Recent violence is slavery’s tragic legacy

By Bob Jack, North Las Vegas

Friday, July 15, 2016 | 2 a.m.

I have been watching the civil rights movement for most of my 75 years.

In the 1960s it was the Watts riots in Los Angeles — blacks rioting and looting, and the police and National Guard lined the streets as buildings burned. Then the Rodney King riots came as again in Los Angeles blacks rioted, looted and burned. Then came Baltimore, Ferguson and the carnage in Dallas last week. Always, police conflict with blacks.

The cause is always the same: racial tensions between the police and blacks and use of force to quell an incident involving blacks and the police. It makes one wonder if things will ever really change. Optimists say things are getting better, but facts seem to disagree, such as in Dallas, where a peaceful protest turned into the slaughter of police by a black nationalist. A more realistic assessment is that things are still much the same.

As populists debate with progressives over who bears responsibility for these incidents, they continue to occur. The root of this problem is the slavery of human beings and an aftermath that gave thoughtless attention to the societal solution to emancipation. This major upheaval still haunts us. We have a serious social policy problem to deal with, and the Democrats’ time has run out. Their failed policies are obvious. Until America wakes up, these incidents will continue.