The Decision, The Race-Baiting, Liberal Fiction vs. The Facts

Gary Bauer

by Gary Bauer: The Decision
Late yesterday afternoon, the jury hearing the case of Police Officer Derek Chauvin handed down its verdict: Guilty on all three charges.

The verdict wasn't a surprise. Anybody watching the nine-minute video would have had a hard time concluding that Chauvin's conduct was appropriate police work.

And I suspect most of the country breathed a sigh of relief after the verdict was announced. The rioting that occurred all last year and in recent days would have been on steroids if the verdict had been different.

Sadly, the case is not over. Three more officers are still awaiting trial for their roles in the death of George Floyd.

And, ironically, at least in part because of the terrible politicization of the case (most notably from Rep. Maxine Waters), Chauvin is certain to appeal. Her comments, along with the judge's refusal to sequester the jury throughout the trial, are strong grounds for an appeal and could result in a mistrial, as Judge Peter Cahill even conceded.

If Chauvin's appeal succeeds it won't be the result of "systemic racism in the judicial system." It will be due to the left's constant efforts to politicize the trial.

By the way, the effort to reprimand Rep. Waters failed in the House of Representatives yesterday on a party line vote. Every Democrat voted to protect her, while every Republican voted to reprimand her.

Speaking of outrageous remarks, did you see what Nancy Pelosi said yesterday? She thanked George Floyd for sacrificing his life for justice. That's just bizarre. If Floyd hadn't relapsed back into drug addiction or resisted the police officers for 17 minutes, the entire country would have been spared the tumult of the past year.

What was Pelosi thinking when she "thanked" Floyd for dying? His family is still in mourning!

A final point: Even though the video of what happened to George Floyd was horrifying and the case became a symbol of racial justice in America, there is zero evidence that the outcome would have been any different if George Floyd had been white.

There was no evidence suggesting that Police Officer Derek Chauvin was motivated by racism. There were no racial comments made on the video. It may well be an example of bad policing. But it is not evidence of racism by law enforcement.

The Race-Baiting
President Biden and Vice President Harris could have used their remarks last night to bring healing and racial reconciliation. They could have reassured people of color by saying that the system works for everybody. That's not what they did.

Once again, they did their best to continue roiling the waters. They kept up their non-stop effort to smear the United States of America and the people of this country as systemic racists.

Biden said it was time for us to come together. But then he said America is systemically racist. Who's the "we" that needs to come together?

You and your racist neighbor? You and your child's racist teacher? You and the racist checkout clerk at your local grocery store? You and your racist pastor? Well, obviously, that's just not the case.

Are there racists in America? Of course. There are racists in every nation, and there always will be. Racism is a sin. It must be condemned and resisted at every opportunity.

But we are the least racist major nation in the world, and certainly the least racist multicultural nation in the world. To its great credit, America has elected a black president and a black vice president. We have a black Supreme Court justice. Many of our major cities have black mayors and police chiefs.

Show me the black prime minister of Canada, the black prime minister of Great Britain, the black prime minister of France or the black chancellor of Germany.

Liberal Fiction vs. The Facts
The totalitarian left's obsession with race is deeply threatening to the entire American experiment. At a time when all the research shows plummeting levels of patriotism among America's youth, the left's rhetoric is making it impossible for young people to love their country.

The rhetoric that is routinely used by the media and left-wing politicians erases the legacy of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who made huge strides in how we deal with race. In fact, it takes America to the exact opposite of King's dream.

Reverend King fought for the idea that race is immutable and an insignificant characteristic. King believed that a good and decent society does judge people, not on something that a person can't change like their skin color, but on their character and values.

Today, the media and left-wing politicians are actually creating a race problem by distorting reality. Their rhetoric is creating a fiction that large numbers of young Americans now believe to be true.

For example, some have argued that there is a "genocide" against black men being carried out by law enforcement in this country. (Here and here.)

One recent study found that 25% of self-identified "moderates," 39% of "liberals" and 53% of those who identified as "very liberal" believed that at least 1,000 unarmed black men were killed by police in 2019.

Among those who identified as "very liberal," eight percent believed that more than 10,000 unarmed black men were killed by police in 2019. Where are they getting this grossly distorted impression?

According to the Washington Post database, the actual number of unarmed black men shot and killed by police in 2019 is 11. Not 100, not 1,000, not 10,000 or more – eleven. (And for the record, 23 unarmed white men were shot that same year.)

This ignorance is a huge problem. More black people are killed by criminals in Chicago almost every weekend! That's also a huge problem, but the left refuses to confront it.

If you have children or grandchildren in high school, ask them how many unarmed black men they think are shot and killed by police each year. If they say hundreds or thousands, please take the time to explain the facts to them, and why they should not resist or fear interactions with the police.

Defending Religious Freedom
As you may know, I am proud to serve as a Trump-appointee to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Today, the commission issued our annual report naming and shaming the world's worst violators of religious liberty.

I'm referring to countries like Iran, North Korea and Russia. But no country on the list is more evil, more oppressive and more powerful than communist China.

Beijing's brutal regime is engaged in a genocide against ethnic Uyghurs, with millions being held in concentration camps. It's crushing freedom in Hong Kong. It's forcing Christians into "transformation facilities," where they are tortured and pressed to renounce their faith.

All this would be bad enough, but communist China isn't just oppressing its own people. It's exporting oppression around the world.

Communist China is using its vast wealth, wealth created by our trade, to buy influence all over the world. It's using that influence to intimidate major corporations, sports leagues and universities that want to do business in communist China.

The 20th century has been rightly called the American Century. We saved the world from Nazism and defeated the Soviet Union.

But the communist Chinese believe the 21st century belongs to them. They have taken our jobs, stolen our national security secrets and they are threatening our allies. They see America as a nation in decline, and they plan to replace us as the world's sole superpower.

We should remember this every time we see forces on the left trash our history, demand we leave our borders wide open and slash our defense budget. These ideas will always be stupid. But the people applauding them most are sitting in Beijing today.
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Gary Bauer (@GaryLBauer)  is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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