Episode 77 Show Notes- The Death of George Floyd, Race Relations, & Uncomfortable Truths
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Episode Description
In this episode, Nicholas Giordano speaks about the death of George Floyd, race relations in the United States, as well as the ensuing anarchy that has engulfed the nation. There was a real opportunity for positive change as nearly all Americans, across the political spectrum, of all races came together to universally condemn what they saw. Unfortunately, all the energy that could have been used to foster positive change has been squandered by the destruction of communities and cities. Professor Giordano explains some uncomfortable truths and goes beyond politics. We need to get it right because we are all in this together.
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Intro
Welcome to another episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast. This is your host Nick Giordano
The last few days have been devastating in the United States. Many of us watched the horrific video that shows the murder of George Floyd, a black man from Minnesota.
Be sure to check out Monday’s episode where I talk to Raheem and Ali from The Urban Conservative. Also, I was on Blunt Force Truth with Mark Young and Chuck Woolery on Monday so check that out as well.
I’m going to jump right into this episode because there are multiple layers that need to be discussed. And while this topic makes a lot of people uncomfortable, including myself I won’t deny that, I have never been one to shy away from speaking my mind and putting my thoughts out there. We need to face uncomfortable truths.
As always, go to thepasreport.com to see the show notes, and sign up for The P.A.S. Report Newsletter, and subscribe to the podcast.
The Death of George Floyd
Watching the video, you get a sense of sadness and anger at the same time. I think that this is a really important moment in the United States, and it’s one we need to get right. The officer involved is innocent until proven guilty, and he is entitled to due process just as everyone else. This is a fundamental American right and one that we have to uphold.
With that being said, I can make a judgment about the videos. Multiple videos have been released, and I see no signs of resisting. Once Mr. Floyd was in cuffs and on his stomach, the officer should have backed off. Pinning Mr. Floyd down, applying maximum pressure with his knee on Mr. Floyd’s neck, likely cutting off blood flow to the brain, was completely unnecessary especially considering it was 8 minutes. The fact that none of the other officers stepped in is also disturbing, however, we don’t know what those officers were doing at the time.
Some are criticizing me saying that I’m only seeing one side of the story. Well, that’s BS and anyone making excuses is only fooling themselves. What happened to Mr. Floyd is an abomination. Whatever happened prior to the arrest is completely irrelevant. Mr. Floyd was secured and posed no threat whatsoever. I challenge anyone to try and get up while laying on your stomach being handcuffed behind the back. He posed no threat and the officer should have never had his knee on his neck. The officer could have rested his hand on George Floyd’s back, exerting little to no pressure, and Mr. Floyd still wouldn’t have been able to get up.
In any event, America was outraged. Americans of all different races and across all political spectrums, condemned what they saw. This was an opportunity, a real opportunity, to foster positive change. This was an opportunity to bring the country together. It was an opportunity to talk about an uncomfortable topic and listen, rather than cast aspersions.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of leadership, horrible news media, political hacks, and a bunch of schmuks, the opportunity has been squandered as we witness people exploiting George Floyd’s death for more nefarious purposes.
This pisses me off. It bothers me because the conversation has been hijacked by the media elite, the political elite, the race hustlers, and those that want to destroy America.
Then you have all these other morons out there just enabling the anarchy, and I’m going to point that out.
Riots, Looting & Protesting
Every single person has a right to go out there and protest. It’s our God-given liberty to assemble and petition government to address grievances and injustices. It does matter what your race, religion, or creed are.
And this liberty is enshrined in our Bill of Rights under the First Amendment. The government exists to protect these rights. However, these are no longer protests. Which is sad, because the majority that engages in these protests are good people that see an injustice committed.
However, because of the lack of leadership and courage, municipalities around the country have allowed the situation to rapidly deteriorate. Rioting and looting is not part of legitimate protesting.
You have a right to protest. However, you don’t have a right to burn buildings. You don’t have a right to smash windows. You don’t have a right to steal. You don’t have a right to assault other people. You don’t have a right to throw bottles and launch fireworks at police officers. You don’t have a right to destroy someone else’s property.
There are those who want to justify these actions saying that it’s one particular community who is expressing their anger from decades, over a century, of injustices and this idea of systemic racism. Now, I’ll get into the years of injustices later, but there is no defending what we are seeing. Are these idiots really saying that stealing a television, burning down small businesses, and physically assaulting people, that solves racial inequality? Because I didn’t know looting a store equals social justice.
Are we really that stupid? There is no defending rioters, looters, and anarchists. Those engaged in these acts are engaged in the wholesale destruction of entire communities. This devastates the people that live in these communities, and it will take decades to recover.
The people that live in these communities own and work at these places of business. So, does it really make sense to destroy the livelihoods of those you are supposedly fighting for? And that’s the thing. Those engaged in the anarchy don’t care about you or your community. Those engaged in the chaos aren’t fighting for the idea of what is justice, they are doing it for their own self-interests.
Right now, there are two types of people engaged in this anarchy and chaos. I’m going to break it down.
The first type is people from within the community and surrounding areas who are looking to cause trouble and operate within their own self-interests. They are looting stores to steal stuff and make a quick buck. They have no regard for the people within their community and they could care less about George Floyd and any of the racial divisions. As I said before, stealing a TV from Target doesn’t create racial equality or social justice. These people are nothing more than criminals exploiting a horrible situation.
However, the second type of protestor is far more nefarious and far more dangerous. This is Antifa and other groups that want to burn down the system. Destruction of the community is a means to an end for these people. The ultimate goal is to destroy the United States. Destroy the idea of the free marketplace. They want to destroy the ideas of liberty and freedom. They believe they can usher in a utopia based on socialism, and then communism.
These people will destroy everything in their path in order to achieve their one goal- to gain power. They exploit the vulnerable and use them as a tool to further their destruction and chaos. These people are well-funded and well-organized. When you see a “rioter” with a comms piece in their ear, a backpack filled with gear, and dressed in all black, these are your anarchists. They seek to destroy our way of life. They too could care less about George Floyd, and just seek to exploit his death.\
They know that many municipalities are already in a weakened state because of the Coronavirus and the economic impact of the lockdowns. They understand that if they destroy the economy more, it will lead to further devastation. Further devastation leads to further desperation. Once you have a desperate population, they will ultimately say the system is broken and they will be much more open to the idea of radical change.
These anarchists are extremely dangerous, and they well-organized to coordinate their efforts. The chatter amongst these groups has substantially increased over the last week, and people better open their eyes to see what’s going on.
Excuses, excuses, excuses
Which brings me to my next point. Unfortunately, many in the media, the political class, and others, do these anarchists bidding. They are like useful idiots.
They continue to try and make excuses to justify the destruction we are all witnessing and understand this, those who are making excuses and justify the anarchy we are witnessing, do not care about these communities or the people that live within them. These are some of the dumbest people you can imagine.
You know why they don’t care, it’s because they don’t live in these communities. Sure, they try to pay lip service to these communities. They think they are social justice warriors. It makes them feel good to put out a tweet in support of the black community and the downtrodden, but they don’t care. They care about themselves and being accepted in their social circles. These are your spineless jellyfish that will say what they think is popular.
Take the pathetic pudge ball, Brian Stelter, from CNN. When rioters were destroying communities in Minneapolis, this jackass called them protestors and activists fighting for justice. As soon as the CNN building was attacked, he labeled them as vandals.
See, they don’t mind the destruction and chaos when it’s not in their neighborhood and it won’t impact them. The second it gets close to them; they change their tune.
Also, why hasn’t any of the mainstream outlets reported how organized these riots are. Do you really believe that all of this is organic? The legitimate protests were organic. The ensuing rioting, anarchy, and chaos are well-organized, and the press isn’t even reporting it.
They are not reporting how the Antifa types are looking to destabilize the country. In fact, they go out of their way to deny any Antifa and other nefarious involvement. Don Bathurst, who I had on the podcast a few weeks ago, brought my attention to Craig Melvin, an NBC reporter.
Craig was doing a story about the “protests” and didn’t even mention that these anarchists set fire to St. John’s Church. He was literally facing the church across the street and never mentioned it. Ask yourself why. Why wouldn’t this reporter mention a church being burnt down? That’s a pretty big deal. That’s pretty symbolic.
Well, I’ll tell you. If you know anything about the black community, many are religious. Many are God-fearing, and many would never burn a church down. There are many similarities between the black community and the Italian community especially when it comes to gossiping. You can be the most powerful mafia don in the world. But if that mafia don disrespects a priest, the little 90-year-old Sicilian grandmother would beat his ass with a wooden spoon. The same holds true in the black community.
Antifa, which calls themselves the anti-fascists, hate forms of organized religion, and would have no qualms about burning down a church if they saw the opportunity to do it. Do I know that Antifa burned down this church, and the answer is no. I have no evidence? However, would it surprise me if they did do it. Not at all. I know and understand how these groups operate.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a horrible and useless organization, will label someone like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Maajid Nawaz as anti-Muslim extremists because they lived within the horrors of radical Islam, but they won’t label Antifa a hate group. Morons.
And that’s the problem. You have journalists, political elitists, and just some really dumb people, trying to justify and condone the violence. You have political leaders in these areas saying they understand the anger and the violence.
And some of these morons are promoting more destruction. But remember what the media is not showing you. The media isn’t going door-to-door in these neighborhoods to speak to people in these devastated communities and get their thoughts. How come? This all started because people began exploiting George Floyd’s death. Well, ask the people in these communities, who fear leaving their home, and ask them where are they now going to get their groceries? where are they going to get their prescriptions?
The media won’t talk to these people because it will destroy the narrative that all these people support what’s going on. In fact, the media and the elitists are prejudice because the people that live in the community, work in the community, and own businesses in the community are mostly black. All this destruction hurts those, the media, and elitists claim they care about, the most.
News flash to everyone. If you are not going to be productive, and further fan the flames, just shut the F up. You are only making things worse.
You have all these Hollywood elitists, many who would never dare step into these communities, organizing bail campaigns for people that are arrested for creating anarchy. The virtue signaling and self-righteousness of these Hollywood imbeciles makes me want to puke.
Many of these same elitists are calling for police departments to be defunded. Think about this a second. A bunch of rich elitists, who have plenty of money to hire their own security forces, are calling for the defunding of police departments. Who do you think that would hurt more- them or the most vulnerable communities they claim to care about? See, these people don’t give a damn about people in these communities. IN fact, these are the same type of people that would walk in a different direction and avoid eye contact at all costs if they encountered normal people.
These people are the biggest tools. They think they are social justice warriors, but they are nothing more than a joke with a lot of money. This coming from a community that constantly bashes and criticizes the United States over every little thing, but when they have the opportunity to stand with protestors in Hong Kong against the biggest human rights abusers, being China, they tell you to shut up because you don’t understand China. These people will be the first ones to call the cops if they see a suspicious person in their neighborhood just because of that person’s skin color.
I really can’t stand these people.
The idea behind White Privilege
I also can’t stand all these people’s self-righteous morons on social media proudly pronouncing their privilege and white entitlement. Constantly stating that they owe their success because of the color of their skin. These people preach this BS because it makes them feel good.
I acknowledge my privilege and I stand in solidarity with those who’ve been oppressed. Are you kidding me? Do these people actually believe their virtue signaling or is it wholly for selfish purposes to make them feel better about themselves as if they get it. These people are trying to justify the destruction these anarchists are committing.
Here’s the thing. If you really believe that you are privileged because of the color of your skin. If you really believe that your success is dependent on “white entitlement culture,” then shut your mouth, and give 50% of what you own and 50% of your paycheck each week to those who have been oppressed. So, let’s see how many of these virtue signalers will take me up on this challenge.
At the very least, become a big brother or a big sister. Go into these neighborhoods and mentor those in disadvantaged communities. Instead of constantly tweeting how you get it because you acknowledge your privilege, then do something to help those you feel you oppressed.
So how about we cut the BS virtue signaling that does nothing and changes nothing. How’s about we stop promoting the idea of justice by condoning the acts of injustice.
See I’m not someone that really believes in the idea of privilege. If we take this concept, maybe you can apply the idea of privilege to those that are more socio-economically well off, but even then, what is privilege.
I find it insulting to tell a poor white kid from Appalachia that they have privilege. I find it insulting telling a person who may have been abused as a child that it’s okay, at least you have privilege. I find it insulting to tell a woman, who was the victim of rape and has to live with that for the rest of her life, that it’s because of how privileged she is due to the color of her skin.
And even if you believe that someone is privileged based on how much money they have and their socio-economic status, you have no idea what’s happened to that person in life. You have no idea if their child is a drug addict or their spouse is cheating on them.
See the concept of privilege is a BS one, and anyone that constantly talks about how they are privileged because of the color of their skin, these people simply want a pat on the back.
Heroin doesn’t care about privilege. Cancer doesn’t care about privilege. Drunk drivers don’t care about privilege. Terrorists don’t care about privilege.
Life is random and these things cross all racial boundaries. Some people have it easier than others. Some have to work harder, but we can’t attribute this to the pigment of one’s skin.
To all those who constantly tout how privileged they are and how much they benefit from the white entitlement culture, do you really think you are making race relations better? Do you think pointing to the pigment of your skin is going to fix and heal the racial divide or do you think it just keeps increasing the divisions that exist within our country?
Uncomfortable Truths
See, Truth is a funny thing because truth exists, and it does not depend upon our acceptance to make it true. And as a nation, we have to face some uncomfortable truths regardless of race or socio-economic class.
First, discrimination does exist, and I readily admit it. Does that mean it’s right? Of course not.
However, people are judged based on how they look, the color of their skin, their religion, their name, the way they dress, the accent they may have. And it’s not right. Plain and simple. When we see it, we need to call it out.
No person should ever feel that they are being discriminated against because of the color of their skin. That sucks, and I can’t say I know how you feel because I would be lying. I haven’t had to face that. At the same time, most of you out there have no idea how I grew up, but many are willing to pass judgments. I’m not comparing my life experiences to anyone else. We all have different life experiences and we can’t really understand what someone goes through unless we walked in their shoes.
It’s not right that our government had policies like slavery, the Italian lynching, segregation the trail of tears, or Japanese internment camps. I constantly exalt the greatness of the founding fathers, but at the same time, they were flawed, and I don’t give them a free pass on the issue of slavery.
We certainly lack real leadership, and you want to know what’s racist, it’s the politicians who tell an entire group of people that they will never amount to anything because of the color of their skin. It’s racist that the politicians that tell an entire group of people that they can’t achieve success because of the color of their skin. It’s racist that the politicians lie to an entire group of people promising to raise them out of poverty, and yet 30 years later, the communities are either the same or in worse shape. It’s racist to think that black people don’t want law and order.
It’s racist when the media doesn’t even mention the fact that people have been murdered during the anarchy, and most of those murdered are Black. Don’t these people’s lives matter? Yet, the media won’t even bring it up. Isn’t racist to push the myth that all black people live in poverty when in fact the overwhelming majority don’t?
And do we even know what we want? To the protestors, not the anarchists, what is it you want to achieve. I hear you say you want justice. Well so do I. But what is your vision of justice. The way it works is the government will present evidence. The officer will go on trial. The officer is presumed innocent, and if the prosecution can prove murder beyond a reasonable doubt, the jury will convict, and the officer will go to jail. Is that justice the justice you seek?
I understand you also want to see the other officers charged. Well, once the investigation concludes, the same process will be followed. Is that the justice you seek?
What else is there? I am here to listen, not to dictate. I will stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone protesting discrimination and racism. I have zero tolerance for stupidity, for racists, for the race-baiters, for a dishonest media, for political elitists.
To the protestors, please explain to me how we can heal the racial divide in the country. Some will say we want to see an end to systemic racism. Okay, explain to me what systemic racism is and what’s the solution to stop it? I don’t believe in systemic racism, because if you believe the system is inherently racist, then run for office. Become the teachers. Become the police officers and EMS in the community. Raheem and Ali from The Urban Conservatives brought up a great point on Monday’s episode (so if you didn’t listen to the interview, check it out). They said in a community that is predominately black, why is the police force 99% white. Why aren’t the residents of that community joining the police force? And that’s a great question.
I was reading an article titled “What Black People Want.” A survey was conducted, and the responses were to see higher wages, making college more affordable, better healthcare, and access to housing. Take away skin color and isn’t that what most people want.
Part of the problem is that we constantly expect government to do things for us to solve problems rather than solve the problems ourselves within our communities. I was talking to someone I went to school with. Great guy and he knows his stuff. Now if you’ve been listening to this podcast, you have heard me constantly talk about rebuilding the lower socio-economic communities. That we need to invest in the infrastructure. We need to rebuild the education systems in these areas (actually, all areas). We need to create jobs and opportunity. As far as housing goes, I talked about rent-to-own in public housing where it gives the people a stake in where they live.
Getting back to the point, I was trying to figure out what the goal was, and I asked why, within every disadvantaged community, regardless of race, why don’t we encourage people in those communities to join the police forces, to join the fire departments, to sit on the local Chambers of Commerce, to sit on school boards, to run for elected office. It’s my theory that if we did that if the people believed they had a stake in the community, it would be far more impactful than anything government could do.
And his response was one I found interesting and didn’t think of. He stated the goal in disadvantaged communities isn’t to fix the community. It’s to exit the community. I found that to be profound. And the question is why? Why isn’t the goal to fix the community? Just think about it logically. If you plan on moving out of your home to another home, are you really going to invest in your home to make it a better place or are you more likely to just do some patchwork until you leave? Well, the same thing happens in a community, but we should try to do better.
See the government isn’t going to fix race relations or the problems that exist. That’s going to be up to us. That’s going to be up to people within the community.
See, I’m just being honest. We constantly talk about race and we constantly say we need to fix the racial problems within the country, but no one ever puts forward what will actually fix the racial problems. We also need to talk about personal responsibility. We have to examine the lack of male influences in a child’s life and all the single-parent households. And guess what, this isn’t a black issue. It’s an issue that spans across races. The numbers have gone up dramatically in all communities, and every study shows that children in fatherless homes will have many more challenges than children who have a relationship with their fathers. Let’s start holding men accountable to take care of their children. To help their children. To guide their children.
Why is it we are all outraged when we see a video like this, as we should be, but it’s taboo to talk about young black men being murdered in urban areas? Once again, this is an uncomfortable truth. If you try to bring it up, you are accused of trying to minimize discrimination or police brutality. Why can’t we do both? Because I know, and every member of the black community knows, that eventually when the story passes, the violence in the inner cities will be all but ignored.
For all these social justice warriors, you claim you care about justice. You claim you care about Black Lives, but once the cameras go off, you are nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, they all but ignore black on black crime when it comes to black youth.
You want an uncomfortable truth, here’s one for you. From 2017-2020, 698 black people were killed by cops. In the overwhelming majority of cases, deadly use of force was justified. There were several cases where injustice prevailed. However, in that same three year period, 22,758 black people were murdered. On average 7,586 black youth will be murdered each year, and the overwhelming majority are between the ages of 13-25. To me, it’s racist to ignore this problem, yet that’s exactly what the social justice warriors and the white privilege crowd do. See, they don’t really want to tackle the issue.
We want to have a conversation about race, but we don’t like to talk about these things. In fact, we are told we can’t talk about these things. Instead, we start to demonize each other. You can talk about race because you’re white. You can talk about race because even though you’re black, you don’t subscribe to black ideology, which is racist in and of itself. Some will say, slavery happened over 150 years ago, and segregation ended so it’s time to move on and get over it. If we just dismiss each other outright, how can we possibly move forward? If we don’t start listening, how can we move forward?
Closing
At The P.A.S. Report, I’m not going to shy away from these topics and there is good news. While America has committed injustices, we are also a nation that has learned from past injustices and have grown and advanced. We have improved as a nation, and while we are facing a very difficult period in our history, our history shows that we can overcome and become better for it.
There are some who like to constantly bash America. They view America as responsible for all the ills in the world. They view America as a nation that’s just plain racist. This is untrue. It’s a myth, and if we had an education system that actually taught America’s accomplishments, maybe, just maybe, we would have an appreciation to the greatest country that has ever existed.
Has America committed injustices? Sure, and I’ve spoken about it in many of my episodes. I don’t shy away from the fact that as a nation, we have committed some horrible sins. Sins that we are still paying the price for. However, what makes us great is that we recognize our faults. We highlight them. We don’t sanitize or sugar coat our history.
We live in a time where our generation is by far and away more open, more tolerant, and more accepting than ever before. We are the one country in the entire friggin world, 1 out of 198, where people from all walks of life, all different races, different religions, different ethnicities, different cultures, can come together and peacefully co-exist. That doesn’t happen in any other nation. It’s part of the reason people from around the world make their pilgrimage here.
There is no other country like that. Do you know why you don’t see these issues in other countries? Because those countries have monolithic people where the overwhelming majority are of one people, one culture. Where those people have thousands of years of recorded history together. Where the minority communities are marginalized and have virtually no say. Where no one cares about them.
We may not be where we want to be but understand this- No matter what’s going on in our country. No matter what’s going on in your own personal life, you hit the lotto just by being in the United States. That’s not to diminish anyone’s own personal problems. But the world is an ugly place and you’re shielded from that just by being here.
So for those who constantly bash the United States, grow up. To all the morons out there who want to see America collapse, do you really believe the country and the world would be a better place? Do you really think that? I can assure you it won’t. I can assure you life will suck. I can assure you our problems would become much worse. And I can assure you that China would become the global power. Do you really believe the world and our country would be better off under an international system dominated by communist China? Take a look because it hasn’t worked out so well for the people that have had to live under the communist regime and the largest human rights abuser on the planet.
Listen, this is a tough episode dealing with a tough topic. It’s uncomfortable and it’s not easy. And we have to recognize these uncomfortable truths. We all need to hold ourselves accountable. We also need to exercise personal responsibility. All of us should look inside and ask can I do better. We have to reengage in our communities because the elite political class and the media is utterly useless.
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We also have to remember the death of George Floyd because that’s what matters. He is being lost in all this and that’s sad especially considering there was universal and unequivocal condemnation.
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