Defining the Problem

We are hearing from those who profess that there are 'systemic problems' of sorts with our country-speculations, that serve to push false agendas based on emotional tirades or ulterior motives instead of fact-based assertions upon a sometimes gullible, but well-intentioned general public.

Worse, it fails to define the problem.

Now, there was one person who had an amazing problem-solving ability, and who produced results.

His name was Albert Einstein.

He is quoted as saying that if he had one hour to save the world he would spend

fifty- five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.

So, let's take a look briefly at two allegations of 'systemic problems' of our country and attempt to 'define the problems' better, as Einstein would have wished to do.

One such allegation says that it because of bias that African-Americans are in prison, out of proportion to other racial groups.

Dr. Wilfred Riley, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kentucky State University and an African-American, in a recent interview on the ' Life, Liberty & Levin' show on the Fox News Network, addressed this allegation in a segment of violent crime convictions:

“… the obvious intermediary variable there is crime rate. If you look at the Bureau of Justice Statistics crime report, the African-American crime rate for violent crimes where you encounter the police… is 2.4 times the white rate.

“ So, you would expect there unfortunately, to be more encounters between African-Americans and the police. And when you look at this narrative about black people and the police being in constant conflict, not only does a lot of the structural element — perhaps not all of it, but a great deal — disappear if you adjust for crime rate.”

Continued on Page 5

‘Wordaholic’’

By Robert L. Hall ROBERT HALL (cont.)

To continue.

Dr. Reilly goes on with his interview with Mark Levin, pointing the way to a second accusation of 'systemic' problems-one put into the forefront by the George Floyd incident.

That is: Of that use of the extreme force of the police toward the black community. He states, quote:

“ Total number of unarmed people, all races, all sexes, was only 56. There were only about a thousand people

armed or unarmed killed by police, and only 229 of those were African-American.

“ And there's a lot of serious research that looks at types of violence other than just shooting, other than killing.

“ So, Roland Fryer, who is one of the youngest individuals ever to gain tenure at Harvard, and like me, as a black man took a comprehensive look at every type of police violence in a paper that came out in, I believe 2016.

“ And what he found is that there were some small gaps. African- Americans were a bit more likely to be, for example, cursed at or lightly shoved. But when it came to extreme beatings or police shootings, African- Americans, in the case of shootings, were actually 24.2 less likely with everything along with race adjusted for, to be shot by the police than whites were.”

' An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force,' available for viewing in PDF format on the Internet.

From his 'abstract' one thing he purports-quote:

“ On the most extreme use of force- office- involved shootings- we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account.”

So, why all the noise out there about 'systemic problems?' Here is the dirty little secret that outlets like

or The New York Times keep back from their readers. They cite formulas of shooting against a GENERAL POPULATION count and not against ACTUAL crimes committed. This is a completely disingenuous ploy.

When using the crime-incident statistics of blackcommitted crimes instead, one actually would expect a much-HIGHER ratio of shootings involving blacks. However, most in the media and Marxists organizations like Black Lives Matter are muddying the waters with disingenuous ploys.

Instead, perhaps the viewpoint of Dr. Carol Swain, an African-American woman who also is a former Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University, is more reflective of most people. When questioned on CNN in an interview in 2016 on the operation of the Black Lives Matter movement, Dr. Swain opined:

“ I believe that it's been a very destructive force in America, and I urge all of your viewers to go to that website and look at what they're really about. It's a Marxist organization all about black liberation. It's not really addressing the real problems affecting African- Americans and so it's problematic, it's misleading black people, it

needs to go.'

Yet, here we are; with a desperate bid by some to bend the good will of the people toward a false guilt and finally, into something no one should be prepared to accept-nor should ever be-the abolishment of the best government on the face of this earth.

Robert L. Hall is a resident of Marion and has a Bachelor’s Degree in music from the University of Memphis and a Master’s Degree from Florida State University. He is the pianist for Avondale Baptist Church and a writer of fiction on Amazon eBooks.