Travis Rowley: Liberals and Criminals
Saturday, January 11, 2014
“Those who once saw the tech boom as an aperture for democratizing societies through technologies and online networks must now realize the cybernetic dream is dead…[Swipely has a] desire to rid Downtown [P]rovidence of the poor and once-imprisoned, a conservatism in the tech world that would uphold a Tale of Two Cities.” – Natasha Lennard, Salon.com
“The statistics say that somewhere between 19 and 27 percent of the folks that are served by this office that are on parole or probation are there for a violent offense. And statistics say that 61 percent of those folks are going to commit another offense,” Swipely CEO Angus Davis told Dan Yorke this week on Mr. Yorke’s television show State of Mind. It was a statement that built upon Davis’ open letter to Governor Lincoln Chafee (D) that objected to his “plans to relocate a parole office serving over 1,500 convicted criminals to the heart of Providence.”
Davis’ position would eventually gain support from the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and other local businesses and associations. Even those most inclined to disagree with Davis found it difficult to do so, evidenced by the fact that several prominent Democrats acknowledged the legitimacy of Davis’ concern – and the fact that Governor Chafee ultimately suspended his proposal. While attempting to market the State’s capital city as a safe and business-friendly destination, why would anyone decide to prop up a “government-mandated criminal convention center” on Fountain Street – as Davis put it.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBut with such a politically incorrect opinion having now been expressed, detractors sprang up from – yup, you guessed it – the political Left.
Writing on the far-left news-blog RIFuture.org, Oswald Krell urged Ocean State employers to “[set] up employment opportunities for ex-offenders” rather than “categorically [reject]” them. “They might find that some ex-offenders are quite employable and have a valuable contribution to make to society.”
I’ll concede Krell’s point. As long as Krell will concede that some ex-offenders may also decide to rob and rape their new employers instead.
Krell’s logic was hardly unique among those who were appalled at Davis’ nerve. Their push to establish a “meeting place for violent offenders” (Davis’ words) in Downtown Providence is primarily backed up by their insistence that former inmates are gentler than most people realize, and that other parole/probation sites don’t seem to spawn high-crime locations – entirely disregarding the potential for such a consequence to occur within an urban center, of course.
RIFuture’s Sam Howard had something to say to those he derided as people who “[think] they can spot a parolee” out of a crowd, people who are afraid “to get out of their car in Providence,” and “every employer who views a criminal conviction as a scarlet letter to be carried around for the rest of one’s life.” Howard called the reaction by Davis and his supporters a “disappointing chapter in recent events.” They all “should be ashamed of themselves.”
“Parolees and probationers…have just as much right to be in downtown Providence as, say, the head of a bank,” wrote Jorge Elorza, a Democratic candidate for Mayor of Providence. “Segregation and inequality are the greatest challenges our society faces, and these problems are compounded every time we choose to exclude the most vulnerable among us — the very people we should be working to help and support.”
Common-Sense Conservatism
On display during this controversy was not only progressives’ crooked worldview, but also their inclination to characterize others as closed-minded, cruel, and unforgiving. To refer to convicted felons as “the most vulnerable among us” – astonishingly overlooking their victims – is not a mere slip of the tongue, but an accurate illustration of how the Left views the world. That is, a place where “criminals” – particularly African-Americans – may be considered “victims;” a place where “terrorists” could be considered “freedom fighters;” a place where crime is not committed at the hands of the criminal, but at the hands of “racism,” “poverty,” “capitalist oppression,” and “the system.”
It’s the kind of crap you learn in college – the kind of knowledge you learn to finally reject at 2am when you’re being mugged and groped outside of Haven Bros.
Salon.com contributor Natasha Lennard will surely accuse me of using my “classist bent” to make “reductive assumptions about individuals who go through the prison system” for saying this, but here I go anyway: In contrast to progressives, conservatives – before they even have a chance to delve into anything truly worthy of controversy – are often forced to be mere ambassadors of common sense.
Think “Voter ID.”
Think “balanced budgets.”
Think “competitive tax rates.”
Lennard is surely reaching when she accuses Davis and Swipely of speaking in accordance with “conservatism.” This writer has been deeply involved with the RIGOP for the past five years, and cannot say with any measure of confidence that Angus Davis is a champion of limited government, or even a Republican. To me, he has always seemed to be – simply – an entrepreneur; a businessman.
Conservatives, however, like most normal Americans, do believe in accepting the consequences of their actions. They believe in upholding moral priorities by reserving most of their compassion for victims – and civilization itself.
Is the concept of redemption important? Of course. But not if it comes at the expense of a civil and moral order.
Progressives, on the other hand, are freaks. Freaks who aim to intimidate people into abandoning their instincts; into becoming naïve enough to trust convicts; and into perceiving an ex-criminal to be just as worthy as a law-abiding businessman in Downtown Providence – “say, the head of a bank.”
A Sick Mentality
Understanding the long-held affinity radical progressives have had for our society’s criminals helps to make sense out of the RI Left’s compulsion to spring to the defense of the State’s parolees; to side with convicts over law-abiding citizens.
No doubt under the spell of the same liberal mindset, this week President Obama nominated Debo Adegbile to be Attorney General Eric Holder’s top civil rights enforcer. Adegbile is the race-obsessed activist-lawyer who defended the unrepentant cop killer – and the Left’s cause célèbre – Mumia Abu-Jamal. Abu-Jamal is the former Black Panther convicted of brutally murdering a Philadelphia police officer (one of the “oppressors”) in 1981, and who is now frequently invited to speak at college commencement ceremonies.
Obama’s, Holder’s, and Adegbile’s radical mentality is identical to the one that had Democrats successfully pushing “Ban the Box” through the State House last year, legislation that now forbids Ocean State employers to ask job applicants about their criminal history.
If the “Ban the Box” law fails to shock you, consider the fact that it is merely a toned-down version of what progressives really want. Several years ago State House Democrats were sponsoring legislation that “would ban employers from denying a job to anyone because of his or her criminal history.” The bill firmly warned employers that “a finding of ‘moral turpitude’ or ‘lack of good moral character’ based solely on a criminal conviction is not sufficient cause for denying license or employment.” Upon passage of this bill, any person refusing employment to a criminal would have had to answer to the General Assembly, explaining the decision within “a written statement setting forth the reason for such a denial.”
Like I said, progressives are freaks.
So, naturally, their sensibilities were set aflame when they witnessed a member of the “capitalist class” – who is clearly oblivious to all the suffering and oppression he has helped to spread – raising concerns over members of the “criminal class” flooding into a neighborhood that many hope will someday become a thriving business sector.
Travis Rowley (TravisRowley.com) is the author of The RI Republican: An Indictment of the Rhode Island Left.
Related Slideshow: The Best of Travis Rowley
Related Articles
- Travis Rowley: Tell Minorities a Story
- Travis Rowley: Political Blood
- Travis Rowley: Pilgrims and the Pope
- Travis Rowley: Duck. Duck. Gays!
- Travis Rowley: Harry Reid: A One-Man Death Panel
- Travis Rowley: Race Hustling 101
- Travis Rowley: Taking Care Of Babysitters
- Travis Rowley: Left Wants Gays To Receive Magic Beans At Mass
- Travis Rowley: Pro-Trayvon Liberals: Not Worth Talking To
- The Best of Travis Rowley
- Travis Rowley: Democrats: Who’s Right? And Who’s a Jerk?
- Travis Rowley: Lessons From The Hunger Games
- Travis Rowley: Political Consequence
- Rowley: Wealth Reed-istribution- RI Senator Enrolls in Socialism
- Travis Rowley: The Hate-Crime Hoax–A Liberal Pastime
- Travis Rowley: Hose the Firefighters
- Travis Rowley: Conservative Hypocrisy – The Liberal Escape
- Travis Rowley: Some Rhode Island Liberals Can’t Reason or Read
- Travis Rowley: Progressives: Liars By Religion and Trade
- Travis Rowley: The Atheist Delusion
- Travis Rowley: Providence Student Union Ignores Blacks, Hispanics
- Travis Rowley: RI Needs More Rich People (Chapter 2)
- Travis Rowley: Cruz-ing Past Whitehouse
- Travis Rowley: Detroit: A Lesson In Failed Liberalism
- Travis Rowley: Helen’s Passion
