By Jonah Goldberg
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
It seems almost ghoulish to look for a silver lining in
the dark cloud that blanketed the nation last week. But I think there was one.
The killings by police in Minnesota and Louisiana, quickly followed by the
killings of police in Dallas, knocked the lazy certainty out of almost
everybody.
At least for a moment, antagonists on either side of
polarizing issues could see beyond the epistemic horizon of their most
comfortable talking points. Black Lives Matter activists thanked the police for
their protection and sacrifice. Conservative Republicans, most notably House
Speaker Paul Ryan and former speaker Newt Gingrich, spoke movingly about race
in America. Gun-rights activists were dismayed that Philando Castile, the man
shot by a police officer in Minnesota, had followed all of the rules — he had a
gun permit, cooperated with the officer, etc. — and was still killed. Liberals
who insist that rhetoric from their political opponents inspires violence were
forced to consider whether rhetoric from their allies might have helped inspire
the shooter in Dallas.
It was a welcome change. “National conversations” are
usually efforts to bully everyone into accepting a single narrative when the
reality is that, in this country of more than 300 million, many narratives can
be in conflict and still be legitimate.
I don’t doubt that representatives of each tribe will
eventually retreat back to their ideological bunkers, but before they do, let’s
explore some blind spots, on both sides.
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani (who did not
lose his lazy certainty) spent the weekend attacking the Black Lives Matter
movement as “racist.” He wants people to focus on the fact that most black
murder victims die at the hands of other blacks. That’s true, and tragic, and
fairly irrelevant.
Conservatives, of all people, should understand that
misdeeds committed by agents of the state are categorically different from the
same acts committed by normal citizens. A father who slaps his son for no good
reason, however wrong that may be, is very different from a cop who slaps a
citizen for no good reason.
This country was created, in part, because the founders
were outraged by arguably slight infractions — taxes on tea! — against their
liberties and dignity. Is it really so unfathomable that African-American
citizens should be outraged or distrustful of government when they have good
reason to believe the state is murdering young black men?
It should be said that the data do not actually
corroborate this belief — at least not as clearly as one might think. Harvard
economist Roland Fryer found that when black suspects encounter the police,
they are slightly less likely to get shot than white suspects. He called it
“the most surprising result I have found in my entire career.” Fryer, by the
way, is African American.
But Fryer also found that blacks are disproportionately
victims of bias when it comes to non-lethal use of force by police, such as use
of pepper spray, manhandling, and the like. Is it so unreasonable to assume
that citizens who experience such bias would also believe that it extends into
police shootings? Particularly when such tragedies receive so much attention in
social media and the press?
In other words, if blacks experience being unfairly stopped,
frisked, and manhandled, is it really nuts for them to think the unfairness
extends to shootings as well?
Liberals, meanwhile, have their own blinders when it
comes to the police.
Although they have seemingly boundless faith in the power
and nobility of government, many draw a line around cops, creating one of the
strangest ironies of modern liberalism: Many of those most eager to support new
laws and new regulations suddenly lose faith when it comes to the government
employees charged with enforcing them. It’s particularly amazing given that
law-enforcement personnel typically receive far more training than your typical
bureaucrat or legislator.
Another blind spot: Most of the problems with black
homicide — by police or otherwise — take place in cities run by Democrats for
generations, yet Republican racism is always to blame.
Just as conservatives need to recognize the ills of
police abuse, liberals need to acknowledge that the first obligation of the
state is to defend the safety and property of its citizens, and that nothing
undermines the legitimacy of the law more than vilifying those sworn to uphold
it.
I doubt the humility we’ve seen this week will last, but
that it emerged at all is a source of hope.
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