Beware of raising ‘False Flags’

Contrary to many pundits, it is my belief President Obama’s second term will be stronger than his first.  Even though the GOP has abandoned their refusal to work with the man, they fall short on what the President has been working with for four years: A wealth of ideas.

And yet, I wonder who may be left farther behind when he leaves in 2016?

So much of our life perspective is based on what we see when we walk out our doors each day.  For a moment, leave alone what happens behind those doors.

Those who see order outside their doors expect the world should be so ordered.  For those who step outside and witness chaos or worse, trust of such orderly dictates may be as remote as winning the lottery.  My childhood was a mix of hope while waiting for the other shoe to drop.  In the case of friends and mentors, often the worst did happen.

My greatest loss during the height of the drug war era was Jimi Green in 1989.  A big brother for sure, he was shot for chump change in the elevator of his building in the Farragut Projects by a couple of teenagers.  He might have survived had the elevator been working normally.  As it was, he bled to death before anyone found him.

Anthony Giarusso was another casualty from that era.  Sweet and gentlemanly when we were kids playing hockey in Carroll Park, he fell in with a rough gang of drug dealers who, it was said, killed him as many ways as they could.  Sadly, Anthony’s short life was a symbol of the 1980’s.  Respect was reserved for money and power, not people.

The term ‘false flag’ was coined during the European Naval Wars though the tactic existed long before then.  Flying an enemy’s flag allowed a warring navy to sail in close to enemy warships before being discovered.  False flag has since transformed into a planned ruse, sometimes carried out covertly to cast blame on others for political or military purposes.

The British used this tactic brilliantly in Ireland by demonizing the Papists and creating new Protestant adherents to the crown of England.  Through planned attacks and political subterfuge, the British were able force a wedge between Irish Protestants and Catholics who had been united in their defense against British domination.  To this day, more than 200 years later, Ireland remains split not only as two nations.  Sadly, Ireland today also remains split between Catholic and Protestant.

The same denuded logic made its way here with the founding of our nation.  False flags have been used against Native Americans, women, immigrant Catholics, Jews, in Vietnam, and more recently Muslims.  Still, the greatest example of false flag continues to exist between black and white Americans.  The problem for all of us is that now both sides do it, sometimes unwittingly.

By inciting poor white against black especially in the American southeast, wealthy whites were able to advance their feudal economic and political interests through the end of both slavery days and Jim Crow.  What remains today is an unstated political mistrust between peoples.  When it comes the ridiculous numbers of black Americans in our jails and gun violence (according to the 2010 US Census, blacks make up 39 percent of the incarcerated nationally yet are only 13 percent of the nations populace), these two groups crash into each other like shifting tectonic plates.

Harry Belafonte’s art and activism has given my generation so much more than any of us could ever repay.  Even as my respect for him is boundless, his impassioned speech after receiving an award from the NAACP last week left me wondering.

After correctly noting that most of the blood  spilled through gun violence in this nation comes from citizens who are non white, his call to Black America’s leaders to be a voice in the gun control debate taking place in Congress is loaded with unfocused blame and responsibility.

In arguing that white America is debating Constitutional issues of guns owners after Newtown, Belafonte assumes black America is sitting on its hands.

Respectfully sir, I disagree.  In constructing the debate along color lines will lead us to more blind alleys and less solutions.

If President Obama’s first four years have accomplished anything, first was the unraveling of decades of fear itself.  So our nation could boil down so many of our mutual problems under the bald, shadowless light of noon has required the patience of Job.  Our president has shown that patience and thoroughness on a federal level we may never see again.  As regards the gun debate, too much of America, from the town to the city, has grown up with the idea that the gun equals security.  Debunking such a fallacy has correctly been the first order of business.

Last Wednesday Jim Johnson, chief of the Baltimore County Police, testified before Congress.  Johnson’s testimony on behalf of law enforcement focused on all three gun issues confronting us:  mental health, high capacity weaponry and the trafficking of weapons.   In asking Congress to enact background checks for all gun transactions, he noted how 30 percent of guns recovered from crime scenes had crossed state lines.  As well, in the past year, he noted that 40 percent of all gun transactions had been made privately.  To him, it was similar too allowing 40 percent of airline passengers to board planes without security screening.

Anyone who has enjoyed Mr. Belafonte’s life on this earth knows he meant much more than he stated.  Still, the false flags he creates are dangerous.

First, that this is black American’s problem is wrong.  This is everyone’s problem.  There are black politicians who mistrust the system they serve and seek short term solutions rather than long range, permanent ones.  This has inevitably led to a continuance of the same tribal warfare we see in cities like Baltimore.  Still, there are white politicians just as intellectually dishonest.  Contrary to the ideal of a black superman, all one needs these days is to have a good game to be in politics, regardless of color.

Second, that black America was mute after Newtown.  The hearts of mothers and fathers all over Baltimore, most of whom are black Americans, were shared with parents of the dead in Newtown.  Even though families in Baltimore know everyday how near death could be for their children, still they showed great compassion in empathizing with their fellow Americans.  They showed a dignity toward families who were broken in their picturesque, Rockwellian hamlet in Connecticut.  This shows uncommon unity and grace.

Jimi Green was black and grew up in the projects.  He wasn’t a player.  He was an innocent and had no choice in the matter of his murder.  Anthony Giarusso, by choice, was a player.  He was white and grew up in circumstance just a little better than Jimi’s.  As an individual, Anthony contributed to a scourge that took his life and many more after.  Even so, it never mattered what color they were.

I know Mr. Belafonte’s meant more than he said.  His heart has always been bigger than the man and his last line was his best.

“Let us not be charged with patriotic treason.”

Beautiful.

What I hope he meant was this.  If you are in a position of power, you have no right to say you don’t believe in the system.  From the garbage man and the policeman to the councilman and the mayor, you don’t get to say you don’t trust government.  In the ghettoes of Baltimore, your mistrust sends a message more powerful than the gun.  It’s your mistrust of the government and the citizenry you serve that gives a young man every reason to pick up the gun.

We don’t just need the Bible to tell us so.  We need man’s belief in himself to ride over the fear before the waves start to break our way.