Illinois Sen. Donne Trotter, candidate for the now open second congressional seat, was arrested by TSA Wednesday before last for trying to board an airplane at O’Hare Airport with a handgun and ammunition. He has been charged with a Class 4 felony.
Unfortunately, most of the coverage of this incident has missed the most important point: the double standard of Sen. Trotter and other liberal politicians. They vote time and time again for gun ban laws that enslave their constituents to the dictates of criminal gangs that have created war zones in their communities. A new gang member’s rite of entry is to assassinate an innocent, law-abiding citizen. Sen. Trotter knows full well the many problems of the community and the fatal consequences of not being able to protect yourself on the street, which is why he carries a handgun for protection, yet he votes against his constituents’ right to protect themselves from criminals that are terrorizing the district.
Community activists and Black politicians on all levels of government had sought to protect Black criminals from the criminal-justice system instead of the citizens they are preying on. This phenomenon started to address the police brutality against law-abiding Black citizens, and protect and uphold our rights under the constitution. However, the focus became law enforcement’s handling of Black criminals as inhuman and undeserved. The result has been an abandonment of law enforcement in Black communities across the nation. Law-abiding citizens in our communities are left at the mercy of the criminals, and gangs, which I describe as urban terrorists. The killing in the Black community will not stop as long as we have misguided politicians, preachers, and teachers about the right of Black citizens to defend their life, family and property. The Congressional Black Caucus, and the rest of Black politicians openly support the U.S. military freeing citizens from terrorists and the tyranny of brutal regimes while supporting the criminal control of our communities, by disarming law-abiding citizens.
Just Monday before last, 11 people were shot in Chicago, some in broad daylight. The sad irony is that 10 of the shootings occurred in Sen. Trotter’s district. This is intolerable and reprehensible by any standard of civility. When there is a killing involving White students it becomes a national story, yet the wanton killing of Black and Brown children in Chicago has not been a feature in mainstream media.
Meanwhile, Sen. Trotter and other Progressive (liberal) politicians inoculate themselves from the tragic lives to which their constituents are relegated, arming themselves while disarming law-abiding citizens. In Chicago, even after the famous Supreme Court ruling on McDonald vs. City of Chicago overturned Chicago’s gun laws, Mayor Daley passed new restrictive gun laws just a week later while leaving intact for aldermen a legal process to own and carry a concealed weapon. This despite what Justice Alito opined in the ruling:
If, as petitioners believe, their safety and the safety of other law-abiding members of the community would be enhanced by the possession of handguns in the home for self-defense, then the Second Amendment right protects the rights of minorities and other residents of high-crime areas whose needs are not being met by elected public officials.
This past election season, we repeatedly heard that the most important issues to voters across the country were the economy, jobs, and healthcare, issues that are no doubt important. But in Illinois’ second Congressional District we would be delighted if those issues were our primary concern. Instead, the safety of our children and the hope that our family can make it to tomorrow unharmed is at the forefront of our (Black) community.
How can we hope to move our community forward if our residents must spend their time concentrating on avoiding stray bullets and living to see another day? The single mother without the means to care for her children, the father working three part-time jobs who never gets to see his family, and the kid ducking through the alley to avoid a gang war zone on his way to a crumbling school whose only recent technological advance was the installation of new metal detectors don’t get to talk about unemployment rates, healthcare costs, or the minimum wage. They’re focused on one thing: survival.
Butler is a conservative talk show host.
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