The race blame game

Back in 2013, singer Meghan Trainor released her breakout hit “All About That Bass,” which went on to win an Emmy and Billboard award, reached No. 1 on the music charts and launched a viral video among the most-watched in Internet history.

I was thinking about that snappy tune this weekend as I watched with sadness the events unfold in St. Louis.

It struck me the Trainor tune could be used as the new anthem for the left with some minor alteration.

If we changed it slightly to “All About The Race,” it would fit in well with the sentiments driven by the left in these unsettling times.

From St. Louis to Sunday night’s Emmy presentations to a small Christian college in Nashville, the subject is all about the race in this country.

The St. Louis protests and violence were centered on last week’s not-guilty verdict for a white police officer who killed a black suspect.

And those protesting clearly ignored the detailed judge’s ruling that outlined the exact circumstances of the case that found the officer not guilty.

The details mattered little because the issue of race trumped all else. And with this faulty narrative, protesters took to the streets to protest their anger at anyone who disagreed with their conclusion.

Sunday night’s Emmys focused on the “bigotry” of President Trump in a dangerous attempt to combine humor and political division on the national stage.

In all of the Trump name-calling, the words “bigot” and “racist” were prominent, with each getting a larger applause line from the Hollywood elite.

And in Nashville, a group of African-American students were triggered to condemn a dinner-table center piece that included stalks of cotton.

In the face of this blatant racial slur, the students were seeking a safe space far from the cotton stalks that triggered images of the past.

Back at the left-leaning ESPN, an announcer proclaimed President Trump was a “white supremacist,” and the network responded with deaf silence.

In virtually every aspect of social commentary, the issue of race takes center stage.

Yet in every single discussion on race, there never is any substantive talk of underlying issues such as single-parent households or gang violence or the lack of educational attainment.

Progress will not come through protests. It will come only when all segments of society look within themselves and assess their lack of progress honestly.

Americans of all stripes must work together to open opportunities for advancement.

That starts with honest dialogue, not street protests.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Standard Democrat in Sikeston, Missouri.