The widespread loss of moral clarity in the wake of rioting following the death of George Floyd is truly frightening, especially from those who really should know better.  Take George Clooney, for example, who recently wrote this in an article in the Daily Beast titled "America's Greatest Pandemic Is Anti-Black Racism."

The anger and the frustration we see playing out once again in our streets is just a reminder of how little we've grown as a country from our original sin of slavery.

To liken the situation of black people today with what existed under slavery can be explained only by willful blindness or sheer ignorance.  As most people know, under slavery, black people were afforded few rights, and their every "transgression" — even the most minute one — was, as a rule, severely punished.  Fast-forward to today, and we see African-American youths — alongside youths of other races — who are making off with handfuls of products from the shops and boutiques they've just plundered.  We can be sure that the vast majority of them will never be punished for their acts of pilfering and destruction.  Such behavior would most certainly not be tolerated so lightly under slavery.  Perhaps Mr. Clooney could do some history reading before penning his declarations.

And lest we forget, it was less than four years ago that America had a black man as its president.  Under slavery, a black person was not even allowed to share the same premises with white people.  In 2008, on the other hand, the American people sent a black man to reside in the White House.  Times have changed dramatically, contrary to what George Clooney may assert.  America has, indeed, come a very long way since the times of slavery — so much so that America is the only primarily white nation in the world that has elected a black person to be its highest government official.  And Americans did this not only once, but two times.

This is what Politico reported the day after Barack Obama's historic 2008 victory:

Barack Obama, who will be the nation's first African-American president, won the largest share of white support of any Democrat in a two-man race since 1976[.] ... A stunning 54 percent of young white voters supported Obama, compared with 44 percent who went for McCain, the senator from Arizona.

Does this look to you like the actions of a populace that still harbors a slavery mindset?

And how do you explain the many black people who have achieved great success — in terms of general admiration and earnings — in America in recent decades?  The names are too many to list, so we just mention a few here to remind ourselves: Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Tiger Woods, Prince, Whitney Huston, etc.  The tremendous success of these black Americans would not have been possible without the love and adulation of countless whites who enthusiastically spent billions of dollars for the privilege of enjoying the skill and genius of these black individuals through purchasing the content they produced, watching them perform, or buying the products they endorsed.

Yet despite all of this, Mr. Clooney writes:

This [racism] is our pandemic. It infects all of us, and in 400 years we've yet to find a vaccine.

George Clooney is flat-out wrong: we need no such vaccine, because most Americans are not racists.  Most Americans are good people who are willing to vote across racial lines for the candidates they like.  The record clearly shows that on the whole America is not a racist nation, and it certainly is not what it used to be in the times of slavery...far, far from it.

To honor the looting, rioting, arson with the name of "protests" is a moral travesty.  Contrary to what many commentators and observers claim, those carrying out this senseless violence have nothing to do with the tradition of civil disobedience that has been used in the past to advance the cause of civil rights.  The perpetrators of these acts are nothing more than lawbreakers who need to be stopped and penalized for their deeds.  Sadly, the decades of civil rights demagoguery have eviscerated the moral resolve of many of our leaders to the point that they are afraid to take appropriate action even as these delinquents are destroying the very fabric of our civil society.

Those wreaking havoc are certainly no civil right activists.  How does looting of businesses and stealing Nike shoes and iPhones honor the memory of George Floyd?  To everyone with the eyes to see, it is patently obvious that the vast majority of the rioters know or care very little about the man whose tragic and unnecessary death is used as a justification for acts of violent pandemonium.

We must move beyond the convoluted thinking and untrue statements of the so-called civil rights leaders and people like George Clooney.  What we need is to regain moral clarity and call what is happening in America today by its proper names: criminal plundering, arson, wanton violence, and property destruction.  Racism is not the issue or the problem here, and to use it as an excuse for the anarchy that threatens to engulf this land is unforgivable.  Looters are looters regardless of the color of their skin, and they all should be treated as such.  The charge of racism is a ploy used by the left for political purposes of advancing its spurious agendas of division and identity politics.

The first task of any legitimate government is to provide for safety of its law-abiding citizens and their property. The decent people of this country have the right to demand that President Trump, our elected leaders and law enforcement push back the looting mob and stop this criminal behaviour with whatever force it takes.

Photocredit: YouTube scren grab (cropped).