Houston has a race and criminal justice problem. There is an enormous racial disparity of Black criminals and Black crime victims versus White criminals and White crime victims.
While the Black population of Houston, according to 2019 estimates, is about 22 percent, Black crime victims are about 44 percent of all crime victims, according to the Houston Police Department data of Race of Violent Victims for 2019. Furthermore, Blacks make up 61.5 percent of offenders of Reported Violent Crimes in 2019.
Strangely, or perhaps not so strangely, there is a lack of righteous indignation from the well financed – to the tune of about $90 million – “civil rights” international organization called Black Lives Matter. Why? Where are the violent protests against this blatant racial gap? Blacks are many times more likely to be killed by other Blacks than Blacks are to be killed by Whites, by White police officers, by police officers of any race, by Asians, by Hispanics, by Catholics, by Jews, by Muslims, by Buddhists, or by Hindus.
The poor innocent Black victims of crime should want to see some reaction from the self-anointed guardians of Blacks. After all, Houston’s favorite son, George Floyd, who died while being arrested for passing counterfeit money in Minneapolis – after serving time for threatening to kill a pregnant woman during a home invasion- was given a royal send off, complete with a solid gold casket, by these self-anointed guardians.
Do not elderly Black women, who are murdered in Houston by young male Black criminals, deserve at least the ceremony, the funds, the publicity of a drug addict, with a prior conviction for a violent felony? So where is Floyd Mayweather, Beyonce, Lebron James, and Snoop Dog? Why are they not using their substantial wealth to support Black crime victims? Why the silence from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rev. Al Sharpton, “Civil Rights” Attorney Benjamin Crump, Slim Thug, Leela James, Paul Wall, Congressman Al Green (D-TX), and Bishop James Dixon?
Granted there must not be any political benefit to speaking out on behalf of Black crime victims murdered by Black criminals. But do they not have compassion for Black crime victims? Why do they only go public when a racial controversy they helped stoke can be exploited by them for fame and fortune?
We all know the answers to these questions! The exploitation of race in America for fame and fortune is an absolute disgrace. The line of people looking for personal profit, for professional profit, for publicity, and for political benefit is endless.
What is even worse is the fear and acquiescence by those who should be defending the forces of law and order in society. The silence of those who should be outraged by the idea that crime pays handsomely in America as long as it couched in racial terms is every bit as disgraceful as the exploitation of racial divisiveness.
My upcoming book Blue and Black, Policing and Race in America will delve into these issues and more.