Admittedly, the view from 'over here' to 'over there' is somewhat obscured and distorted although this has changed enormously for the better in the last 20-odd years as the internet has grown. However, post-Reagan and through the Bush and Clinton years I gained the distinct impression that racial tensions in America were easing, yes, slowly, perhaps too slowly and also fitfully but nevertheless, improving. Now, after six years under a black president it seems to me, from a distance, that America is back to the bad, old days and inter-racial tensions are rising fast. The recent shooting dead of a black American yob by a white policeman in circumstances which still are not clear is a perfect example of why this has happened.
I should add, quickly, that it is not the incident itself which provides the example of deteriorating race relations. Like everyone else, I am not clear on the details yet but I would take a large wager that if the yob concerned had been white then he, too, would have been shot in the same circumstances. No, what stands out is the re-action of the Democrat party in general and the Federal government in particular. Almost immediately following the incident those two race hucksters, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, like a couple of characters from a Tom Wolfe novel, were on the scene, centre-stage, providing their same old equivalent of a music hall double-act - same old lines, same old lies! Of course, prior to their entry their acolytes, so-called 'community organisers' (now where have I heard that expression before?) had been hard at it whipping up emotions.
So far, so normal, and praise the Lord, 'The One' had managed to restrict himself from claiming, as he did after the Trayvon Martin shooting, that 'it could have been me at that age'. Perhaps the reason for his unusual reticence was the very quick release of the video showing the 6'-4" overweight black yob picking up a scrawny little shop assistant who was objecting to his shop being robbed and hurling him into a display shelf. Even so, after the warm-up act from 'Jackson & Sharp', in comes the main act, Eric Holder, the Attorney General, no less, and the highest legal officer in the Land of the (not so) Free. He is Obama's pet poodle and he would not have ventured into this fester-pit without orders. His mere presence, pictured consoling the family, will be enough to skew any chance of a neutral investigation, let alone a fair trial should it come to that.
America is a great country, a kind and generous country but, like everywhere else on this planet, it is made up of human beings and that means it can be, and often is, a dangerous and threatening country. It is exceedingly difficult to know which sort of America you are dealing with in any situation. I am very much obliged to Richard F. Miniter at The American Thinker who has written an excellent article based on his experience of being a small town cop and the way in which it is difficult to step outside your own experience and make an attempt to gain a rounded picture of your society. I do urge you to read his piece!
There is no doubt in my mind that the exceedingly dangerous people with whom Obama has surrounded himself, and Holder is a prime example, are determined to seize every opportunity to ratchet up inter-racial tensions. The reason is simple - an angry, fearful, resentful, black community will be provoked into getting off their arses and into voting. And when they do, they will vote Democrat. It's politics of the most despicable kind - but it works!
