Another cop found not guilty for indictment for the death of a black man. Another round of protests. More shouting about ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’. The president again sticking his nose in. Holder announcing another investigation into a police department. America under protests from Atlantic to Pacific to the Gulf. And all because Eric Garner decided to ignore police instructions.

Meanwhile, the true problems of black Americans are left unsolved, because Holder, Obama, Farrakhan, Jackson, Sharpton, and the democrat party prefer psuedo-issues to real problems. Blac-on-black crime has risen to levels not seen ever. Black men are getting girls and women pregnant, then running out on them at an alarming rate. Children are stuck in schools where the teachers are more concerned with union rules, made-up issues to rally round, and generally, a lackadaisical attitude towards the students, with the attitude of “If the parents don’t care, why should I?” Poverty abounds in the black American life, but, unlike Asians, Pakistanis, and others, black Americans blame their lack of progress on “Whitey keeps me down!” As such, those welfare-bred, poverty living, ‘gangsta thugs and hoodrat babes’ with their free cell phones and EBT cards, instead of working to provide a better life for their families, prefer to listen to gangsta rap, wear low-hanging pants, give short shrift to laws, as if laws are for anyone else but them, let their children run undisciplined through the streets, to help perpetuate the ongoing saga.

I have watched the Eric Garner arrest many times, on every news channel that cares to show it, as well many cable and broadcast channels that just ran it for news. Mr. Garner, just like Mike Brown, is the cause of his own death. Mr. Garner knew that he was in the wrong. The police asked him several times to turn around, put his arms behind his back. Mr. Garner, instead, because he had an audience of his neighborhood peeps, decided to show off. You can hear him tell the cops that he didn’t do anything, he wasn’t going to do anything they asked, and then he fought not to let himself get cuffed. Mr. Garner, as can be seen in the video, was overweight, by a large margin. Mr. Garner also had asthma, apparently. Mr. Garner knew that he was not physically fit, yet, on a hot day, Eric wanted to show off for the crowd. Mr. Garner had all sorts of internal issues, from heart to high blood pressure. Mr. Garner had ample opportunity to calmly, and with dignity, submit to the arrest. Mr. Garner did not, and paid the price.

In America, nowadays, we have fostered an attitude of no respect for authority, a desire for fifteen minutes of fame in front of the camera, and a desire to flaunt our egos on FaceBook, YouTube, and any television show that will have us. We are a Jerry Springer/Maury Povich/Jersery Shore/Real World/Survivor whatever, America, where you can do anything to be famous. As a result, Mr. Garner felt that this was his opportunity to expose himself, or rather his ego, to the world. With the plethora of cell phone cameras steadily rolling, instead of behaving responsibly as a father of six, count them, six, children, instead of acting as an adult, he decided to defy authority, as if he were the child. Mr. Garner could have defused the situation at any time, well before it became the spectacle it has become. As I see this and Mike Brown, I feel deeply ashamed to be a Black American.

I feel ashamed, because we have allowed today’s black women and men to spit on the achievements of great men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who believed in discipline, who believed in respect, who believed in laws, and respecting laws, even if the ones responsible for enforcing those laws have no respect for the ones they are supposed to be protecting. Dr. King did not believe in lawlessness. Dr. King did not believe in abusing others, refusing to obey laws. Dr. King: “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” And again: “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” Most importantly: “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” (Quotes from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/martin_luther_king_jr.) Dr. King said “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” And he said “If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.” Most importantly, he said “Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” (http://mlkday.gov/plan/library/communications/quotes.php) In all of these, Dr. King identifies what is missing in today’s black America: A desire to do the right thing, rather than a desire to do what is good for oneself right now.

Mike Brown and Eric Garner died at the hands of law enforcement. Mike attempted to take on the police, and paid the price. Eric Garner refused to cooperate, and paid the price. These are but two of many who have ignored what Dr. King fought so hard for, for black Americans to be treated as a person. Dr. King died to bring true civil rights to black Americans. Yes, Mike and Eric could have been handled in a different manner. For Mike Brown, he could have been tasered, and brought down. But the officer had already been attacked, and feared for his life, so Officer Wilson took the action he thought was appropriate. It is a shame that Mike died, but had Mike not tried to be a thug, maybe, just maybe, he would be in college now, headed for a career in the NFL or starting his own business on graduation. Eric Garner should have turned around and presented himself to be handcuffed. No, he didn’t deserve to die, but he has to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Yes, Officer Pantaleo should not have had the choke hold on Eric. Yes, there should have been better care at the site. But, again, Eric Garner is also responsible for his death.

There are other, more important things, issues, problems, for black Americans to be focused on. To make two people, who contributed to the circumstances of their own deaths, ‘martyrs’, is to sully the achievements and the work of Dr. King and those who truly fought with them so that we could live free in America. We, black Americans, must get out from under that misconception that the US owes us something. We owe America, just as the Asians, the Mexicans, the Italians, the English, the Pakistanis, the Indians, our responsibility to build a good life, raise a good family, and defend the US and the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. In the words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You; Ask What You Can Do For Your Country.” In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

“We Must All Hang Together, Or Most Assuredly, We Shall All Swing Separate…”