Black Privilege Prevails in Baltimore

The new craze among many blacks and white liberals is to blame much of the problems facing black America on “white privilege,” which gives whites a leg up on blacks and other minorities just because of their skin color.

Yet, not many will admit to the concept of “black privilege,” which also provides certain benefits. So what is black privilege?

If you are a member of the governing black elite in Baltimore, the District of Columbia and many other principalities, you don’t have to worry about being held accountable for poor schools, black-on-black crime, high out-of-wedlock births, unemployment, and so many other ills.

Barring scandal or term limits, it is virtually a lifetime job unless you seek higher office or go into the private sector. Why? Because you have the “privilege” of being a member of the black elite meaning you are a liberal democratic politician who dances to the tune of teachers and other unions.

Neither the black community nor the mainstream liberal press will hold you accountable for mismanagement, waste of public funds designed to help the poor, failed public schools and opposition to vouchers and school choice, unacceptable unemployment, and so many other social ills. It will always be someone else’s fault.

Basically, most whites don’t really care since they generally have better schools, jobs and don’t live in neighborhoods overtaken by drug dealers.

Does anyone really think that Baltimore’s black mayor and police chief would have issued “stand-down” orders for one minute and abandoned their police officers to rock throwers and looters if rioters had even looked like they were going to loot and burn down Inner Harbor establishments or their new Horseshoe Casino?

The black privileged will always protect the white privileged first. It is unspoken yet understood! And so it was in Baltimore.

Baltimore is just a recent example with its black mayor, state’s attorney, city council president, police chief, and many others in high political and government office. Yet in announcing the Justice Department investigation into the Baltimore police department, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said she would focus on allegations that Baltimore Police Department officers “use excessive force, including deadly force; conduct unlawful searches, seizures and arrests; and engage in discriminatory policing.”

So where have the local black political leaders been for decades? They controlled the police. Notice that criticisms were not directed at the mayor and local elected and appointed officials as was the case in white controlled Ferguson. They have escaped accountability and responsibility!

Why? Black liberal democratic ruling class privilege.

And, it is not just about lack of accountability over police misconduct. How about that $1.8 billion — yes, billion — in Obama stimulus funds which the city of Baltimore and its black run government received which some have equated to being about $2,900 for every man, woman, child, and baby in the entire city of Baltimore? Where did it go?

Not only that, but according to an article by Michael Tanner in Newsweek, from 2003 to 2013 , Baltimore received at least “$2.4 billion in federal assistance and another $1.8 billion in state aid” — all in addition to the $1.8 billion in the aforementioned stimulus funds. Still, there are these stats:

• Nearly a quarter of the people live in poverty.

• Two-thirds of births in the city are to single mothers.

• 60 percent of households are headed by single parents.

As Tanner writes, “part of the problem, unsurprisingly, is that the city does not make very good use of the money it receives.” Again, whose fault is it?

The West Baltimore Sandstone neighborhood where Freddie Gray was arrested, and once home to Thurgood Marshall, Billie Holiday, and Cab Calloway has suffered from unemployment, crime, and poverty rates well above the city’s average, and life expectancy is 10 years below the national average.

All of this notwithstanding, a very well-intended $130 million investment campaign launched by former Mayor Kurt Schmoke and developer James Rouse over 20 years ago.

The mostly black political leadership has gotten a pass from the black community because they were black and Democrats — black privilege. As we know, black Democrats and the civil rights and political establishment never find fault with their own or their programs.

Instead of questioning why their programs and efforts have been such a failure and try other solutions, they ask for more dollars and blame, as did Obama. The last thing they will admit is that it is more important to have a black man in the “house” than one in the White House or a mayor’s office.

Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political, and media relations consulting firm in Florida. He held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as in the Reagan presidential campaigns and has appeared on many national and local media outlets. Read more reports from Clarence V. McKee — Click Here Now.