Shots Fired

Shots fired! Last night I had plans of doing an article this morning about the event in Minnesota. I had watched the Facebook live feed several times, and was particularly taken by the woman being forced to her knees crying out about the whereabouts of her daughter after her boyfriend had been killed during a routine traffic stop. I planned to rip and tear at the police there, and compare them with the steady eye of Wyatt Earp. After last night in Dallas, you will never see that article.

Black Lives Matter does about as much good in relaxing racial tension in this country as throwing gasoline on a fire. If you will note, the march in Dallas was a peaceful one. That doesn't surprise me. Last year, when we had the “swimming pool” scandal, complete with a pretty teenage girl in a yellow swimsuit, agitators, who came down from Chicago to orchestrate the event, saw their plans for anarchy evaporate in the Texas sun as the local teens showed more interest in summer break than sitting in the street disrupting traffic. During the Ferguson flap no Texas cities were burned, and there were no repercussions after the death of Sandra Bland. Texans simply don't do that no matter what color they are.

Texas DID have an active KKK in time past. We have fought wars on our own ground, lived through Bonnie and Clyde, Indian raids, Waco (twice) Charles Whitman, Luby’s and Fort Hood. We are well seasoned in Tom Foolery.   It is fashionable to point at Texans, the guns, the hats, the music, and allude to the population being a form of Neanderthal. What you saw in Dallas last night will show you that you need us Neanderthals!

When a Muslim kills, and Donald Trump raises the option to oust all Muslims, there is always an outcry from organizations such as C.A.I.R. citing that one person does not define an entire people. I'll guarantee you that before the day is over you will hear Hillary Clinton suggesting that the best solution to last night’s event will be to disarm America, and most especially Texas! I want you to know that when the shots rang out last night one protester, a black Texan, immediately surrendered his AR-15 to an officer, showing he was not involved, and was not a danger. Please further note that the Dallas officer did not shoot the man, who was carrying the rifle as a demonstration of his second amendment rights, and a visual protest to the shooting of the man in Minnesota.

During the last eight years the dividing line between black and white has grown more solid. I've seen, and heard things that I haven't seen or heard since I was a child in 1950’s Louisiana. Groups such as Black Lives Matter cause events that funnel people into the streets, and money into the pockets of the organizers, but they overlook one simple fact. The majority of Americans simply want to be left alone, and allowed to go about their lives in peace. They long for the day when they can teach their children that if they become lost, find a police officer, and he/she will get them home.

There will be no "race war.” In the 60’s the term “race war” was always in the air, while the bulk of America punched the time clock and went on about their business. While the image of the fire hoses still comes to mind, last night police officers died . . . protecting black protestors! Shots fired! I have a dream. I have a friend, Kent Frank's. He's black, and, yes, he's a Yankee. He comes from the same era that I do. I want to meet him one day. I want to fly him to Austin and take him to a bar and grill I frequent on 6th street. My friend will not be in any danger. He will enjoy the Austin nights the same as anyone else, and maybe, just maybe, the sound of “shots fired” will become fainter, and fainter, until music is all we hear.