As all who care are aware, a mural of the words, “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” which was placed on 16th Street in Washington, D.C., in 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, is being removed by the city, reportedly due to pressure being applied to city officials by Republican members of Congress. I haven’t seen reports of widespread protest at the removal.
The irony of this note is that I don’t believe in identity politics. I absolutely and viscerally believe in equality – the right of all of our people of every persuasion to be able to freely, fully, and peacefully use their gifts – but I am not convinced that we as a polity benefit from the artificial imposition of diversity. You may correct me – I have not performed detailed research on the data – but it is my impression that although the affirmative action programs implemented since the 1960s have reaped great rewards in certain individual cases, they have not brought about the overall societal changes hoped for when they were initiated. While I am not sure that I have ever been specifically aware of the BLM mural in Washington, D.C., one could not help but be aware of such memorials being created throughout the country after Mr. Floyd was killed, and I remember wondering at the time whether, despite the massive outrage all decent human beings felt at the brazen execution of Mr. Floyd, it was useful to single out the injustices done to any one group of our citizens so markedly.
So, I am surprised at the anger and foreboding I feel as the BLM mural is being removed in our nation’s capital. Once the money had been spent to install it, it certainly wasn’t doing any harm, and its message was a positive one. Removing it is incurring public expense that isn’t required from a structural standpoint. One is merely stating the patently obvious when noting that these self-proclaimed Republican guardians of public coffers are baseless hypocrites who have no trouble wasting public funds when it suits their agenda. However, the wasted expense is just as obviously but a drop in the ocean of the import of the issue. Here, we don’t need to get bound up in a debate regarding the correct approach toward migrants who have admittedly crossed our border illegally. Our government is Making America Great Again by deleting an expression of support for the wellbeing of a segment of our citizens. Its concern for these citizens is literally being erased.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
BLACK LIVES MATTE
BLACK LIVES MATT
BLACK LIVES MAT
BLACK LIVES MA
BLACK LIVES M
BLACK LIVES
BLACK LIVE
BLACK LIV
BLACK LI
BLACK L
BLACK
BLAC
BLA
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Not that concerned?
Who’s next?
It could be me.
It could be you.
McCoy's Noise 