‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ activists — and historical ignorance

By Larry Elder

Published December 31, 2014 8:26pm ET

‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ activists — and historical ignorance — Demonstrators gather along West Florissant Avenue to protest the shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 15, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9. Protestors raise their hands and chant 'Hands up, don't shoot' as a rally cry to draw attention to reports that stated Brown's hands were raised when he was shot. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty images) | Scott Olson

What to say about “activists” pushing the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” “movement,” even as police shootings of blacks are actually down 75 percent over the last 45 years? Some protestors, many old enough to know better, say ridiculous things about race relations, like “things have gone backward.” Time for perspective.

Booker T. Washington was born a slave. In his autobiography, Up From Slavery, written in 1901 — just a mere 36 years after the Civil War — Washington wrote: