IBO - Brian R. Lundin (100 books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📗

this war,” Senator Warren asked.
“How can we deal with these youthful minorities without being considered racist by the rest of the world,” the president responded.
“World opinion be damn,” Senator Warren said emphatically.
“We are in a war for the future of this country. President Roosevelt didn’t care about world opinion when he interned thousands of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Sure decades later the United States admitted that maybe it was wrong to intern these people and they paid compensation to their survivors, but at the time, the president did what he thought was necessary to protect the country. Who knows whether some of these internees were not spies or saboteurs? President Truman did not think twice about dropping the atomic bomb on Japan and killing thousands of civilians, which ended the war and probably saved thousands of young American lives. The thing is they did what they thought was right for the country and they had the support of the people and that is what mattered. We are at war Mr. President and it is your job to win this war and protect our fellow Americans. In war often times constitutional guarantees and rights have to be suspended for the good of the nation, the founders of the constitution were not faced with gangs and drugs, President Bush didn’t care about world opinion when he signed the Patriot Act after the September 11, 2001 attacks. At first, there was opposition by the civil liberty organizations, but eventually that opposition faded. Drastic time’s calls for drastic measures, my plan is bold but I believe workable. It is set up in steps for you to take, President Roosevelt during the war conducted weekly radio fireside chats, and these chats kept the people informed about the war and gave them hope. You have a far better medium to address the people; you have live and in color television. The first step involves using that medium to show how dangerous the gangbangers and drug dealers are, use television to show in living color, children shot in drive bys, laying in the street with blood gushing out of their wounds, show the open air drugs markets. Show the shootouts between rival gangs and the resultant carnage; show how the local police, who are undermanned and outgunned by these terrorists, are fighting their war, without much help from the federal government. Emphasize how they do not have the resources to effectively deal with the gangs and drug problem.
Bombard the media with federal law enforcement agencies raiding drug houses and arresting the black and Hispanic dealers; show the statistics from my committee that found there are over two hundred thousand gangbangers in this country. Explain to the people that we have tried everything to address this issue; we have strengthened our stop and search laws over the opposition of the civil liberties organizations. During your chats have sociologist explain how the black and Hispanic community feel that they cannot overcome the barriers which prevents them from getting their slice of the American economic pie so they resort to crime, the same way early Jewish and Italian immigrants did. The main issue that you must address is the obligation of government to draw that delicate balance between the rights of citizens and the government obligation to protect them. The first step is designed to show the people the problems affecting the country.”
“Step two Senator.” the president asked.
“This is probably the boldest step of the plan, the media blitz and “chats” has graphically showed the people what is going on in our streets, now you need to show what you’re administration plans to do about it.”
“Which is?” the president asked quietly.
“Setting up Re-Education Camps and sending all blacks and Hispanics young men between thirteen and twenty-five to them.”
“Do what,” asked President Tolland astonished.
“These Re-Education Camps sound a lot like concentration camps to me,” the president said.
“Maybe so, but the thing to remember is that everything that Hitler and the Nazi’s did to the European Jews was legal under German law. Germany was in a crisis, like we are, after World War One and rightly or wrongly they blamed the Jews. The German people has tried to deny that they knew anything about the holocaust, but they knew and endorsed Hitler’s racial theories. The rest of the world knew also and did nothing, the United States and England refused to allow boat loads of jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi persecution to enter their countries and if Germany would have won the war or been in a position to negotiate a conditional surrender, there would have been no Nuremburg Trials, Hitler might not have gotten off, but all of the other Nazi big shots would be living the good life on some South American island.”
Senator Warren,Jr. let his idea sink in. President Tolland was quiet as he turned his chair to look out of the window. He saw the protesters marching in front of the White House surrounded by Capital Police Officers. The protesters were mainly women with their children in tow. They were carrying signs saying;
”President Tolland stop the killing of our children,” “President Tolland give us back our neighborhoods,”
“Kill all dope dealers and gangbanger,”
“Down with gangs and dope.”
Some of the women wore grotesque death mask, other carried cardboard coffins covered with signs saying,
“My child is in here because of the government failure to protect him.”
President Tolland studied Senator Warren who had walked over to the window and was watching the protesters. He liked and respected the senator who never married or had children. The senator had moved into his parents house after their tragic deaths and his work became his life. He never missed a senate meeting or vote and was loved by his white Arkansas constituents and the white businessmen who welcomed his law and order stand, althought this stand was not too welcomed by the black community. It was whispered in the halls of the senate that the senator did not court the black community because most of them didn’t vote anyway. The senator sponsored bills giving more power to the police and bills designed to chip away at the decades old criminal civil rights laws. President Tolland shuddered at the senator’s plan.
“Do you think I should brief my cabinet on this,” he finally asked.
“Not yet sir, I would suggest you hear my entire plan and think about it. Like I said earlier it is a very bold plan.”
“Senator, please continue,” President Tolland said.
Senator Warren, Jr. slowly walked to his seat and sipped a glass of water before continuing.
“Sir, these gangbangers and dope dealers are evil people, they are unclean and subhuman like maggots in a rotting body. They sell their weapons of death to other young people making them zombies, no use to themselves or anyone else, decent society should be scrubbed clean of this filth. The first requirement is the establishment of a legal basis. As I said earlier, everything that Hitler did was legal under German law, All we have to do is either change the laws or introduce new laws; laws designed to protect the public. I can do that by proposing a bill requiring all blacks and Hispanics in the prescribed age group to register at their local police department. Being black, it would be difficult to claim that I sponsored the law because I am a racist. After they register they will be shipped, not in cattle cars like the Jews, but on nice air-conditioned comfortable trains to the Re-Education Camps in the southwest.”
“What will be these camps be like?” the president asked.
“They will be clean and set up like college dormitories. There will be classes in the basic skills, reading, writing and so on.”
“How long will they stay in these camps?”
“I don’t know we will have to see how it goes.”
President Tolland got up from his desk and looked out the window at the protesters.
“You are right this is a very bold and repressive plan,” the president said.
“Yes sir it is, but if you decide to implement this plan, once you start it you can’t stop and you must be prepared to handle the opposition from the black and Hispanic communities as well as the bleeding heart liberals. Every black preacher in the country will be denouncing this bill from his or her pulpit. I would suggest for the moment, the only person you discuss this plan with is your National Security Director, Mrs. Barnes. Being black, she should be your front person.”
“I’ve got to really digest this and I will discuss it with Mrs. Barnes and get back with you later,” President Tolland said leaving the office.
As Senator Warren, Jr. leaves the Oval Office, he makes a silent promise to his parents, “I will get them; I will avenge your deaths.”
The following morning at nine o’clock, Senator Warren swung open the glass doors leading into his study. Inside the well-appointed room were five gray-faced men who were seated behind a large oval shaped, polished glass conference table. They all were outfitted in standard government approved dark suits and white shirts. The men had the look of power and money. Coffee, tea and biscuits were on another table. The men were high-level government officials who owed their appointment to Warren and he had handpicked them because they all shared one thing, they or members of their family had been the victims of violent gang crimes. Donald Douglas, the Director of the new cabinet position the Safe Streets Agency had thick eyebrows and wide shoulders, his ruddy red face made a lot of people mistakenly think we was a drunk but in fact, he never drank and he had a PH.D. in Criminal Justice from Indiana University. He had written numerous books on street gangs and the drug culture and was considered by his colleagues an expert. His wife and young son had been gunned down in Fort Wayne, Indiana when they were caught in a cross fire between two rival gangs. Seated besides Donald was the Deputy Director of Homeland Security,
Ronald Evans, a tall gangly black man. Ronald had been a star guard at Duke University that won the NCAA Basketball Championship. After graduating with a degree in International Politics, he had signed a multi-million dollar contract to play professionally with the Chicago Bulls, his hometown team. On a visit to his mother who lived in Altgeld Gardens, another public housing development on the far South Side of the city, he was attacked by gang members and they beat him with baseball bats, breaking both of his arms and ending his basketball career.
Mark Hill, the Director of the FBI Gang Task Force was tasked with the responsibility of coordinating state, federal and local police agencies in ensuring that blacks and Hispanics eligible for the camps were identified and sent. Mark was well built and had movie star good looks; he had high cheekbones and a reddish undertone to his skin. His black hair contrasted nicely with his skin tone and as a youth, he had modeled for many of the leading black magazines.
He was a veteran FBI