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The TownhallPolitics

We are not the same: How Maj Toure and Roland Martin highlight a clear distinction

By Che

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed here are those of the authors. View more opinion on ScoonTV.

This past week, Maj Toure, gun rights activist and founder of Black Guns Matter, reposted a clip from his appearance on The Roland Martin Show. In the clip, the two had a heated exchange over gun ownership and education. The interview is over a year old but is relevant today. 

Toure advocated that the key to resolving a number of the enigmas that plague urban America was proper education on matters of self-empowerment, especially gun ownership and firearm safety. Toure said that instilling the idea of self-respect to the point one would be compelled to defend their life must be a point of emphasis. 

On the other hand, Martin viewed this idea with skepticism. He worried about the number of “black people that would be killed” because of Toure’s proposed measures.  

This exchange is a microcosm of the broader polarization sweeping the nation. We’re divided along racial, class, and political lines. That division doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. 

While conversations like this only seem to exacerbate the problem, I see it as a way of identifying the root of it. 

It goes much deeper than conservative or liberal, republican, or democrat, left or right. The real issue begins at the premise, the underlying “facts” each respective side lays their hat on.  

You can put a conservative on The View or The Daily Show, or bring a liberal on Tucker Carlson Tonight, and it would lead to an argument. The degree to which the arguments are amplified may vary, but the fact that these “debates” always turn into dead-end discourse is inevitable. And that’s because they are starting at different points on the spectrum.  

People like Martin believe the government is all-powerful and cannot be challenged in any way. He makes his living complaining and demonizing the system, yet his overall agenda is to cooperate with it enough to change it. He focuses on issues such as voting rights and peaceful demonstrations as a way of initiating change. 

Toure, on the other hand, has a completely different view. He believes that because the government is the problem, we should limit its power. Instead, we should focus work on the areas we can improve on. 

His worldview is one where arming the individual with knowledge won’t necessarily change their conditions in and of itself but will allow for one to gain the self-respect needed to start that change. 

This fundamental difference between opposing sides is what makes dialogue nearly impossible. Every hotly contested issue has these two factions on either side. The side that wants to compel the government to act on their behalf, and the other side that sees government as necessary in a limited capacity, but not when it stifles individual growth and progress.  

Ironically, Martin, and people with his mindset, are exactly who people like Toure are trying to reach. Toure emphasized in his exchange with the political commentator that one of his reasons for “arming the hood” was to give the people the self-respect needed to want to defend themselves. 

He’s describing Martin to a T. Martin, and those who think like him, foster a dependency on the government. They believe that the government should feed, clothe, and shelter them much like a father would for his children. 

When Toure presented his argument, Martin acted appalled. It’s as if the idea of someone standing on their own two feet and confronting the corrupt police is somehow blasphemous. He even mocked Toure for having the audacity to think such a ridiculous notion, let alone say it out loud. 

We find this dichotomy in nearly all the hotly contested issues at the forefront of the political struggle. It’s people who want dependency versus those that want independence. It’s really that simple. 

Obviously, the biggest story of the last two years is the covid-19 “pandemic.” This “pandemic” has led to unprecedented measures that have empowered the government in ways not seen before. From forcing businesses to shut their doors, to mandating an experimental vaccine for a virus with a 99% survival rate, the government has expanded its sphere of influence tremendously. Unsurprisingly, the dependents cheer this on. 

Covid brought with it a pandemic of fear. People were afraid to leave their homes, gather with family, or even celebrate a birthday. Sitting indoors with a room full of strangers to eat a meal became a traumatic experience for them. So, for these people, relying on Dr. Fauci’s word relieved that anxiety. 

Covid became a much too complicated reality, so they did what they always do when things become difficult; they pass the buck to someone they believe is more qualified. 

The independents saw something different. They saw a government bent on acquiring more power. They want to control what you think, how you feel, and even make decisions pertaining to your own body. Independents know better. They have the self-respect Toure talked about, the self-respect to stand up for yourself and make your own decisions. 

Of course, the government wants to eradicate this kind of thinking and replace it with the more docile mindset espoused by Martin.  

The dependents live a life where they wait on their next set of marching orders from the government, or worse, their flunkeys in the mainstream media. Whether he wants to admit it or not, Martin is one of these flunkeys. 

These media puppets use their influence to announce the latest edict from the regime. “Wear a mask,” “Close your business,” “Take the shot!” All of which is played on a loop until the average individual complies mostly out of fear of societal rejection.  

The same can be said about gun control and firearms training, such as the kind Toure promotes. Dependents love to scream about the need for more government regulation when it comes to protecting ourselves as individual citizens. That is because they defer all difficult matters, and defending your life can be a difficult matter, to the government. 

“You can’t defend yourself, that’s the state’s job” is what they think whenever someone steps into the arena and doesn’t fold under the same pressure they dread. This is a quintessential dependency. “We can’t defend ourselves, so please, daddy government, come save us!”  

Let me also remind you that these are the same people, Martin included, that decry the same government as “innately racist.” They don’t really want freedom, instead they want to complain about something that should be irrelevant in one’s day-to-day life. 

If the system is innately racist, why do you want the system to be the only one with guns? Why do you trust that same system to defend your life if they don’t respect your life like you say? The contradiction and hypocrisy are beyond blatant. They ‘re just reveling in their own waste at this point.  

Every issue reeks with this discrepancy. They want free healthcare, free higher education, universal basic income, etc. All measures that funnel money earned by the people into the hands of the same government they call racist. 

Leftist policies revolve around the idea that the government is more qualified to allocate the money individuals earn than they are. The government assumes the role of king, dictating what is done with the wealth the people earn off their own labor.  

“Power to the people” is about giving the people the right to self-determination. You, the individual, have the right to determine what you do with your earned income, not the government. This means choices like spending, investing, and medical procedures should be in the hands of the people. 

But people like Roland Martin don’t want this level of responsibility. So, they conjure up elaborate excuses as to why “doing for self” is futile. Then, they serve this on a platter for the segments of the population that lack the self-respect people like me and Maj Toure try to instill in them. 

This continues the cycle and breeds a new generation of scared and subservient dependents.

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Che

Writer

Che is a writer and host of “The No Spoon Podcast” on Scoon TV.

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