic tests were unable to produce any evidence of a rape.  A grand jury would later find, based on lack of evidence, that no rape occurred, and that Ms. Brawley MAY have made up the whole story.  Could Brawley have been telling the truth? Yes; however, not everyone tells the truth.  There are people in this world that, through a motive of getting themselves ahead, or otherwise, habitually lie.  To say otherwise is, in my opinion, to be needlessly nieve. 

Finally, let's mention Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday.  Nobody forced Ms. Holiday to drink excessively; that was her own decision.  In similar fashion, nobody forced Ms. Washington to begin taking pills; she made that choice of her own accord.  These days, we seem to be preoccupied with the notion that every time somebody makes a bad choice, it's society's fault, not the fault of the person who made the bad decision. 

When did we decide that a violent murder via a gun (for example) was not the fault of the person who pulled the trigger, but the fault of the person who gave the killer his weapon? And when did we start thinking that a personal failure isn't your own fault, but the fault of those around you? If you fail at something, most of the time, you have only yourself to blame for that failure.

Finally, let's talk about violence, and this idea that everyone must be believed.  To answer one of Mr. Merli's questions, violence for the sake of violence is NEVER OK, no matter what side of the political divide you might sit on (yeah Maxine Waters, I'm talking to you).  And speaking on accusations and believability, it's not "guilty until proven innocent", it's "innocent until proven guilty".  Ask Justice Thomas, or Justice Kavanaugh, about that.  Their accusers raised valid points, but there wasn't enough evidence to suggest wrongdoing, nor will there ever be.  I believe it was Johnnie Cochran who said that "if the glove don't fit, you must acquit".  In a similar fashion, and to coin a phrase, "if the evidence don't fit, you must acquit". 

In the case of Jussie Smollett, there's not too much evidence to suggest that the alleged attack ever took place.  However, there is ample evidence suggesting that, because he was upset with his pay on the TV show "Empire", Smollett paid two acquaintances of his to make it appear that he was attacked.  In time, Mr. Smollett will have to answer to this evidence; that is as it should be.  If the gentleman did in fact lie in this case, he could go to prison; I don't see that as being a "moot point".  You get what you deserve in life; to quote Scripture, "whatsoever a man reaps, that he will also sow".  If Smollett eventually is locked up for a while, it will be a "self-inflicted wound"; he did it to himself. 

Just my rebuttal and random thoughts on the matter.