By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
It’s been a pretty rough news cycle, Save Jerseyans, and Ben Affleck casting as Batman in the next Superman movie is just the beginning of it.
Three teenagers allegedly murdered a white college student, Christopher Lane of Australia, in Oklahoma last Friday, reportedly just for “the fun of it.“
Then on Thursday, an 87-year old veteran of the Battle of Okinawa named Delbert Belton was similarly beaten to death by two teens according to published reports while he was innocently heading into a local Spokane lodge to shoot pool. We could use a superhero’s intervention in week’s like this one…
Yet no one will wear a hoodie, host a march or demand federal intervention by the Justice Department for the late Christopher Lane or Delbert Belton, Save Jerseyans. Don’t count on it. The U.S. has averaged around 50 murders per day over the last decade, but the mainstream media is only interested in covering murders involving (1) the disintegration of superficially-perfect families or (2) a whiff of “racism,” real or imagined.
That persistent hypocrisy from the Fourth Estate is only one of our country’s many current problems. If I had a grandfather, he’d look a lot like Delbert Belton! One of them actually did (the other is thankfully still with us). I lost my paternal grandfather Tom Rooney, Sr. back in September 2009 at the ripe old age of 87. He was a World War II veteran like Mr. Belton; in fact, he had earned bronze stars in WWII which we didn’t learn about until after he had already passed. Modesty characterized the generation.
Tom Rooney, Sr. was lucky enough to die in a bed surrounded by family. Delbert Belton wasn’t as lucky. I don’t think either man boarded troop ships in the early 1940s to fight for a future where American youths roamed the streets killing for sport.
The causation question is complicated. What’s certain? Statistically, young black America has more to fear from each other than they do from the George Zimmermans of the world. More generally, as the WSJ editorial board put it, the true culprit is a “[c]ulture that produces teenagers for whom the prospect of shooting an innocent man in the back on a Friday evening apparently raised not a scintilla of conscience.” And again, it’s not just black America, either.
America pop culture’s prevailing politics of hoodie brinkmanship is counterproductive in every context, Save Jerseyans.
Initiating an honest conversation about the education system, family structure and urban leadership that robs these young alleged murders of their humanity at a shocking early age could prove extremely productive.
That conversation, sadly, remains impossible for as long as one of the country’s two major political parties (and their media affiliates) continue to permit the likes of Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson to sit at the table while simultaneously marginalizing the likes of Ben Carson and Allen West for speaking truth to power. Whenever the race card is unavailable due to the color of a particular murder’s skin, then as we saw following last year’s mass shootings, gun control provides a convenient “out” for politicians more interested in exploiting emotions for votes than saving lives. Step out of yourselves for a moment and ask how any of it’s helping.
We’re already starting to see it happen in our own U.S. Senate contest. Cory Booker is running around New Jersey calling Steve Lonegan an “extremist” while the Democrat candidate’s allies hurl racial barbs at the Republican nominee. Newark isn’t any better off for it.
I can’t control them nor can you. I can work to defeat them at the ballot box, sure, but for now, the real question going forward is whether we will we succumb to it ourselves, Save Jerseyans, or if we will honor Delbert Belton by fighting for a better politics. The kind of politics which we fight for every day here at Save Jersey. One which actually addresses root causes rather than mire the electorate in superficiality and divisiveness for the sake of political gain or owing simply to a lack of imagination? And through which the wrong folks are marginalized for the right reasons instead of the other way around for a change?
Take the weekend off then make your choice. Every citizen of good will needs to get busy at this task or start learning Mandarin. The country isn’t getting any healthier while we wait for your decision. Let’s not let this incident pass without doing justice by the victim… and the young men who are at high risk of becoming the next perpetrators.
