THE NATIONAL CENTER 08/05/2020 THERE IS BLACK PROGRESS!!!

Hello Friend, As America has become safer, more prosperous and more equal, agitators on the left seem to be actively trying to reverse the progress. “The left wants this to happen,” asserted iconic game show host Chuck Woolery on his “Blunt Force Truth” podcast with guest David Ridenour, president of the National Center for Public Policy Research. Invited to discuss the National Center’s new “ScoopTV” web series, David discussed with Woolery and podcast co-host Mark Young a wide range of issues revolving around the current chaos threatening to tear America apart. Woolery was referring to an incident in St. Louis in which armed homeowners confronted a mob that had broken into their gated community with obvious mayhem on their minds. That couple is now facing charges filed by the local prosecutor, while angry and violent activists there and elsewhere across America appear to go unchecked. “It’s only going to get worse with the fact that we haven’t been supporting the police,” David warned, adding: The ironic part of this is that, all along, they’ve been telling us: “you know, you don’t need to get yourself a handgun or a shotgun or anything else for defense. That’s why we have the police.” Well, in a lot of places, we don’t have the police now, do we?… They’re just not showing up. Bringing up efforts to defund police departments, David noted that the left is destabilizing communities by depriving them of adequate police protection. This lack of safety can have crippling effects on businesses, which then have an impact on the residents in those crime-plagued communities in ways that reach beyond safety issues. Speaking about the need for police, David said: It’s certainly important, and especially for minority communities. You ask any minority business owner. What they need is safety. That’s what they need, and that’s provided by the police department. And if you don’t have that, you can’t have minority businesses. You can’t have businesses in black communities. This is critically important. The police are critically important to the advancement of black and Hispanic communities. But that’s not what [the left] wants. LISTEN NOW In Portland, resistance by liberal local officials to federal assistance appears to be more posturing – “hoping for the visual” – than anything else. David said these fringe public officials are two-faced, and are grandstanding to score political points with their radical constituencies: I think that they actually want the government to come in. They want to be standing up against the federal government. The mayor. The governor. It’s all about the political situation. Woolery called it “looney.” David agreed. Divisive notions of “white privilege” and “systemic racism” have also been thrown around with the recent unrest. David explained that the idea of racial privilege comes from a hateful mindset: I can’t imagine a more racist thing to say than someone has white privilege. Because you’re taking a look and – unlike what the Reverend Martin Luther King said, we should be judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin – this is judging us [by the color of our skin]. Referring to a now-withdrawn chart developed by the taxpayer-funded Smithsonian Institution that claimed to explain “whiteness,” David admitted to Woolery and Young that “I don’t have more than half” of the aspects the chart’s authors tried to ascribe to white privilege. Yet he did say that there is one aspect of the so-called black experience that he – even though he is white – also experienced within his family: “the talk” about how to handle encounters with the police: There were conversations that my mom had with me about what you do when you have an interaction with police, when they pull you over: You be very respectful. You don’t make any sudden moves. These are the same things a lot of white parents, if they’re not telling their kids, they ought to. Because one of the most dangerous parts for a police officer is pulling over somebody and not knowing who is in that car. And that is irrespective of the color of your skin. Woolery asked David how black Americans can move up the socioeconomic ladder amidst all of the chaos happening right now. “The irony is,” David replied, “that we were… getting there” when troubles erupted. He continued: If you look before COVID-19, the unemployment rate among the black population was at an all-time low… Young black men, who tend to have a more difficult time getting work, also all-time low unemployment rates. A great deal of wealth generation being created. A lot of blacks moving out of cities, by the way, into suburban areas. We were on that track. COVID, riots and the perpetuation of the idea of white privilege are taking a disparate mental and fiscal toll on the black community – possibly by design: I think there is a political motivation for wanting to keep the black population exactly where it is…. They’re not as successful as other population groups. While the left peddles the government as the answer, David told Chuck and Mark that the solution is exactly the opposite: The key to success is being able to be independent and provide for yourself and not have to go to the government. To listen to the entire interview – “The Truth About Privilege” – on Podcast One’s “Blunt Force Truth,” click here. READ ON OUR WEBSITE SHARE THIS EMAIL Share Tweet Forward

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