![\"Picture\"\/](\"https:\/\/ci4.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/JUxEHt9n6Qf0WKwoaKEcRyMNzyD3rdM2LZLB0PNWztAHno9i5PurvGH793C-T1zFscRSlI3kcLQ0TTj9ezuis5-YCse7B2YEyJ0pDBK-pYJteTGk68t6OpLVbavsYVR4WC-kapWr0xyveEQaoKek90jMRuAGT4Qky9gnRHUvJldxvYbnUG_bMljVlA0HTrusG84n3Lj6AgIEtcMUzS4s3-GXkeIeDoBR5w=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/digital.olivesoftware.com\/Olive\/ODN\/BellinghamHerald\/get\/BHD-2019-08-03\/image.ashx?kind=block&href=BHD%2F2019%2F08%2F03&id=Pc0300200&ext=.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nJULIO CORTEZ AP<\/p>\n
Boards cover the front end of a abandoned row homes near the Hollins House, a high rise building housing seniors and persons with disabilities, which was toured by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson this past Wednesday in Baltimore.<\/p>\n Calling someone \u201cracist\u201d has become the default position for liberal politicians and certain members of the media who wish to deflect attention from real problems. President Trump has (again) been called a racist for having the temerity to note that House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) seems to spend more time criticizing him and the border patrol than he does fixing problems in his own home district, which includes about half of Baltimore city.<\/p>\n When the president noted that parts of Cummings\u2019 district are infested with rats, the racist smears began. Why is the president a racist for pointing out what even African-American leaders in Baltimore have said about certain areas of the city?<\/p>\n The Washington Times resurrected a comment by former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who is African American and was ousted from office over an investigation into corruption. Pugh commented on part of the city\u2019s abandoned row houses and alleys strewn with trash: \u201cWhoa, you can smell the rats. Whew, Jesus. Oh, my God, you can smell the dead animals.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2015, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders toured West Baltimore in the company of African-American leaders and residents. The Baltimore Sun reported on Sanders\u2019 statement: \u201cAnyone who took the walk that we took around this neighborhood would not think you\u2019re in a wealthy nation. You would think that you were in a Third World country.\u201d Those with him nodded approvingly.<\/p>\n Are Pugh and Sanders racists for stating the obvious?<\/p>\n Baltimore has averaged 300 murders per year for several years. In 2015, it set a record with 344 homicides, according to the Sun. The newspaper, which has been highly critical of Trump\u2019s remarks about Cummings, reported last September on FBI statistics that showed \u201cBaltimore had the worst homicide rate among the nation\u2019s 50 largest cities last year and the second-highest violent crime rate overall.\u201d Is it racist to point that out, or is it only racist when a white politician says it?<\/p>\n Instead of listening to politicians talk about Baltimore, elected officials and the media should be talking to people who have been trapped in these squalid areas. They might ask Democrats who have run the city (and other cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and Flint, Michigan where homelessness, crime and filth abound) why they have done nothing to improve these neighborhoods. Many American cities with similar problems have been run by Democrats for decades. Why do voters keep returning them to office when their misery only deepens?<\/p>\n What would Democrats do if the poor and minority voters, who are their base, tried a different party and a different attitude? Democrats have promised much and delivered little to their base, at least since the 1930s when the federal government began to dispense welfare benefits, benefits that have fueled an addiction to entitlement programs and created an allegiance to the party most dedicated to keeping the checks coming in exchange for votes.<\/p>\n Democrats, like Rep. Cummings, have also opposed school choice. The ability to choose a better public, or private school for poor and minority children (with vouchers to pay for them) is an opportunity to improve their prospects and break out of the poverty cycle that for some families has been repeated for several generations.<\/p>\n Kimberly Klacik, who occasionally appears on Fox News, says she is a journalist and lives in Baltimore. She interviewed a local African-American woman named \u201cMichelle,\u201d who said: \u201cWhat (President Trump) said was definitely true. (Cummings) hasn\u2019t done anything for us. He\u2019s worried more about (caring for illegal aliens at the border) than his own people. Trump is not racist \u2026 I\u2019m glad he put (Cummings) on blast. The rats just didn\u2019t come. These houses just didn\u2019t get torn down, they\u2019ve been like this.\u201d<\/p>\n Given these facts, to whom should the \u201cracist\u201d label be more accurately applied?<\/p>\n Thank you for the submission Mr. Howe!<\/p>\n![\"Picture\"\/](\"https:\/\/ci5.googleusercontent.com\/proxy\/QDRUqF4o2L2-iLE2Gs2gZ8oYJnzdTJfbavY_zW0Ajutf2up3cBMlxznee5OA84Xb7RHgfgixn1JYJYcC_bgxlJLWITRNEgYIpBLq2N7XIYdUAB1qOS_3Z1Y6TCHgr3xUOneLrQpbcscWq0y9XUaPmIxJzFgA6nrhA2Cif8Gl8H5ezxsMR8OBAC7T5x-NkMMr9kyfMRS4pitB92sVQIo6G5f3sSun8t7icg=s0-d-e1-ft#https:\/\/digital.olivesoftware.com\/Olive\/ODN\/BellinghamHerald\/get\/BHD-2019-08-03\/image.ashx?kind=block&href=BHD%2F2019%2F08%2F03&id=Pc0300300&ext=.jpg\")
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