Don’t misunderstand but money is not flowing into the pockets of American Companies.
American capitalism is destroying itself and what’s worse is spewing money around in a panic.
American companies and other significant economic actors are in a rush to alleviate any potentially negative consequences stemming from the death of Black American George Floyd and the resulting protest movement.
They are pouring significant sums of money into social causes. It’s as if they’ve turned on a fire hydrant to put out a fire.
Last week the CEO of Netflix and his wife announced a gift of $120 million dollars to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Many Silicon Valley titans also loosened their purse strings; Cisco, Shopify, AirBnB, and Apple all made large donations.
The CEO of Facebook, who is well-known world-wide, made an additional donation of $10 million dollars out of his own pocket to the black rights movement above and beyond other funds that he had already committed.
McDonalds announced that it would be hiring 250,00 new employees. As White Americans were clearly under-represented in the Hamburger sector the message was clear.
A host of organizations (both private and governmental) publicly recognized and were working to alleviate the plight and anger of blacks and other minorities.
THE SOCIAL TRAUMA IS DEEP
Every societies’ unique historical experiences have resulted in some buried traumatic experiences. For example, Turkish public opinion reflexively thinks of Sevres and/or losing territory whenever the “Kurdish Opening” is mentioned.
Likewise, American’s have experienced similar traumas to which they show knee-jerk reactions. When blacks come out to protest some whites fearfully react with a fear that ‘they’ll loot and kill us’!
The latest nationwide data sheds some light on this subconscious defense mechanism.
Looking back at last year’s equivalent time frame American weapons sales had risen 80% in one year and reached an all-time high as a reaction to new background check requirements.
WHAT DO THE NATIONAL STATISTICS SHOW?
Black comprise 13% of the American population but only 5% of Fortune 500 CEO’s (the largest 500 companies) are black.
Clearly a lopsided situation.
But another data point paints a different picture.
While there were 1.9 million black owned business in 2012 by 2019 that number had risen to 2.6 million; a 37% increase. In my opinion a great success considering that a fundamental tenet of the ‘American dream’ is owning your own business.
CHANGING PREJUDICES IS HARD
In the comedy film Rush Hour Hollywood legend Jackie Chan shares a leading role with the black actor Chris Tucker. In a memorable scene a black detective enters a dimly lit bar and greets the portly bartender with the words “What’s up my nigger”. The Chinese detective (from Hong Kong) assumes that he should also use the “my nigger” greeting but instead all hell breaks loose. His martial artist skills barely save him in the ensuing brawl.
“Nigger” is slang that is used between blacks that work together but not between a black person and an outsider. In such a context it is extremely offensive and may precipitate violence.
Blacks in America are in general a closed community which does not accept outsiders.
The largest injury to blacks comes from other blacks. Black on black violence is the largest cause of death for blacks.
Of source, individual experiences also play a large role in shaping perceptions. There are American laws stipulating affirmative action. An average black student can gain admittance to an elite university but admittance to the same university for a white student is extremely difficult. Admittance to lucrative government jobs is also easier for blacks.
The lack of nuclear families stemming from a high proportion of children born out of wedlock to younger females is linked to an elevated petty crime criminal conviction rate among black youth.
On the other hand, first generation Americans struggling to survive feel slighted by affirmative action laws and often experience the petty crimes themselves causing a lack of sympathy for blacks. First generation Turkish immigrants can often be heard expressing such sentiments.
A MASSIVE EXPLOSION
Yes, American police are often harsh towards blacks. Because police experience with blacks is often negative.
It’s interesting!
The police violence that caused the death of George Floyd was inflamed by latent tension stemming from the Corona pandemic.
No one paid much attention but the spark that caused the explosion was a counterfeit $20 bill used in a convenience store.
What George did was wrong and so was what the police did.
George Floyd became a world-famous symbolic hero.
Police officer Derek Chauvin is in prison and charged with murder.
But a wider-angle view causes another picture to emerge!
There is a large group that is unhappy with free-wheeling American capitalism.
The “Big Money” and elite crowds are scared and realize the fragility of the situation. They are making large donations to try and bring the situation under control.
In short, one counterfeit dollar, one black person, and one police officer started a fire. The wealthy are primarily concerned with putting out the fire. Let us see how much money it will take to snuff it out.
YORUMLAR