After the George Floyd Murder: A Few Modest Ideas

The racist police murder of George Floyd triggered a raft of by and large peaceful protests for racial justice with more than a few having violent elements reminiscent of 1968. What is clear to me is that the heartfelt cries of the protesters for a more just society represent an abject failure of urban liberalism that has dominated most of America’s large cities since 1970.

Remember urban America is not controlled by the Bull Connor’s of Birmingham 1965, but rather by well-intentioned liberals. Among the worst breakdowns in order took place in the liberal heartlands of Bill de Blasio’s New York, Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago, Eric Garcetti’s Los Angeles and most of all in Jacob Frey’s Minneapolis.  Standing out amidst the rubble was the leadership of Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms who while hearing and feeling the cries, understands that a government that cannot maintain order is not a government.

So if urban liberalism is not the solution, what is? My sense is that urban America suffers not from too much capitalism, but rather too little. How so? Zoning policies have restricted housing opportunities in both cities and suburbs. And outdated occupational licensing rules keep people from earning a living. Low income areas suffer from a lack of capital; residential, business and public.  For example homeownership should be expanded through refundable tax credits in opportunity zones and the SBA should open offices in inner city neighborhood to fund businesses with loans and grants patterned along disaster relief programs.

The public sector has woefully failed the African-American community. It puts up with failing schools controlled by the teachers’ unions. That has to stop. We need an Andrew Carnegie library program for the 21^st century that would make libraries with an ample amount of computers and high speed internet connections to become 18 hour a day hubs of learning. The same library program should apply to rural areas as well. Further it certainly wouldn’t hurt to add health screening clinics to test for infectious and heart diseases, cancer and diabetes.

As far as police reform goes, it would go a long way to ban disciplinary proceedings arising out of police-civilian altercations from collective bargaining agreements and to make police misconduct public. Because African-American’s suffer disproportionately from crime, “Defunding” the police is a nonstarter. There is much work to be done and if you don’t like these ideas, I would like to hear from you.