As a whole, I am fully supportive of the underlying motivation behind the movement....the "cause" if you will.

For decades now, we have engaged in a "war on drugs" that has left our country dramatically less safe than it was before the war started. Studies have used critical race theory in evidencing clear bias in the law in which facially-neutral policies result in disparate impact discrimination. To put this bluntly, if the war on drugs was fought in the suburbs the way it is in the projects then it would have ended well before it started.

That is not to say that Caucasian Americans are not negatively impacted by this war, because they are.

But still, we have created a reality for ourselves in which millions of African-American children are left fatherless, motherless and in economically disadvantaged communities. So naturally, crime increases (violent crime and drug-related crime).

Another key motivator behind the BLM movement is the privatization of prisons. We have done the unconscionable by creating economic incentives for law enforcement to incarcerate Americans. As long as those Americans are African-Americans, most voters will not care (and for the most part, we haven't).

This leads us to the enforcement of laws by police officers. Increases in crime that result from the war on drugs provide the perfect justification to militarize our police. Some politicians favor this because the business is profitable for those who manufacture weaponry. In other words, we've found new ways to increase defense spending.

Our men and women in law enforcement are on the front lines of the war on drugs and live every day in fear of their own lives. Make no bones about it, this is a war zone in which they work...even in smaller urban areas. I have never served in the military, so active combat is not something with which I am familiar...so perhaps those with experience could weigh in on this. Without proper training, I can see why and how some officers respond with violence in cases in which violence is not necessary. And even with quality training, the demands of the job may also tear a person down to the point that they respond in ways they should not. Perhaps this may also happen to some who are not mentally equipped to handle combat (again, I don't know).

For all of these reasons, we need to give credence to the BLM movement and make some serious changes. We need to withdraw from the war on drugs and we need to end the privatization of prisons. Instead of spending on this stupid war, we need to spend on education to improve all public schools, not just the ones in nicer zip codes. The REAL remedies to correcting the problems facing this country will take decades to implement and produce results.

But therein lies the problem for those who push BLM issues. So many within that movement have lost focus, or never actually had it. They care more about how they are perceived on social media than they do for correcting our societal ills. These are the social justice warriors (SJWs).

I doubt many if any here are opposed to social justice. Yet, the SJWs turn off so many with their obnoxious and ridiculous approach to activism. They choose to fight against "micro-aggressions" and for "safe zones" rather than against the problems I mentioned earlier in this post. They are not the hippies who helped end the Vietnam conflict, they are the kids from PCU who bicker about which protected class is the most unprotected. And don't get me started on "appropriation of culture"...

In other words, these people are not Dr. Martin Luther King, they are Jesse Jacksons. Self-centered, self-righteous, and super-focused on self-promotion.

Certainly, there are many within the BLM cause who are fighting the good fight, but they are drowned out by the SJWs, who make their voices heard above all others. Well, with the notable exception of the militants who turn to violence and kill police officers.

Where does this leave the rest of us? I believe we have to look beyond the advocates to see the reason why the first people started the BLM movement. The efforts I mentioned above should not be engaged as means for rewarding the petulant, we should do these things because they are necessary for the health of our country.

I have used the following quote on this forum so many times and I will yet again...the quote is thousands of years old and it rings true still today:

"Those above secure their homes through kindness to those below." Sun Tzu, The Art of War