At some point this year, we’ll see a handful of headlines telling us which new words have been added to the world’s most prestigious dictionaries. This is the time when we get to see which annoying slices of American slang will be enshrined in history, thus making them permanently obsolete. But this year, the dictionary editors ought to take a break from “twerking” and give us a new definition for the word Ferguson.
Ferguson (n.) – A word which inevitably precedes a lie. In Ferguson this week, protesters gathered to peacefully object to police brutality.
One might have hoped that September would finally deliver us from these lies, but it appears that we’re still a ways from the finish line. The Ferguson Commission released their long-awaited report this year, giving Missouri Governor Jay Nixon 200 pages of analysis and recommendations meant to improve the embattled St. Louis suburb. And once you get beyond a few common sense suggestions, it becomes quickly clear that this report is just the latest set of liberal lies about racial inequality.
Among the report’s more reasonable suggestions:
- A database tracking incidents where police use force
- Stop jailing residents for non-violent offenses such as unpaid speeding tickets
- And, er, that’s about it
The rest of the report goes dramatically off-course, blaming everything from white privilege to Medicaid for the state of affairs in Missouri. End childhood hunger, the report demands. Stop payday lenders from charging so much interest. Build low-income houses in rich neighborhoods. Expand entitlements. Raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The report is a liberal’s wet dream, calling for an expansion to every disastrous economic policy that leads to communities like Ferguson in the first place.
So of course, it found vigorous support in the pages of the Washington Post:
This sprawling web — each system and institution is linked to others — isn’t unique to Ferguson. That makes the Ferguson report a valuable blueprint for any place with persistent racial inequality, which is just about every place.
Hey, there you have it again. The word Ferguson, followed by a lie. Unless you’re wise enough to restrict your media consumption to the conservative variety, it’s almost inevitable. The only exception might be if someone mentioned Ferguson in an incidental way – Hey, we were thinking of stopping in Ferguson for a hot dog – but that’s pretty much limited to those who live in the immediate area.
If Gov. Nixon has any sense about him, he’ll extract the one or two decent suggestions from this report and throw the rest in an incinerator. You can’t fix the problem of racial inequality by doubling down on the same terrible policies that created it. Until black Americans are treated as though they possess the same heart, intelligence, and individual spirit as their countrymen, they will never escape this perilous cycle. If Democrats are serious about equality, then why do they insist on treating minorities like helpless victims who need to be saved by the white man?
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