The Long Slow Race War

Fred Reed describes the recent riots in Baltimore ("Ballmer" as the locals pronounce it) as part of a long, slow burning race war. In his view, the riots will have the following consequences:

Several effects will follow on the riots. First, whites will buy guns when they realize that it can happen to them, that a howling mob desirous of kicking them to death and burning their homes really can appear at any moment. Fear of blacks is a major, major sub-text in debate of the Second Amendment. We must not say it, though.The Chorale, safe in high-rise condos with security desks, will call the buyers Gun Nuts and say that they are over-reacting. There is nothing like a complete misunderstanding of motivations to make for good journalism.

Second, whites will sensibly move out of Ballmer, leaving it blacker and poorer and of less interest to anyone but its black residents. The Chorale will sing of White Flight and Abandonment, instead of common sense and self-preservation. (Note that when whites move into a black city, blacks complain of colonization, and when they move out, of abandonment. It’s like a toggle switch.)

Third, burned-out business will not return to be burned again. The city will thus have fewer jobs, fewer amenities, and no pharmacy, as they sacked and torched their CVS outlet. The Chorale will attribute this withdrawal to racism, slavery, oppression, White Privilege, and microaggressions. What else could account for not wanting one’s store burned?

In particular, blacks, having burned their pharmacy, will complain that it isn’t there. They will not see a connection between its burning it and its not-thereness. The Chorale will not see in this behavior low intelligence, short time-horizons, and inability to control impulses or to foresee consequences. No. It is the ineradicable racism of whites that makes a burned pharmacy not be there.

I don't know if "race war" is the correct characterization. That blacks lean almost uniformly Democrat may make it seem like a conflict rooted in race, but it is part of a larger war of the socialists against Western values and culture. Anyway, Reed continues:

Where does this lead? The Chorale will speak in unison, with the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of a migraine, of White Privilege, Jim Crow, racism, institutional racism, White Supremacy, and so on. (Funny: I do not think I have ever met a White Supremacist. I have met a very great many white people who want to be allowed to live where they want with whom they want, among people who share their values and do not engage in crime, looting, arson, and the Knockoutt Game.)

What we have are irreconcilably different peoples. The looting classes are not going to turn into whites, not going to become academically diligent, speak normal English, give up crime and illegitimacy. If they were going to, they would have. There is no sign of change, and no sign that there ever will be change. We have what we are going to have. And yes, as many will point out, there are large numbers of blacks, indeed most blacks, who do not do these disagrteeable things. But that has been true of every city which has ever rioted, and it did not prevent the riots.

Not too brightly, the rioters seem to be looking for a race war. The Black Panthers say that they are “willing to kill.” We hear “No justice, no peace.” Calls resound to kill the police, to kill whites. This is not smart, considering that whites and Hispanics, who do not like blacks, vastly outnumber them, and out-gun them, and food does not come from burned-out Safeways but from distant farms owned by whites [ Docent: ... and Hispanics, considering the amount of food we import from Mexico and other Latin American countries]. But they are used to being allowed to burn and lootl as they think interesting. They seem to have little idea of the future, and what will happen if the Chorale loses its grip and whites say, as many privately do, “Let’s get it on.”

If you find this warlike behavior inexplicable, remember that the rioters live in a head-space entirely different from that of people who read on-line columns. Most can’t read, or barely can and so don’t. Most probably can’t spell “slavery,” don’t know the dates of the Civil War, and have only the pathetic and distorted notions of history that the Chorale allows them to be taught. Nothing can be done about this. We have what we are going to have.