Money and Votes Control the Ferguson Narrative
The Ferguson riots, the national protests, and the White House involvement are geared towards creating a movement and a narrative that will get blacks to the polls in 2016. We can be sure that there is a financial payoff down the road for the rabble rousers who use the threat of violence to negotiate for public and private benefits.
This is not our first rodeo. We have been down this road before. After a highly charged racial event, the media and black leadership will use the riotous behavior as an opportunity to press for greater resources for poor communities. Unfortunately, very little of the money received will actually reach the poor Money will not address the problem, because the problems affecting black communities are cultural.
The politics of the shakedown has already occurred. In October of this year, student protesters at Saint Louis University were able to use a playbook from the 1960s, to negotiate for increased financial assistance for black students, more money for the African American Studies Program and black student retention, as well as other concessions supposedly designed to help the black community.
Democrats will need a high black turnout to have any real chance of keeping the White House in 2016. Therefore, the party needs an issue and a cause to keep blacks on the plantation. After the President announces additional money for law enforcement, we can expect him to be pressured to direct money to black institutions, community leaders, and urban areas, but we cannot expect any lasting results. Money is not the issue. The issue is the moral and spiritual poverty of the people, and the fact that the wrong leaders are addressing the wrong problems. Money alone cannot fix what ails black America because the problems lie within.
