Losing our way with 'phony urban legend'

It's been a year since Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson, Missouri, following an attack on a police officer.

Despite massive protests and riots over false reports that Brown was assassinated with his hands held in the air, not a whole lot has changed.

States have rushed to address the issue with more body cameras, more outreach and more hot air.

But while the focus has been on law enforcement's approach to crime, little has been said about the core problem of a lack of respect for authority.

Liberal lawmakers from coast to coast have railed about the "image problem" of law enforcement. They have called for additional law enforcement training.

But it took none other than the ever-popular Rev. Al Sharpton to put words to the true problem. And as you would expect from Sharpton, his words are true but aimed at the wrong target.

Sharpton said the lack of response from the Missouri Legislature and others to pass laws to address the problem of police shootings was "disappointing" and indicative of "institutional denial."

Let's look at the phrase "institutional denial" for just a moment.

Good old Al is right. There is ample institutional denial, but that label falls on the civil rights leaders and activists who consistently deny the actions of criminals.

There is massive denial and nary a word about the breakdown of the family structure within far too many minority families.

There is also massive denial and nary a word about the importance of a male role model for young men growing up in a tough environment.

There is denial about the negative impact of generational poverty tied to a welfare system that was created to provide a bridge to self-sufficiency and not a lifestyle.

To be sure, there is denial. But far too many on the left want to point the finger of blame at the wrong target.

And there's a reason for this institutional denial.

As a society we fail to recognize the importance of personal responsibility, mutual respect and the significance and essential nature of authority -- authority in the streets, in the schools, in the home and on the job.

But we remain in "denial" because a solution has and will continue to elude us.

There are bad law enforcement officers just as there are bad actors in all segments of society. Yet, aided by a corrupt national media, we have allowed the left to capture the narrative and present the most false image possible.

This phony urban legend of renegade cops targeting oppressed young men of color has ignited a firestorm of false protests based on lies.

But clearheaded political leaders remain silent on the real problem to avoid the ever-present label of racism.

In short, we have lost our way.

Meanwhile in Chicago this past Sunday, 15 people were shot, including two children.

Law enforcement was not involved in any of these senseless acts of violence.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.