@Jason Whitlock: These Are Juneteenth's True Colors | Truth Bomb

@Jason Whitlock: These Are Juneteenth's True Colors | Truth Bomb

Squires: Vote, but remember government should serve our interests, not run our lives



Luther Campbell (aka “Uncle Luke”) recently started an important debate on the importance of voting when he asked the following question on Twitter:

“Give me five reasons why Black people should Vote in the next election. Give me five BLACK promises that has [sic] been fulfilled by politicians in the last election. MAYOR & PRESIDENT”

The former leader of the rap group 2 Live Crew received responses from several prominent public figures. Joy Reid listed access to abortion and voting rights among her reasons. Ana Navarro, a co-host on "The View," listed the names of the ten people shot and killed in the recent Buffalo mass shooting as her reasons. Jemele Hill responded to Luke’s tweet by asking how not voting would help black people.

Voting is one of the most important rights that comes with citizenship. The fight for equal citizenship for African-Americans was the result of over 300 years of political engagement and social agitation. Subsequent generations owe a debt of gratitude to those who risked life and limb to ensure black people could have legal access to every aspect of political and social life in this country.

They used the political process to achieve equal protection under the law. Black politicians, pundits, and intellectuals today talk about voting in life-and-death terms because they think social and economic progress can also be delivered through the ballot box.

Unlike them, I don’t believe the most intractable issues facing black people today can be fixed through electoral politics. At best, politicians can create policies and programs that provide access to opportunity and promote social mobility.

The growth of government in size and scope over the past 60 years has unfortunately been accompanied by a contraction in every other part of our culture. Americans of all backgrounds now look to the government to solve every problem, from drug addiction to obesity. That worldview takes responsibility away from families, religious institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector.

An overemphasis on politics is often a convenient distraction from addressing important changes in culture. Regardless of race and ethnicity, family formation and the ordering of marriage before children has more to do with norms, values, and priorities than the size of child tax credits or the new interest rate. Every policy discussion today can ultimately be traced back to the state of the American family.

School choice is good public policy because it places education decisions in the hands of parents, but having more options is not the same as improving achievement. Successful students need good schools run by competent and caring teachers and administrators, parents who instill a love of learning and set high standards, and a sense of agency over their own education. Voting can have a direct impact on the schoolhouse, but it has little effect on whether I read to the children in my house.

The same goes for young men who turn city streets into shooting ranges. Children learn the boundaries of acceptable behavior in their homes, not the voting booth. Politicians can advocate for policies that punish criminals to protect law-abiding citizens, but they are not responsible for teaching children that carjacking strangers – or shooting innocent people in a grocery store – is wrong.

Politics matter, but so does culture.

The irony is that Luke is one of the most significant figures in turning rap music from a genre that reported on the gritty realities of urban life to one that celebrated the excesses of the high life. What started as a raw form of journalism was transformed into the neatly packaged promotion of hedonism.

The influence of media on culture is only questioned when it comes to hip-hop. The same black people who argue that "The Birth of a Nation," blackface, and minstrel shows from over 100 years ago still have significant effects on the self- and external perception of black people also argue that the images and lyrics Luke, Snoop Dogg, and their peers created have none.

No one would say the same if white artists in any genre constantly talked about killing black men and made videos with scantily clad black women twerking and simulating sex acts. Representation can’t matter only when it comes to children seeing black doctors, lawyers, and vice presidents. It is impossible to dismiss the impact of hip-hop culture on black boys and girls if we actually believe children emulate financially successful and culturally influential people with whom they identify.

I am not blaming hip-hop for the problems in black America. I am saying that rewarding the cultural norms promoted by hip-hop – particularly violence among men and the degradation of women – promotes those same norms to the people who most readily identify with artists. This is the difference between listening to music as art and consuming it as a lifestyle.

Why would a boy ever think of getting married and raising a family if he’s constantly being told women are for sexual conquest, not holy matrimony?

This is an important question that speaks to the current dynamic between Democrats and heterosexual black men. The left is clear about its intentions and priorities. Democrats, including the black elites who appear frequently on CNN and MSNBC, fight hard for abortion and gender ideology in classrooms because their two most important constituency groups are women and the LGBTQIA+ voters.

They see straight white men as the epitome of power and privilege and straight black men are not far behind. They frequently remind the nation that black women "saved democracy” in 2020, even though over 80% of black men also voted for the current president. Black pundits, professors, and activists are the ones saying that the nuclear family is obsolete, fathers are overrated, and the government – not men – is responsible for protecting and providing for women and children.

Black men must decide whether we want to be big or small when it comes to our roles in our homes and communities. Like all Americans, we should remember that we vote because we want politicians to serve our interests, not because we need heroes to save our lives.

Squires: Leftist Twitter is afraid of Elon Musk because lies die in the light of truth



The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is famous for the slogan “Democracy Dies in Darkness.” Prominent public figures on the left are in full meltdown mode over Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, because they know lies die when exposed by the truth.

This is why right-of-center Twitter users were happy to hear Musk pledge to make the platform a place where people can respectfully engage in public debate in the digital town square. Those debates used to be about tax rates and the minimum wage. Over the past few years, however, the stakes have been raised considerably. Now our public debates are about foundational issues of biology and identity.

The Babylon Bee, a Christian satire site, was suspended from Twitter for naming Dr. Rachel Levine “Man of the Year.” This came after Levine, a man who identifies as a woman, was named one of USA Today’s Women of the Year in March. Levine was also described by the New York Times last October as the first “female” four-star admiral in the history of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.

Two of the most prominent media companies in the country openly advocate the lie that a person with XY chromosomes and male reproductive organs can be a female. The only way they are allowed to sell this lie is if people who know the truth are bullied, coerced, or forced to remain silent.

You can’t have a free society without the ability to speak freely. The suppression of ideas that run afoul of leftist dogma is only one leg on the three-legged stool of deceit. Another is the unwillingness to use clear terms and logic to defend one’s positions.

This is why most of the left’s most controversial policy priorities rely heavily on euphemisms and clichés. It would be difficult to defend second-trimester abortions if Democrats were forced to tell voters that a doctor must dismember a baby’s body – literally tearing it limb from limb – and crush his skull to remove him from his mother. It’s much easier to run on “protecting a woman’s right to choose” or advancing the cause of “reproductive justice.”

The same goes for using the term “gender-affirming care” to describe attempts to socially, medicinally, and surgically change a person’s sex. The public seems supportive because the media launders these ideas on behalf of the people bent on completely reshaping our society for ideological and political purposes.

Shining the light of truth on these issues typically leads to a loss of public support and a quick pivot away from approved talking points. In the case of the “defund the police” movement, the activists in the Democratic Party were completely refuted when President Biden boldly declared that we must “fund the police” three times during his most recent State of the Union address.

The final leg that props up approved lies is the unwillingness to debate controversial issues publicly. Sometimes this is expressed by people who believe speaking directly to certain people – or simply being at the same event – equals the endorsement of their ideas. Often it is the institutional decision to take one position on an issue and allow no dissenting voices.

The way corporate media outlets like ESPN cover Penn swimmer Lia Thomas and other transgender athletes is the most glaring example. The network spent years having discussions about Colin Kaepernick’s protest and using sports to bring attention to issues of race, policing, and social justice. There were no such debates or panel discussions when female athletes around the country started speaking up about the unfairness of having to compete against boys on the track or in the pool.

Free speech and public debate used to be hallmarks of classical liberalism. Now anyone to the political right of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a hard time getting through speeches on college campuses without being subjected to the heckler’s veto.

Jeffrey Younger is a candidate for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives who wants to ban puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and “sex-change surgeries” for minors. Younger’s ex-wife believes their son is transgender and makes him go by the name “Luna” when the child is in her care. Younger lost custody of his son but must grant his permission before his son can receive puberty blockers or undergo genital surgery.

Younger wanted to discuss these issues with students at the University of North Texas. They preferred to chant “f*cking fascist” through surgical masks. That behavior is not unusual on college campuses today, where the “mental health and safety” of students has become a higher priority than the free exchange of ideas.

Conservatives may not realize it, but this uneven playing field is a long-term strategic advantage. The average people on the right have had to examine their underlying worldview assumptions, define their terms, and work out their arguments in an environment that is often very hostile.

Liberals don’t have to think very deeply about their ideas because they tend to stay in ideological bubbles where probing questions are not allowed. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is an existential crisis for people who have become accustomed to asserting opinions as facts to an audience with the same beliefs.

The people who are afraid of having their ideas challenged feel that way for a reason. They may still play word games and avoid debates, but they can no longer depend on Twitter executives and algorithms to silence their opposition. The Bible instructs Christians to expose the “fruitless deeds of darkness” and “destroy arguments” and opinions raised against the knowledge of God. It’s hard to be faithful to those duties when factual statements are labeled “disinformation” or described as hateful. This is why truth must live in the light.