It sure feels safe here in America. We are bodily scanned, spied upon, protected from information that we can’t handle about our foreign activities, and we now have a greater percentage of our population in prison than any other nation. In fact, according to FBI statistics just released 1 in 25 Americans were arrested in 2011.
“The FBI stats on total arrests with regards to race are as follows: 69.2 percent of all persons arrested were white, 28.4 percent were black, and the remaining 2.4 percent were of other races. It’s worth considering that black people make up only 13.6 percent of the total U.S. population, but yet nearly 30 percent of those arrested in 2011.” -Natasha Lennard, Salon
Many of my friends say they will gladly exchange freedom for safety, but I remember an earlier voice in our nation’s history crying “give me liberty or give me death.” Have we lost the courage it takes to be a free people?
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/07/in_2011_1_in_25_americans_was_arrested/
Or Ben Franklin who is reputed to have said, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” 8/8/13–07:52 CDT