I live in southeast Florida.
My #1 son is a cop in west central Florida.
We have, in my area of the state, a great deal of crime, including drive by shootings which seem to happen with increasing frequency. Very young children often are the innocent victims.
Much of the crime is "black on black"; both the perpetrators and the victims are black and the crimes are committed in predominately black neighborhoods.
Now before anyone accuses me of racism, let me explain why this preamble.
In both southeast Florida and west central Florida - which thankfully has fewer violent crimes - the cops are at a disadvantage.
Many of the people in the neighborhoods who know the perpetrators refuse to identify them, even when their own neighbors are the victims.
There are some in the community who call for everyone to stand up and help the local cops, but mostly the appeals fall of deaf ears.
The "Code of Silence." Never mind that at least some of the cops trying to solve a shooting are the same race as the perpetrators and the victims; but, a cop is a cop is a cop - he or she is "one of 'them'," no longer an accepted member of the community.
Meanwhile, the crimes continue and the citizens pay the price - in higher insurance costs, in less business from outside the community, in less services since people fear for their lives in the neighborhoods. And of course, in the body count - sometimes the body of a pre-schooler.
Now the much disparaged cops have lost incentive to help eliminate crime in the neighborhood.
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There is not much difference between the blacks' "Code of Silence" and the Muslims' "Code of Silence."
We are told, mostly by Muslims and bleeding heart liberals, that most Muslims are peace-loving, law-abiding citizens who desire "life, liberty, and the pursuit happiness." Just like most other Americans.
I have to wonder.
After 9-11 (2001), how did the Muslim world react?
Joyfully.
Were there criticisms of the Muslims who high jacked the four airplanes and slaughtered more than 3,000 men, women, and children?
I didn't hear any.
Where is the "9-11" mosque to be built?
Overlooking the memorial to the Trade Center victims.
Despite appeals by the victims' families and the general population, did the Muslims reconsider an offer to find a new location for the mosque? (An alternative site was offered.) Was there pressure from American Muslims to accept an alternate site?
The answer, in a word, is "No."
Where were the "peace-loving" Muslims who want to integrate into American society; why didn't they speak out and try and influence their co-religionists to reconsider.
Was there a rally in Muslim-dominated Detroit MI to denounce Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan after he murdered soldiers at Fort Hood?
If the Muslims in American want to be accepted, they MUST separate themselves from the alleged one percent of violent Muslims (see http://tinyurl.com/3zcuhbu); they must hit the bricks to denounce the violence committed by their fellows; they must loudly disassociate themselves from Islamist celebrations when a non-Muslim is killed by a Muslim, and they must loudly and visibly protest then Muslims call for the death of anyone who fails to show what Muslims deem proper respect for Mohammed - especially when Muslims depict others in a worse light.
* * * * *
If blacks want police help in putting an end to - or at least reducing - the violence committed in their neighborhoods, they need to step up and help the cops. As long as they protect the criminals by their silence, they on the one hand encourage more violence and on the other discourage the police from acting in the community's best interest.
If Muslims in America want non-Muslims to accept and respect them, if they want non-Muslims to actually believe they are non-violent people who want to pursue liberty and justice for all, they need to loudly and visibly denounce the actions of Muslims such as those who carried out 9-11 and the Fort Hood attack, and the Muslims who celebrated the deaths of innocents.
There are blacks who are willing to work with the cops to clean up their neighborhoods.
There are Muslims who are appalled when a fellow Muslim murders someone or when fellow Muslims celebrate that murder.
These people need to step up and loudly condemn crime.
The blacks need to speak up and work with the cops.
The Muslims need to ostracize the promoters of hatred in their mosques, their madrasas, and on their street corners.
It may be unfortunate, but the truth is, perception is very important.
Both blacks in southeast and west central Florida and Muslims nationwide need to work on their image.
