The Patriot Post® · Memphis Murder and Mayhem

In the summer of 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden¹ and his state and local Democrats unleashed a record surge of violence², insisting that our justice system was infested with “systemic racism³” and vilifying law enforcement officers while insisting on defunding the police⁴.

That politically motivated violence marched into 2021 and 2022 with a vengeance, including the Demos’ war on cops⁵, though Biden and his loyal Leftmedia talkingheads⁶ insist the rise in violence is because of the pandemic⁷. In fact, the pandemic shutdowns should have reduced violence.

A year ago, Biden insisted that “white supremacy⁸” was the greatest threat to our nation, though last week he declared those “semi-fascists” he calls “MAGA Republicans⁹” are now the “extremist” threat to “democracy.”

Biden and his Demos were and remain wrong on all counts, and they know that. But hey, it’s just politics, not personal.

Now, in a $37 billion taxpayer-funded political makeover to look “pro-police” ahead of the midterm elections, Biden is recasting himself as a superhero crime fighter¹⁰, promoting the Demos’ so-called “Safer America¹¹” plan to fund 100,000 new police officers — among other things. Biden now insists, “The answer is not ‘defund the police,’ it is ‘fund the police.’”

Tell that to the tens of thousands of victims of violence, the vast majority of which is committed by black people against black people. But that daily slaughter does not fit the Left’s “hate crime” narrative, so you won’t hear about it. In fact, 90% of interracial crimes are black on white¹². As I have argued previously, all murders are hate crimes¹³, despite the Left’s political carveout classifying only a thin slice of murders as such.

Because Democrats refuse to take responsibility for their social policies, enslaving generations of poor mostly black people on their urban poverty plantations¹⁴, they avoid suggesting that urban violence is a culture problem¹⁵, instead insisting it is a “gun problem¹⁶.” Last weekend in just one Demo-controlled “gun-free zone¹⁷,” Chicago, where 55 people were shot and 11 killed¹⁸. There were many more assaults and additional fatalities but the media only reports “gun violence.”

Law enforcement command staff across the nation will attest to the fact that there is a rising generation of urban sociopaths¹⁹ on our streets, and the consequences are more devastating by the day²⁰.

Though urban violence committed by sociopaths is a daily affair, some cases catch mass media attention because they exemplify the threat of violence to victims who have no connection with urban gang and drug cultures — where most violence occurs.

Such was the case in Memphis last week when Liza Fletcher, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher and mother of two, was abducted by a black male predator²¹ who has now been charged with her murder. Fletcher’s assailant was recently released from prison after serving 20 years of a 24-year sentence for another aggravated kidnapping²². He had six aggravated assault and rape charges prior to that kidnapping.

So, who will advocate for Liza Fletcher²³?

Now, two days after the recovery of Fletcher’s battered body, there was a “mass shooting²⁴” in Memphis by yet another sociopath²⁵, a 19-year-old black male who was previously charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in 2020 when he was 17. However, he pleaded guilty to only the aggravated assault charge and was sentenced to three years and then released early²⁶.

The assailant live-streamed the assaults²⁷ on social media.

The latest murder victims were random – 24-year-old Dewayne Tunstall (black), 38-year-old Allison Parker (white), 62-year-old Richard Clark (black) – while the race of those seriously injured is not known. But there will be no mention of either of these Memphis assaults by Biden because the assailants were black and, again, don’t fit the narrative.

Tennessee is one of the most conservative states in the nation, and it ranks high on virtually every quality-of-life listing as a great place to live – except in urban Memphis, like many other American urban centers where corrupt leftist Democrats have ruled for generations. Notably, our state has a “Truth in Sentencing²⁸” law, which took effect in July, requiring that violent criminals charged with murder, rape, and aggravated assault serve 100% of their sentences.

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, who broke with his party and supported that legislation, protested²⁹ that if the assailant had “served his full three-year sentence, he would still be in prison today and [three] of our fellow citizens would still be alive.” But Strickland is yet to own the underlying policies that have given rise to surging violence, and notably Memphis, like many Demo-controlled cities, set an all-time record for murders last year.

However, Shelby County [Memphis] District Attorney Steve Mulroy, who was elected after voicing his opposition to the Truth in Sentencing law, claimed that serial violent offenders “need a strong response” and asserted, “That’s precisely what they’ll get from this DA’s office.”

Right.

In the inimitable words of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), “You’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.” The race of an assailant should not matter, but the racial disparity of violent interracial felonies is not a matter of opinion, it is a matter of fact. Generations of statist social policies have given rise to cultural issues that underlie unfortunate but undeniable connections between race and crime. It will take bold urban leadership to admit that and seek solutions to overcome it. Democrats talk about race endlessly, as long as the conversation fits their political narrative, so no solutions will be forthcoming.

(Here is a timeline of the Memphis mass assailant’s murderous rampage³⁰.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776