Angry Mom Against the 'Thugs'
"In other words," she wrote, "Graham's message to America is: I will teach my black son not to resist white supremacy so he can live." That's not quite how Graham would say it, I'm sure. But there's no dispute that the rest of us have a larger task to do in helping concerned parents like her to make their communities safe.
The Angry Mom controversy rose along with a parallel dispute over the use by President Barack Obama and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of the word "thug" to describe people who are rioting, looting and assaulting police and civilians in the streets.
If the shoe fits, I say, wear it. But some other African Americans, like Baltimore Councilman Carl Stokes and "The Nightly Show" host Larry Wilmore say it has become colorized into "the new N-word" to describe what Rawlings-Blake has since called "misguided young people."
All of these folks mean well, I'm sure. I, too, have been criticized by some of my friends for using the T-word as it has become a new offspring of African-American political correctness.
Yet if "thug" helps to give us moral clarity, let's use it. We need to distinguish responsible protesters of Freddie Gray's death from the thugs who exploit the tragedy as an excuse to riot, loot and beat people up.
The clear moral messages of political protest in Baltimore and other cities must not be clouded by the outbreak of violence that creates new victims, including police officers. Just as we condemn those police who abuse their offices, we must support those who are properly doing their jobs.
And our hearts should go out to Angry Mom, a mother of six who was determined to protect her only son after cases like Freddie Gray showed that she could not trust police to do it. It won't be easy to restore that trust, but there won't be much peace without it.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
(c) 2015 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
