BLM brings economic stress to communities it claims to represent

Aug 26, 2020

We now have the first tangible results from BLM’s mad, anti-police crusade

Early in August a news story jumped out to me and not in a good way my friends. I am still thinking about it.

As Fox Business reported on August 5, a trucking company will no longer deliver to cities that are defunding police. The co-owner of JKC Trucking, Mike Kucharski, told Fox he was concerned for the safety of his drivers and their cargo going to cities where police have had their budgets slashed.

As an African American and a minister, I knew something like this would happen sooner or later.

My colleagues and I founded Conservative Clergy of Color because we were afraid something like this would happen if Black Lives Matter was the only voice in the room.

We wanted to give a voice to African Americans who believe in real change, not leftist platitudes and want their country to be better.

These, friends, are the first tangible results from Black Lives Matter’s mad, anti-police crusade. These are the first far-reaching consequences beyond the violence in cities this summer that has gone so long it’s beginning to feel lethargic. These are the consequences that BLM’s leadership probably are fully aware of, but that the young misguided social justice warriors that make up their ranks haven’t stopped to think about.

When you do stop and think about it, why should the owner put his drivers in danger? Why would he risk the danger in cities where police have been hamstrung and rioters have free reign of the streets?

When young children like poor Secoriea Turner in Atlanta are getting gunned down in the streets, I wouldn’t want my employees going to those cities either.

It’s sad we’ve come to this, but it’s the truth. Black Lives Matter has crippled the police across dozens of cities, and we’re now seeing the economic impact.

Cities that normally receive commerce by way of trucking companies and shipping outlets are now going to lose a vital source of income. Depending on the size of the city, the effect could range from negligible to devastating.

Either way, it’s a problem none of these communities should have faced. But because city leaders and governments either were bullied into defunding their police or just felt like being politically correct, grocery stores and retail outlets are going to have to find other ways to supply their products.

Now you might be thinking, “I see your point Bishop, but won’t another trucking company just step up and fill the void?” Ideally, you’d be right, but I would pose the counter-question of how long it will take before other companies follow JKC’s lead if the riots aren’t brought to heel soon.

For that matter, how long will it be before other industries start making similar choices? How long will it be before the results BLM’s leftist ideology impedes different businesses from providing income to communities?

What if a company like Staples or Walmart decides to build new facilities in Portland but then pulls out at the last second because rioters there are still out of control? And it’s not just mega-retailers; I haven’t even touched on small businesses and entrepreneurs. If I were a young, bright individual looking to start my own company, I certainly wouldn’t want to do it in a place with kneecapped police and no guarantee of stability.

The worst part of this debacle is that minority communities, the very people BLM claims to represent, will suffer the most.

A weaker police force means less business in a community and that’s less jobs to go around including for minorities.

Minorities in low-income neighborhoods need the work, not just bloated government welfare programs. These are minorities who could work in shipping warehouses, malls, stores, or startups are worse off if none of those industries decide to do business in their communities.

BLM’s “justice” has already gotten black children killed on the streets. Its crusade to replace police authority with an anarchist mob has made it less safe in low-income neighborhoods than before George Floyd’s tragic death. But now we’re finally seeing the long-term consequences; the purging of business opportunities that will only drive minorities further away from prosperity and into the loving arms of government dependency.

Bishop Aubrey Shines is the founder of Glory to Glory Ministries and the chairman of Conservative Clergy of Color. 

Read original article: Fox Business