The New American – by Alex Newman
Behind the orchestrated riots that were allowed to strike Baltimore in recent weeks, and Ferguson, Missouri, before that, lies an agenda that has nothing to do with the fact that “Black Lives Matter.” As the Obama administration and more than a few race-mongers allied with the White House have already made clear, the real goal involves further chipping away at local self-government and community control over police departments — and expanding federal control over local law enforcement in its place. In between fanning the division and unrest with racialist rhetoric, Obama is also exploiting the chaos he is helping to create in a bid to advance everything from a greater government role in childrearing to increased wealth redistribution.
In recent weeks, as anyone who watches the news knows, parts of Baltimore went up in flames. But despite the appearance of spontaneity, with crowds sparked to riot by the suspicious death of Freddie Gray in police custody, the chaos was no accident. In fact, as The New American reported recently, city officials ordered police to “stand down” so that looters and rioters could have what the mayor described as “space to destroy.” And destroy they did, garnering headlines worldwide and giving Big Government-promoting race profiteers a giant platform to spew propaganda. Now that the “destroy” phase is over, politicians, and especially Obama, are coming out of the woodwork to advance their government “solutions.”
Late last week, for example, the Obama administration’s Justice Department announced that it would be launching an “investigation” of the Baltimore Police Department. Instead of investigating why the police were ordered to “stand down” and allow looters to assault innocent victims and burn down parts of the city, however, Obama’s controversial new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, has other matters in mind. Among other angles being probed, Lynch said the investigation would focus on allegations that local police — 50 percent black and controlled by a black mayor and a black police chief — engaged in “discriminatory policing.” Incredibly, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, as if to acknowledge her own incompetence while throwing the police department she leads under the bus, actually invited D.C. to come “help.”
Apparently Lynch also feels the Justice Department has a lead role to play in “fixing” Baltimore by further expanding the gargantuan federal footprint there — implicitly suggesting that the Obama administration believes Baltimore’s supermajority of black voters and their mostly black elected officials are incapable of doing it themselves. “Our goal is to work with the community, public officials, and law enforcement alike to create a stronger, better Baltimore,” the attorney general said, sounding oblivious to her actual constitutional duties and the subtle racism inherent in the idea that Baltimore needs federal “assistance” to sort out its local problems. Of course, allowing D.C. to further intrude into local issues will only make those problems worse — yet that is the plan.
Ironically, despite the establishment media’s efforts to conceal the fact, three of the officers charged in Gray’s death were black. The “racism” narrative, though, serves a number of important goals, and so it will continue to be shouted from the rooftops by race-mongers and the media, regardless of the facts. As if on cue, close Obama ally and race-profiteer Al Sharpton descended on the city and set out to dupe the people of Baltimore into believing that giving up their right to local self-government would somehow improve their police department. He called on the Justice Department to “take over policing in this country,” adding, “We’re going to have to fight states’ rights.” Sharpton, of course, is a frequent visitor at the White House.
In a recent article exposing as a fraud the racialist narrative promoted by Sharpton, Obama, and others, writer Selwyn Duke also exposed the logical fallacy behind the thinking that stripping the people of Baltimore of their right to control their own police would somehow help matters. “Our local-control model ensures that if we don’t like our town’s law-enforcement policies, we can vote for a different sheriff or mayor (who may appoint the police chief) next election,” he wrote. “Baltimore is a prime example. If blacks don’t have a police force to their liking in a city with a black mayor, black police chief, and mostly black politicians — voted into office by a population 70 percent black — how will it help if their law-enforcement policy is determined by federal officials voted into office by a national population 87 percent non-black?”
Regardless of the flawed logic or the U.S. Constitution’s limitations on federal power, though, the Obama administration’s agenda to federalize law enforcement and build up a massive new domestic “security” force using any conceivable pretext is hardly new. In fact, it has been apparent since before the presidential election. “We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we set,” Obama said while running for the presidency. “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” And indeed, in between attacks on police, the administration has been working feverishly toward those radical anti-constitutional goals.
More recently, Obama has openly promoted various schemes to nationalize police departments, including foisting federal “standards” on local and state police in exchange for bribes from Washington, D.C. Critics ridiculed the plot as “Common Core for police,” a reference to the Obama-backed national school standards being used to nationalize and globalize the education system. In many respects, it is a similar strategy. In addition, United Nations boss Ban Ki-moon even demanded last year that American police follow what he described as “international standards.” An Obama “task force” created with an executive order also recommended more federal control of law enforcement. In March, the administration announced six cities that would be used for a “pilot” program to essentially usurp local control of police under various pretexts.
In Baltimore, Obama again wasted no time in pushing his agenda. In fact, on May 1, before the smoke had even cleared, the White House, citing Baltimore’s riots, announced a new unconstitutional “grant” program for local police forces — as if a lack of federal funding for police from a deeply indebted, out of control, and practically bankrupt government was the problem in Baltimore or anywhere else. Separately, another one of Obama’s first reactions to the unrest in Baltimore was to whip up hysteria over race and class. “If we’re just looking at it as policing, we’re looking at it too narrowly,” Obama proclaimed, citing “opportunity gaps” that make it harder for blacks to succeed. “Those opportunity gaps begin early, often at birth, and they compound over time, becoming harder and harder to bridge.”
Representative Steve King (R-Iowa) even blamed Obama and his constant efforts to drive “wedges” between people for sparking the riots in Baltimore. Obama allies, such as billionaire statist George Soros, who bankrolled Ferguson’s chaos; as well as race-monger Sharpton, who pours fuel on race fires; and the establishment media, which justifies rioting and violence, have also been critically necessary in promoting the establishment narrative. Whether black Americans have legitimate grievances is not the point — all Americans have legitimate grievances, considering that their elected officials in D.C. and state capitols across America swear an oath to uphold the Constitution before trampling all over it. What is happening in America is about grievances that are being exploited, along with countless Americans, to advance a sinister agenda.
There is a reason that billionaire totalitarian Soros showered millions of dollars on “activists” to descend on Ferguson. There is a reason outside agitators went to Baltimore to whip up unrest. There is a reason the mayor ordered police to stand down. There is a reason the Obama administration and its allies are fanning the flames. There is a reason that the establishment is exploiting every conceivable fault line — “race,” “gender,” “socio-economic status,” police versus community, and more — to sow division among the American people. It has nothing to do with the undeniable fact that black lives, and all lives, matter — and has everything to do with lawlessly empowering the out-of-control federal leviathan even further.
Alex Newman is a correspondent for The New American, covering economics, education, politics, and more. Follow him on Twitter @ALEXNEWMAN_JOU. He can be reached at anewman@thenewamerican.com.
I have a better idea, disband every single police department in the country, local, State and federal, scrap all of the military hardware and turn the job over to the county sheriffs.
Agreed… good plan.