For your average, ordinary, everyday idiot, asking whether or not Guam could accidentally tip over if populated with too many troops might constitute a lifetime achievement. A hall of fame instant of stupidity so thorough and transcendent that it can never be equaled. But if you’re Georgia Democrat Hank Johnson, it’s just another day at the office. He’s got a million of ’em, folks. And somehow, he keeps getting elected to Congress.
In a tizzy over a lack of action in the House of Representatives, Johnson took the floor Monday to express his rage over police brutality. “It feels like it’s open season on black men in America,” said Johnson, “and I’m outraged. In fact, all Americans are at risk when bad actors in law enforcement use their guns instead of their heads.”
Johnson went on to complain that “despite bipartisan nationwide calls for action,” Congress had yet to fix the “broken” grand jury process, end police militarization, or pass laws demanding body cameras.
It may not seem on the surface like this kind of impotent Democrat outrage would be any match for Johnson’s previous queries on Guam, but it is. It’s one thing for the mouth breathers of Ferguson to buy into the media sham that is the Black Lives Matter movement; it’s quite another for an educated, elected member of Congress to have abandoned whatever good sense he was born with. Is Johnson really this boneheaded, or is he just another politician with designs on becoming the next Al Sharpton?
Open season on black men in America? Are you serious? This is allowed to pass on the House floor? This is the state of political debate in 2015?
When the Michael Brown case was dominating the headlines, the righteous anger was driven by the idea that Darren Wilson would not be punished for his actions. Now, while the outrage over the Walter Scott shooting is understandable and probably justified, the officer in that case has been charged with murder. He sits in a cell as we speak. That doesn’t bring Scott back to life, but what more can be done? How would a modified grand jury process or body cameras have changed anything?
There has been a lot of talk in the media this week about changing the “culture” of law enforcement. But why is it that none of these talking heads ever mention that perhaps – just perhaps – that’s not the only culture that needs to change? That maybe it’s not just the police that need to improve the way they protect and serve the community. That maybe the community could be asked to do a better job…uh…being a community. Is there room for that discussion, or is it racist to even suggest that all of these “unarmed black men” might be just the slightest bit responsible for the way their lives turned out?
No, of course, we can’t hint at such a thing. We can ask about the literal tipping point of an island and stay in Congress, but we can’t wonder aloud why some communities are so riddled with crime. And, sad to say, you can give a camera to every police officer in the country, and things aren’t going to change until we address that off-limits topic. Well, not for the better, anyway.
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