‘For far too long, those closest to the pain have not been closest to the power, resulting in a racist … criminal legal system…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) The shooting death of a longtime businessman in Charlotte, North Carolina‘s trendy arts district on Monday did more than provoke an outpouring of community grief.
Scott Brooks, who co-owned Brooks’ Sandwich House with his brother, David, became the city’s 103rd homicide victim of the year when he was murdered while opening the restaurant around 5 a.m., reported Charlotte Magazine.
The burger joint in the up-and-coming NoDa (North Davidson) neighborhood has been in business since 1973, when the Brooks’ father opened it. The sons took over the operation in 1991.
Two years later, at the peak of a crack epidemic, Charlotte logged 129 murders. But since 1993, the Queen City has never surpassed the 100 mark—until now.
The recent spike has “confounded” local law-enforcement officials, reported the magazine.
Some have claimed—without citing evidence—that it is due to an increased availability of guns.
Police Chief Kerr Putney blamed the uptick on judges for allowing electronic monitoring instead of pre-trial detention.
However, the dubious milestone also marks the close of the first year in office for far-left “sanctuary” Sheriff Garry McFadden, who has generated a storm of controversy over his refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
McFadden ran last year on the platform of defying Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he has remained defiant amid a wave of backlash.
Several times, ICE has been forced to re-arrest dangerous offenders who were released by the sheriff’s office despite existing detainer requests.
On one such occasion, a Guatemalan national with a history of domestic assault engaged police and SWAT officers in a standoff lasting several hours—only to be released again, forcing ICE to re-arrest him a third time for deportation proceedings.
The negative headlines resulted in criticism from Vice President Mike Pence and a state legislative effort to hold McFadden and other rogue sheriffs more accountable (vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper).
In addition to his immigration policy, McFadden—a former homicide detective and reality TV star—has opposed the rigid enforcement of a number of “minor” laws related to things from petty theft and vandalism to misdemeanor drug possession.
As the city itself has grown rapidly, that has meant more criminals continue to run rampant.
But like many on the Left, McFadden adheres to the notion that less enforcement will result in a safer community by building a rapport of trust with law officers.
Charlotte’s troubles come as Democrats on the national stage awkwardly attempt to push a radical social-justice agenda by attacking “overpolicing” as an inherently racist system of oppression.
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor, recently came under attack for supporting “stop and frisk” policies that helped his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani, drastically decrease the Big Apple’s crime epidemic.
A recent New York Times article, moreover, claimed NYPD was overtly instructed to racially profile black and Hispanic minorities while ignoring whites and Asians for similar incursions.
However, the deployment of the race-card is but one component in the Left’s broader push to undermine law-enforcement and delegitimize police authority.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., a member of the socialism-touting “Squad” in the U.S. House, hinted at much bigger ambitions last month when she unveiled a radical plan known as “The People’s Justice Guarantee.”
Among her proposals: granting incarcerated prisoners the right to vote, paying them the federal minimum wage and legalizing illegal immigration.
“For far too long, those closest to the pain have not been closest to the power, resulting in a racist, xenophobic, rogue, and fundamentally flawed criminal legal system,” Pressley said in a press release.
Her answer is to upend the entire system and reverse the balance of power in favor of those Democrats deem to be oppressed by the system—who would, of course, empower their liberators with permanent majorities—at the expense of law and order and public safety.
Naturally, the ambitious plan would also touch on other signature Democratic prizes: offering free abortions to prisoners and allowing transgender convicts to select which prison they wish to be incarcerated in.
“Our resolution calls for a bold transformation of the status quo—devoted to dismantling injustices so that the system is smaller, safer, less punitive, and more humane,” she said.