PERHAPS the biggest story currently in the international media is the growth of anti-police protest movements.
It started in America after several shootings of black men being arrested, but has even spread to London where a protest rally about lives mattering ironically ended up with three people being stabbed.
There is no doubt that black Americans have grievances, but these emotions are being stoked by politicians.
President Obama sent more officials to the funeral of Michael Brown, who was shot by a cop named Darren Wilson after robbing a store, than he did to Margaret Thatcher’s, America’s greatest ally.
In that case, Wilson’s claim that he acted in self-defence was upheld by a jury of blacks and whites. The President of the United States as well as millions on social media disagreed.
I don’t know of one white person who thinks for a moment that black lives do not matter. Nor do I know of any who disagree with the hip protest banner ‘Life is a not a white privilege’.
But I do know this; if you want a society to disintegrate, the first target is law and order.
Many black speakers have pointed out that in America, blacks kill far more fellow blacks than whites do.
Blacks also kill more whites than vice versa. But as they say, there are also hugely complex socioeconomic forces at play.
However, the biggest fallout of the anti-police protests is that cops no longer think it’s worth the candle to do law enforcement that could be considered sensitive.
FBI director James Comey, a President Obama appointee, has acknowledged this saying ‘marginal’ policing, which in the past was a cornerstone of crime prevention, no longer happens.
He says the days of a patrolman getting out of his car at two in the morning and saying to a group of suspicious men, ‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ are over.
Many may think this is a good thing. Cold statistics show maybe not.
Consider this: With the surge of anti-police protests, murder rates in the US are up by nine percent. Chicago is the new Wild West where over the Memorial Day weekend in May, at least one person an hour was shot.
Not far behind Al Capone’s old stamping ground is Dallas, where murders are up by 40%. This is interesting because Dallas is considered a major success story for a new, more passive, style of policing and complaints about police brutality have fallen by half since 2012.
But yet … just two months ago ten people were killed in a single week.
This is not to blame protest movements – although it is worth noting that once the hype has calmed, jurors of all races in most cop cases rule in favour of the police. So unless the legal system is corrupt, cops are not usually the bad guys.
But one thing cannot be denied. Protests against police brutality, fuelled by politicians and social media pundits who don’t have to account for their actions, have seized the extremely dangerous narrative that police are basically state executioners.
And the one thing Western liberals have perfected is snatching control of the message.
However, the tables are turning. The ruling elite is now discovering that the narrative is not being received by ordinary people. And the proof of this is going to be laid bare soon.
America goes to the polls in November to elect a new president at a time when black and white policemen are being shot in retaliation for the deaths of black men while being arrested.
I don’t think you can overestimate the significance of this. Shooting cops as a form of social protest is a crossroad for any society.
But for America, the least homogenous society in the world, it’s even more critical. Law and order is the glue that binds.
I never thought Donald Trump would win the presidency. Now I’m not sure.
It’s boiled down to two key factors: Hillary Clinton relies on getting 90% of a high-turnout black vote while Trump has turned the election into a referendum on whether the country backs police of all races or not.
Who knows which way it will go.
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