Philadelphia Mayor: Young Black Men Are Not Responsible For Their Actions Brian Anderson, June 26, 2014

Michael Nutter is the mayor of Philadelphia and…well, a nutter, which is Brit-slang for a crazy person. Hey, at least he has that “truth in labeling” thing going for him. He penned a piece for the Huffington Post today in which he “exposes” myths that are keeping young black men from succeeding. Not only doesn’t he disprove any myths, he essentially says that black men are not responsible for their own actions and their only saving grace is massive government intervention. Like I said: a nutter.
I think it’s safe to assume that the Honorable Mr. Nutter is not a member of the GOP based on his premise that a racist society is keeping black men down and the only fixes are more spending by the government. Let’s take a look at some of these myths and see if we can provide some real solutions instead of race-shaming and government expansion:

Myth: America has progressed enough as a nation that black men and boys have an equal opportunity to be successful.
We have a black President and many other elected officials, doctors, lawyers and industry leaders. Success is a possibility for any person willing to work hard to achieve it. That’s the underlying belief that fuels this myth. But, it neglects the realities young black men and boys face every day in America: higher rates of poverty, arrests and incarceration, large health disparities and lower educational attainment rates.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop right there. Is he asserting that hard work is not the key to success for young black men? I think he is. In fact, Nutter is saying that system is rigged against blacks so they shouldn’t bother trying to make a better life for themselves. This is inspiring on an MLK-level, isn’t it?
If you don’t work hard in school and flunk or drop out, you will probably never get a decent job. This isn’t a racist conspiracy because it is true no matter what the color of your skin. In addition, if you slack off at your low paying job, you are likely to get fired and certainly have no chance of advancement. Again, this applies to everyone. Lastly, if you choose a life of crime to pay the bills, your future will most likely involve prison.
On the flipside of that coin: studying hard in school will pay off with better job opportunities. Working hard will keep you employed and allow you to advance. Not breaking the law for a living means you get to live and thrive outside of the prison walls. For Nutter to perpetuate the myth that society is inherently racist and black men shouldn’t even try is a race crime in of itself.
But he’s not even close to being done with his dangerous excuse making:

Myth: Black-on-black violence only affects the black community.

 Across America, black men and boys are disproportionately the victims and perpetrators of homicides. On average, 75 percent of victims and 80 percent of perpetrators of violent crimes are African American males. Nearly half of all homicide victims in the United States are black, even though African Americans account for only 13 percent of the population. Homicide is the leading cause of death for African American males between the ages of 10 and 24.
This isn’t the case of “thugs killing thugs” that so many people pretend it to be. This is the mass murder and incarceration of an entire generation of African American men.

Here we have the theory that there is a systemic genocide being perpetrated against the black community. And with that, an implication that it is a racist society’s fault that blacks kill each other so frequently. Don’t the murderers bear at least some of the responsibility? I guess not. When someone pulls the trigger and kills another over a pair of sneakers or a Facebook ‘dis it’s not their fault because the criminal justice system is biased.
I will agree with Nutter on the fact that black-on-black crime does effect everyone in that gun violence statistics coming from the ghettos are used by liberal gun grabbers to further erode our 2nd Amendment rights. If you take out all of the gun-related homicides and assaults from the gang-infested big cities, gun violence wouldn’t even register on the radar and wouldn’t create a call to regulate our rights away.
And finally, we get to the heart of the problem:

Myth: Helping young black men succeed is not government’s problem.
 This myth is rooted in the belief that federal, state and local governments have no obligation to help young men of color succeed. That mindset is wrong. We — government at every level — created this problem through decades of disinvestment, indifference and neglect.

This is possibly the most beautiful thing any liberal has ever written. He is saying that, yes, the government has created a giant clusterf*ck with failed social programs and the only way to fix that is with more government intervention. Do I really need to point out the flawed logic going on here?
Nutter definitely lives up to his name with this blueprint for black failure manifesto. Don’t try; the system is fixed. Don’t take responsibility for your actions; the system is racist. Don’t try to better yourself; the government will do it for you because the system is fixed and racist. I’m surprised he didn’t include a section about how crack and cocaine are the keys to success and happiness.