TTAG reader Barry Gales writes in our comment section [slightly edited for clarity]:
I am a young black male from St.Louis, MO and this is what I put on my Facebook page. I’m just going to put it like this and forget what anyone else has to say.
Some people think guns are the problem, some people think all black people are problems, some people think all white people are problems. Some people think all cops are a problem, but the problem is the hearts of men.
If anything, I will put my life above all others not including family and friends. If I had to protect my family and friends with my life I would with no hesitation. I am no hero, but I live by good morals with good morals and ethics.
Now don’t get me wrong, I understand what the movement is about, but I will not and do not condone premeditated murder by anyone. I don’t even condone threats. You damn people who said that you can’t categorize everyone in one group the same, well you guys are doing the same things to cops, to black people, to white people.
I’m sure we all know that there’s bad people in every race every profession, but what you people are doing doesn’t make you…people better than those damn people. I know some people probably are going to get mad, but guess what, I don’t give a fuck.
I took an oath myself, and although I’m not in the service or even went all the way through I still stand by it to this day. Now if anyone has something to say we can have a good dialogue. We are all Americans and we should unite against all form of injustice.
My former stepdaughter posted this to her FB page a couple of days ago:
“Kane killed Able with a stone. It’s a heart problem not a gun problem. Stop the violence. All lives matter. Every last one.”
Although I disagree that every life matters (Ted Bundy — I don’t think so), the rest is very sensible. Like Barry Gales.
Thanks a lot.
Excellent post brother! (I’m totally white but we’re still brothers!)
All of us like minded people are brothers
Even Ted Bundy’s life mattered once , Charlie Manson and all the evil people were at one time innocent sweet babies just looking to be nurtured .
The truth is , in the heading of this post . If people ( all People ) do not reestablish their roots in God and Gods laws and the truths of his commandments then our national and international social experiment of community is doomed . America and the world WILL NOT survive with a majority of humanity not believing in God and judgement . Good deeds by good people isn’t enough . Human nature is against Gods law and ( fear , love ) is the only thing(s) that keeps our nature at bay .
The world tells us we do not need God , the state will provide our needs , but the state can not provide the free will change of nature that comes with a conversion to ‘ believing in God ‘ .
My humble opinion .
Whut? Sorry but I still don’t get what you’re trying convey-and I saw this the 1st time it went out over the interwebs. Except the heart of men thing-we need JESUS. That’s MY dialogue…
What I’m saying is that….the problem is with the hearts of individuals…as you can see…I don’t categorize everyone in one group because of the actions of a few. There are good and bad in every race and profession. But just because there are bad people doesn’t mean everyone that looks like them are.
We should be arguing whether each individual case was handed correctly and we can disagree on those cases. But we should not be arguing over whether the main players in the cases are racist or not. Accusations of racism takes the eye off the ball. If we forget about racism, even actual racism, and just look at right vs. wrong, good vs. evil, we can advance as a civilization.
But that won’t garner votes for Democrats. So this is what we are facing. Willful ignorance is a dangerous drug and the country is full of addicts.
Take race, emotion, and drama out of it and the news has little to report but the facts. And dammit if they need an inflammatory story to keep those ratings moving.
Anner, You are correct. I just got on here to say the same thing and saw your comment.
The hearts of men can be changed, for better or worse. The media has to hype up the story because after all, they are in the hype business. Just watched GMA and they had the “hero” mom who was shot protecting her kids. Well, it didn’t quite happen that way. Instead of following the script, the mother told the truth.
“I took my kids to the protest to show them what unity is. When the shots rang out, everybody just started running. My kids went running up the street so I went to be with them. They were ahead of me and I felt a shot in the back of my leg. Either they saw me or heard me call out but they came back to me and I just kind of fell down on them.”
Glad she was okay and I am glad she went against the fiction that the media keeps spewing. Everybody likes a good story. But “news” and entertainment is blurred and sometimes very dangerous.
Barry Gales, I hope you are not a lone voice crying in the wilderness.
You speak with the voice of reason. I just wish someone in Washington DC could do so.
Thanks for that
Yes well said and I stand with you!
I concur. We are all country men united in freedom. It’s time we recognize that the individual is the truest form of our freedom and judge all actions accordingly.
mmmm…..more or less.
Glad to be featured…everyone needs to be more understanding…this makes me feel very good
As well you should feel good. I very much appreciated your original comment, and it is nice to see it featured here on a post. Well said, sir. Carry on…
“Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills.”
Yes, movie dialog though it may be, I challenge anyone to prove it is not so.
On a slightly lighter note, I am a firm believer in the cause “All Rifles Matter”. ?
I think the biggest hurdle, is human’s have to categorize everything in their lives, and that bleeds into or taints our perception of things that categorizeing doesn’t apply.
Hear Hear! Well stated.
Well said.
According to fbi stats, Over 90 percent of black people who have been shot over the past 25 years, are shot by other black people. I forget the exact number, but it’s like 93 percent. That’s insane. Perhaps BLM needs to focus their efforts on the black people committing those atrocious acts.
I agree that many police are over militarized and Ill trained to de-escalate situations, but the bigger problem with regard to deaths of black men lies within their communities.
As BLM is just another Dem party astroturf (bowel)movement, the blacks killing blacks realitive does not advance their narrative.
Thanks TTAG for featuring Barry’s post, and thanks Barry. In my fifty years I’ve lived in several states, and in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Sometimes everyone around me looked just like me, and sometimes I was in a very racially and ethnically diverse crowd. What I’ve personally witnessed is that most people are good people willing to help others but sometimes we get entrenched in our own experiences and can’t begin to understand why others may have a different belief. I may not agree with some people’s beliefs, but I try to understand how that belief may have been built. That can often open the door to dialogue, which is a start.
We truly are more alike than we are different. That being said, pure evil does exist in a small part of the population, and that evil can be of any color, ethnicity, clothing/uniform, profession, education, and economic status. Evil must be confronted and opposed wherever it is. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”-Edmund Burke.
+1
I hate to shit on everyone’s reflections but nobody’s life matters. What you do with your life is the measure. BLM Is a false narrative for the sole purpose of finding value in the Black community. Truth is there is no value for a community that turns on itself, refuses to help police, who calls black officers Uncle Tom’s. Black communities are viscous morasses of failed principles and a black person who strives to improve their lives, black culture shuns their efforts. Black Heros are few and far between and ones who make it of their shithole don’t look or come back. Over the last 10 years 1.5 million black men been incarcerated or murdered by their fellow blacks. Think about what that does to a family not to mention black women. The remaining men butterfly from woman to another investing themselves with none. Children without fathers and politicians wonder why the black community is convulsing on itself. Knowing they live the moment with no prospects for a future, so they look outward, blame cops, whites, Koreans, every race, creed, color other than themselves despite the vast funding this government provides and 600k dead yo pull them out of bondage. The black community hasn’t been shit on by police, but by politicians who are now court and import Hispanics. They work harder and build better family structures than blacks. Politicians are not letting Africans in at the rate of Mexicans. What’s left of the black community is in a graveyard spiral, so in fifty to seventy five years they evaporate into the water-trough of history.
Please don’t sugar coat it , tell us what you really think.
Would you like to argue the facts, or just spew PC nonsense?
Well spoken Mr Gales. After reading so much divisive commentary this is a breath of fresh air.
Well written, well said! Thanks.
Mr. Gales, its not what is “in the hearts of men”, rather it is what’s in their minds and the excuses that they tell themselves and others to justify their actions. This has been the problem with humans since the beginning of time and unfortunately its not going to change.
That would be the “hearts of men”.
I appreciated the comment when I first read it and I am happy to see it re-ported here.
I would like to add one piece of commentary which is not intended to disparaged in any way what Mr. Gales has said:
Prejudice is a good thing. Prejudice is nothing more than situational awareness by a different name. It is a survival instinct that gives us an immediate assessment of whether something, or someone we encounter is potentially friend or foe. From human perspective, if you are walking down the street and see a cat you simply keep walking. If you see a lion or tiger coming down the sidewalk you have an entirely different reaction, and response. If on that same street you see a family walking towards you, white or black or any other flavor, you probably tip your hat and walk on by. If you approach a group of young men of any color wearing obvious signs of gang affiliation or acting in a boisterous DGAF manner you will immediately go on alert and consider your options.
That’s prejudice. That is not unreasonable. What matters is what you do next. If you automatically kick the cat or draw your weapon to shoot it – if you automatically rain curses down on the family of color or threaten them, that is BIGOTRY. That is what is in your heart and it is an illogic born of ignorance and unreasoned fear. That is what it means to say it is what is in the heart that matters.
Yes situational awareness is another thing….like for instance if I see a group of people acting foolish and they’re coming towards me…of course if I think something is going to happen then I’m going to move away from them as quickly as possible…..don’t need to be stupid to recognize danger before it happens…so I agree. You damn right if I see a lion or tiger….I’m getting the fuck out of there lmao….that thing isn’t about to eat me.
Mr. Gates, you are clearly a good and decent man. And an open-minded one.
Very well said. I would add, that the words racism and discrimination are all social constructs. Our brains are hard-wired to discriminate because that is how we make decisions on everything. The brain like water, always follows the easiest part so as to be able to make decisions quickly. It uses data from experience and other input to make these decisions. If you live in a neighbourhood where all the individuals from one culture do such and such, then your brain takes that into account to be able to ensure the number one human instinct: survival, takes precedence. The more fire we remove from our bellies, the less we can benefit from instinct that evolution programmed into every single living thing. Without human instinct, we would not have racial profiling then, but consider this, we would also be drones.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
“I the LORD search the heart”…:)
There are a number of groups waiting for all to turn on each other so they can move when it most opportune. Don’t give in to it.
Never let a good crisis go to waste. It is at these times that the people will DEMAND that you do things they would never tolerate otherwise. And if you don’t have a suitable crisis, create one whatever, it takes. The media is your friend in this matter.
All socialists are the problem. Every one of these dysfunctions is a rotten fruit from their poisoned tree. And they do this with their brains, because they honestly believe that when their hearts tell them to do the right thing and encourage marriage, religion strong families and hard work, it is only because our old fashioned and obsolete society has planted those notions there, in an attempt to trick them.
And of course it’s not just the criminal blacks that take this message to heart; try standing in front of the average college student nowadays, and just say “family, responsibility, hard work, strive to become a productive member of society…” they will think you are quoting hitler.
Well stated. The problem has and always will be a heart problem.
Barry well said. This is what we need intelligent discussion without all the finger pointing.
Thank you, Barry Gales.
The politicians think they can pass more laws to fix the problem but as you have so apply stated, morality and goodness of heart CANNOT be legislated. Indeed, this is a heart issue.
Thank You Barry. If everyone was as thoughtful as Barry there would be a lot less problems.
Like it. A man who sees the root causes.
Nicely expressed, Mr. Gales. Thank-you!
The first time a black man went out of his way to assist me when I needed some help, I was a 15-year-old white kid in segregated Virginia, in 1961, and he was a big, black biker, probably 20 years older than I was. He and I remained acquainted for over 10 years after that, he was a fine and decent man at all times, and in the 55 years since I have found it quite difficult to automatically assume anything about a person because of his color. I have attempted to pay it forward several different times since then, assisting individuals in need without regard to their color. Life is just nicer when you are nicer. Thanks for the post, Barry.
OTOH, people wearing their hats sideways and holding their pants up to cover their crotch while their asses are hanging out, not so much. You’re on your own, not because of your color but because of the signals you are deliberately sending.
Last year my mother asked me to take her to the family cemetery to visit the graves of her parents, grand parents, etc. That cemetery is at 125th and Halsted in Chicago, which is now a primarily black area. Afterward she needed a restroom, so we went to the nearby McDonald’s. While she did her thing, I queued up to get a couple burgers for lunch. When I made it to the front of the line, all the counter staff disappeared. As the only white guy there, I could not get served in a McDonalds restaurant. We left quickly.
If any of those people had come to the McDonald’s in my neighborhood, they would have been greeted with a smile and treated with respect. Racial disparity is quickly disappearing from the majority of America. The last bastions on racism really exist in the minority neighborhoods now. These people are stuck with attitudes that are forty years out of date. Those attitudes are holding them back, keeping them from reaching their full potential.
I have to say, change is going to have to come from inside the black community before they will begin to see the benefits.
Wow I don’t understand why you didn’t leave the area immediately. And I can assure you it wasn’t RACISS of all those colored Mickey D. workers…all McDonald’s suck. I’ve had the same experience all over Illinois and Indiana. 125th & Halsted is nowhere I’d go without a gun(sold insurance at nearby Altgeld Gardens).
Good morals and ethics….. Barry Gales for President!
I would get killed as I would be too fair…lmao
I was mad at the left for throwing murderers, terrorists and psycopaths into the same group as “nra/law abiding/ggwg/etc.”
The other day I was listening to a conservative radio station and they said BLM are “terrorists” “just as bad as the kkk.”
Really? There may be a few really rotten apples; but are they lynching and dragging bodies from trucks?
I think we are being turned against one another. Labelled, so we can easily point figers. Who is profiting from that? Who is causing it?
This country doesnt need more hate, another revolution, crooked monsters in power. We need to put God first. Then, build relationships with each other after that.
“Really? There may be a few really rotten apples; but are they lynching and dragging bodies from trucks?”
Doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see where this is heading. Comparing BLM to the KKK might be off base, but if you don’t stop the crabgrass now before it seeds, you’re going to have a long summer ahead maintaining the lawn.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing good will come from the BLM movement. They are millennials, black and white, angry about the coming austerity. It’s made up of Occupy protesters. Marxists, Socialists, and anarchists as well as general trouble makers. It is a mob. Small mob right now but like the weeds, we need to use pre-emergent rather than fertilizer. Obama is spreading manure on a field of weeds and the media is irrigating the soil . Green plants matter!
I watched a movie the other day and while I don’t generally get wisdom from Hollywood, this struck a chord with me. “V for Vendetta” is about a vigilante in a futuristic Great Britain who fights against the government and wakes up the masses to the games the government uses to control the population. They use the same tools our government and media use on us. Hate and labels. It works really well in the movie and it works really well on us. Control the narrative. Make us hate each other because we are not all the same. Overwhelm us with labels and noise and we can be blinded and controlled. It’s nice to see someone not buying into it. Great post.
No problem….people need to wake up completely and see where exactly we’re heading
Barry Gales, well done for putting yourself out there – a good message we should all take as guidance.
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