It was August of 1976, and I was a Freshman at (then) Memphis State University, sitting in Professor Williams’ “Introduction to Journalism” Class. The Professor, whom we swore was George Washington’s Press Secretary, was telling us about Marshall McLuhan, universally regarded as the father of communications and media studies and prophet of the information Age, and his observation that “the medium is the message”.

Well, Monday night, a seminal moment in cable news proved, not only that McLuhan was a prophet, but that

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Foxnews.com reports that

President Obama couldn’t beat the rioters to the airwaves. Moments after the announcement of a grand jury’s decision to not charge Officer Darren Wilson with a crime for shooting robbery suspect Michael Brown, Obama came before television viewers to call for calm and for media outlets to focus on peaceful protests taking place. But before Obama could get off the dais, the arson, riots and looting that would rage through the night had already begun. That split-screen image was the starkest illustration yet of the limitations of a man whose rationale for seeking the presidency despite a slim resume was his ability to meet what he said was America’s greatest need: Someone “to bring the country together.” Obama explained in February 2007 that he would run because “one of the skills that [he brings] to bear is being able to pull together the different strands of American life and focus on what we have in common.” Nearly seven years later, quite the opposite has proven to be true.

… In his remarks amid the opening moments of Monday’s riot, Obama said America has “made enormous progress in race relations” over the past “several decades.” But any of Obama’s recent predecessors certainly could have said the same thing. The more important question: How is Obama, who rationalized his upstart candidacy on his skills on the subject, doing at pulling together “the different strands” of our culture? The broad consensus is strongly negative. Many on the left blame a racist backlash against the first non-white president, while many on the right blame a president who has embraced divisive politics and demonized rivals. But whatever the reasons, Obama’s presidency has witnessed a marked decline in race relations in America. Americans have a dimmer view of race relations, with one poll showing a 10-point drop from 2013 to 2014 alone. 

Perhaps, it is because the Community Organizing Race-Baiter-In-Chief, through his Racially Divisive Rhetoric, has empowered some of his followers to think that it is okay to act like a bunch of Attila the Hun’s Barbarians burning, looting, and vandalizing their neighbors’ properties.

What has caused this lack of personal morals, ethics, and responsibility, not only in Ferguson, but also in Oakland, Memphis, and in other racial hot spots in our nation?

I think I know.

Back in the 60s, President Lyndon Johnson (whose big hand I once shook, at his ranch, as a little boy, after his presidential term) and the Democrats, brought forth a plan, called “the Great Society”. It was decided, in order to ensure that everyone would have an equal opportunity in America, that Uncle Sugar would step in to fill in the gaps.

Two seminal pieces of legislation were passed.

First, the Civil Rights Bill that JFK promised to sign, before his assassination, was passed into law. This Act banned discrimination based on race and gender in employment and ending segregation in all public facilities.

It also helped to cement in stone, minorities’ loyalty to the Democratic Party, which continues to this day.

The second bill that LBJ signed into law was the sweeping ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 1964. It created the Office of Economic Opportunity whose stated purpose was to attack the roots of American poverty. A Job Corps was then established to provide vocational training.

A preschool program designed to help disadvantaged students arrive at kindergarten ready to learn, named HEADSTART, was then established. Then came VOLUNTEERS IN SERVICE TO AMERICA (VISTA), which was set up as a domestic Peace Corps. Schools in impoverished American regions would now receive volunteer teaching attention. Federal funds were sent to struggling communities to attack unemployment and illiteracy.

What Johnson told Americans, as he campaigned in 1964, was that the establishment of this “Great Society” was going to eliminate the problems of America’s poor.

It had the opposite effect

The Great Society created a dependent class, which, instead of diminishing as it’s members joined the workforce, increased from generation to generation, relying on the federal government to provide their every need.

Uncle Sugar became Mother, Father, Preacher, and Doctor to generations of Americans. This “plantation mentality” continues to this day.

A couple of years ago, I worked at our county’s State Employment Center Office.

While at the Employment Office, I was able to observe Americans, both Black and White, down on their luck, struggling to find work and survive in this economy. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of “unemployed ” who came to this particular office were Black.

I saw Black American Families whose existence living on the Government Dole, had become generational.

It is these people whom Obama and the Democrats have hypnotized into believing that Uncle Sugar loves them, and is their only solution to surviving a stifling existence.

They are so, so wrong.

The strength and vitality of America does not come from the benevolence of a Nanny-state Federal Government.

As the greatest American President of my lifetime, Ronald Reagan said:

The nine words you never want to hear are: I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.

Being enslaved to the Government Dole steals one’s ambition. It takes away any impetus or desire to create a better life for yourself and your family, to challenge yourself to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and pursue the American Dream. It makes you reliant on a politically motivated spider’s web full of government bureaucrats who view you and your family as job security.

I watched American citizens trapped in this web of government bureaucracy, so numbed of any initiative that they once had, that they seemed offended that they actually had to prove that they inquired about three jobs that week in order to keep their “benefits”. Others seemed puzzled that they had to search through the state data base and pick out a job that they wanted to talk to an interviewer about receiving a referral to, and weren’t just simply handed a job when they walked through the door.

Instead of moving forward, by exercising the self-reliance that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached so well, these people I saw, were content on being “taken care of” by Uncle Sugar, as if being held down by their own poor, miserable circumstance, was a good thing.

As a Republican, I am sure that it would have offended you, Dr. King, to hear the tenants of Marxism, i.e., “sharing the wealth” and Class Envy, being “preached” to the same Black Americans whom you tried so mightily to raise up and inspire.

This week,the results of LBJ’s “Great Society” have been the lead story in every television newscast, on every newspaper front page, and on every internet news/political website.

Dr King, I am sorry to tell you that racism and injustice is still going on in America. Unfortunately, it will not end any time soon, There are two many race-baiters profiting off of it.

Including, the President of the United States.

The part of your magnificent speech about “the content of their character” has been purposefully ignored by the professional race-baiters and assorted politicians (but, I repeat myself) all this past week.

Dr. King, your call for self-reliance took a back seat to their self-serving agenda, a long time ago.

Until He Comes,

KJ