Do black lives really matter? Glenn reads the stunning list of black people murdered in Chicago being ignored by activists and protesters

On the O’Reilly Factor last night, guest Tavis Smiley claimed “there is no respect for black life in this country,” in a rant against the grand jury decision in New York this week.

Glenn isn’t necessarily a fan of the decision, but he’s even less a fan of the narrative.

Are white cops the biggest threat to black people today?

The statistics and tragically long list of names of black people murdered in Chicago within the last few months tell a different story.

GLENN: All right. Black lives matter. He says, there's no respect. No one is paying attention and black lives matter. Let me give you a few names.

Rayvon Little, twenty years old. Chicago. Dead.

Andre Johnson, Jr., black, 29 years old, Chicago, dead.

Andrew Brown, 46, South Shore, Chicago, dead.

Doug Chambliss, black, 33, Chicago, dead.

Darrell Tolbert, 36, black, shot to death.

Gregory McKinney, black, shot to death.

Joseph Lewis, Chicago, black, shot to death.

Deon Gilbert, Jr., black, South Deering, Chicago, shot to death. By the way, he was 15.

Donnell Coakley, black, assault. Donnell was three.

Kyle Robertson, 23, black, Chicago, shot to death.

Lydell Lynch, black, 22, Grand Crossing, Chicago, shot to death.

Johnathan Cartwright, black, 18, shot to death.

Aaron Stalling, black, near west side Chicago, shot to death.

Remember, black lives matter.

Anthony Jackson, 22, Chicago, black, shot to death.

Zoraida Feliciano, black, Humbolt Park, Chicago, 33, shot to death.

Da'Lon Mobley, black, West Chicago, 30, shot to death.

Kendall Warren, black, 24, Chicago, shot to death.

Nacurvie Smith, 27 years old, Old Town Chicago, black, shot to death.

Larry Thomas, 31, Englewood, Chicago, black shot to death.

Robert Leverett, black, Englewood, Chicago, shot to death.

Derick Coopwood, black, 21, shot to death.

Krystal Jackson, 25, black, shot to death.

Tyris Ferguson, black, 23, shot to death.

David Kennedy, 24, Chicago Hyde Park, black, shot to death.

Jeffrey Daniels, black, 24, shot to death.

Ladarius Edwards, 23, black, Chicago, shot to death.

Jahakel Clark, 16, black, Marquette Park, Chicago, shot to death.

By the way, that's -- that's those who were killed in the month of November. Would you like me to give you the names —

PAT: I didn't hear Tavis mention any of them.

GLENN: Would you like me to give you the names for September because black lives matter?

There is no respect for black life in America anymore. You're right. And there's a growing condition that we don't respect any life anymore. In fact, we celebrate people who say, life is just too hard. I'm going to take my own life. We celebrate — we pay for people to take the lives of their babies because it's just going to be too hard to raise that baby. I want to live my life.

Black lives don't matter? No life matters anymore. But if you want to talk about black life, let's talk about — let's talk about how many white people have killed black people? How many black people have killed white people?

STU: And this is not, you know, to say that black people are bad. What it does say, is that there's not an epidemic of white people killing black people. 448 — this is 2011 according to the FBI, 448 whites were killed by blacks.

Approximate 193 blacks were killed by whites. That is 2.3 times more whites killed by blacks than the other way around despite the fact that there's six times as many whites in this country.

GLENN: Can we find out how many blacks killed blacks?

STU: We can. 193 blacks were killed by whites. 2,447 blacks were killed by blacks. 2,447 to 193.

GLENN: Give me again how many whites kill blacks and how many blacks kill blacks. How many whites killed blacks?

STU: 193.

GLENN: 193. Black people were killed by white people. 193 black people were killed by white people.

How many black people killed black people?

STU: 2,447.

GLENN: Is there an epidemic in America? Yeah, there's an epidemic in America, isn't there?

Nigell Vazquez. Twenty-two, black, Chicago. Shot to death.

Edward Davis, 23, black, Chicago, shot to death.

Martell Robinson, 20, shot to death.

In case you're keeping track at home. This is a whole new group of people.

Shaquille Holmes, 19 years old, black shot to death.

Decari Spivey, black, shot to death at 21.

54-year-old. He made it to 54. Malcolm Warnsby, 54.

Terry cook, 32 black shot to death.

Michael Wright, black 21, shot to death.

Michael Bloodson, 17, black, Chicago, shot to death.

Charles Labon, 28, black shot to death.

Tamica Riley, 37, black. Suffocation.

Christopher McGee, black, shot to death.

Kawantis Montgomery 19, black shot to death.

Devonshay Lofton, 17, black shot to death.

Kamaal Burton. 18, black, shot to death.

Dimitre Beck, 21, black stabbed to death.

Leon Austin, black stabbed to death.

Markise M. Darling, 19, shot to death.

Cortez river, black 16, shot to death.

Davontae Harrison, 21. Black shot to death.

Mondele Heard. 20 shot to death.

Arthur Hearn, 88, died from assault. Chicago.

Deandre Ellis black shot to death.

Malachi Baldwin, 27, black shot to death.

Leroyce Noel, 20 shot to death.

Stanley Macon Jr., 25, shot to death.

Camerion Blair, 16, shot to death.

Shandel Adams, 25, black shot to death.

Demureya Macon, 13, Chicago, shot to death.

PAT: What was that?

GLENN: That was September.

You want to talk about an epidemic? You want to talk about black lives not mattering?

Stu, how many white people killed black people last year?

STU: 2011, 448 whites were killed by blacks. 193 blacks were killed by whites.

GLENN: How many blacks killed blacks?

STU: 2,447.

GLENN: Those are the numbers.

America, I know that we're suffering from Common Core math, but those numbers — when you have to use a little arrow sign which is bigger — which is a greater number than the other, it's pretty damn clear even when you're using Common Core math.

STU: 91 percent of black people were killed by black people in this particular year. 91 percent.

GLENN: What do you say we actually talk about reconciliation? What do you say we stop listening to the clerics like Al Sharpton. The people who are just using their religion for their own power. What do you say we stop listening to the communists, the anarchists, or anybody else, that has an agenda other than saying all life matters. Why does black life only matter? Why does old life or 20-something or children's lives or American lives.

What do you say all lives matter, and we try to fix that. To do that, however, we'll have to start asking each other really honest questions: What the hell is going on in the inner cities. Where's Al Sharpton there inspect anybody who is honest would be there every weekend. Don't talk to me about — don't talk to me about something we agree on. The grand jury appears to be wrong in New York. Let's figure that one out and let's do that one together.

Continuation of the names:

GLENN: Just looking at the names of people that have -- the names of the people -- black lives matter, the names of the people killed on the streets of Chicago, just in the last couple of months.

James Watson, 61 years old, black, shot.

It amazes me how many people were shot in a town where guns are illegal.

Raymond Murray, 25, black, shot, South Shore, Chicago.

STU: Devin Pope, age 23, race: black, South Shore of Chicago. August.

GLENN: Tony MacIntosh, 20, black, shot, Chicago.

PAT: Denero Appleton, thirty-one, black shot, South Deering, Chicago.

Donald Williams, seventeen, black, shot, Austin neighborhood of Chicago.

GLENN: Hezekiah Harper-Bey, 20, black, shot, West Garfield Park, Chicago.

STU: Brian Davis, age 33, black, shooting, West Garfield Park, Chicago.

Jerome Harris, 17 years, black, shot, Morgan Park, Chicago.

GLENN: Unknown 21-year-old, black, shot, Gage Park, Chicago.

PAT: Erik Kall, 27, black, shot, Chicago lawn.

Darrien Jordan, 21 years old, black, shot. North Lawndale, Chicago.

GLENN: Remember, black lives matter.

JEFFY: Lafayette Walton, 16 years old, West Humboldt, Chicago.

Dakari Pargo, 19 years old, shot, West Englewood.

GLENN: Black lives matter.

STU: Martrell Ross, thirty-two years old, black, shot, River North.

Gabriel Stevens, 39 years old, black, shot, Auburn Gresham.

GLENN: Torrente G. Pickens, black, 37, shot, Chicago.

PAT: Ronald Holliman, 18 years old, black, shot, South Austin, Chicago.

Derrick Bowens, 27 years old, black, shot, Englewood, Chicago.

GLENN: Jackie Roberson. 22. Black. Shot. Chicago.

Billy Washington. 37. Black, shot, Chicago.

Larry Lee, 52, black, shot, Chicago.

Damani Chenier, 23, black, stabbed to death, Chicago.

Do black lives matter? Al Sharpton, do black lives matter? Mr. President, do black lives matter? Why are we marching in the streets? Black lives matter. Right?

Raddy Comer, 20, black, shot, Chicago.

Eddie Taylor, 22, black, shot, Chicago.

STU: Vincente Obregon, twenty-one years, black, shot, Marquette Park.

Darryl Allison, twenty-six, black, shot, Chicago.

Kashif Tillis, 29, black, shot, Chicago.

PAT: Alante Vallejo, 18 years old, black, shot, Rogers Park, Chicago.

Carnesha Fort, 22 years old, black, Chicago.

Brian Weekly, 18 years old, black, shot, Washington Park, Chicago.

Kennyone Pendleton, black, shot, Chicago.

GLENN: Black lives matter. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the media, anarchists, communists, Mr. President, black lives matter.

JEFFY: Jimero Starling, 19 years old, shot, Humboldt.

ShAmbreyh Barfield, 21 years old, black, shot, West Garfield Park.

STU: Jeremiah Shaw, 19, black, shot, Chicago.

Jabari Scurlock, 16 years, black, shot, Chicago.

Arnold Dearies is 26. Black, shot, Chicago.

GLENN: Alexander Smith, 25, black, shot, Chicago.

Rodney Wilson, 30, black, stabbed to death, Chicago.

Genorel Martin, black, shot to death, Chicago.

Travis Wright, 21, black, shot, Chicago.

PAT: Laquisha Hickman, 35, black, shot, Ashburn, Chicago.

Nykole Loving, 23 years old, black, Ashburn, Chicago.

Paris Brown, 21, black, shot, Grand Crossing, Chicago.

STU: Devonte Carthan, 17 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

Julio Perkins, 30 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

LaDarryl Walters, 23 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

GLENN: By the way, these are a four-month period. I'm only about halfway through my list.

Reginald Boston, forty-four, black, stabbed to death.

Stanley Bobo, 18, shot, Chicago.

Tepete Davis, black, 42, shot to death, Chicago.

Charles Wright, 39, shot to death, black, back of the yards, Chicago.

Denzell Franklin, 23, black, shot to death, Chicago.

Mr. President, black lives matter. If that's true. Let's stop the hype. Let's stop the propaganda and let's go where people are being shot to death.

PAT: Where there is really an epidemic.

JEFFY: Corey Hudson, 34 years old, black shot, West Englewood.

Robert Cotton, 35 years old, black, shot, West Englewood.

PAT: Brett Ewing, 26 years old, shooting, black.

Damian Williams, 22 years old, black, died of a shooting in Austin, part of Chicago.

Dewey Knox, 27, black, shot to death, Chicago.

Brandon Peterson, 17, died of shooting, black, East Garfield Park, Chicago.

GLENN: David Morgan, 36, black, part of Chicago, shot to death.

Marc Williams, 17, black, shot to death, South Chicago.

Bobby Moore, 25, black, South Chicago.

Darryl Owens Jr., black, 34, shot to death, Chatham.

STU: Walter Neely, shot, 25 years old, black, Chicago.

Shaquise Butler, 16 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

Amy Holmes-Sterling, 29 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

Karveon Glover, 16 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

PAT: Louis Winn, age 22, black, died of a stabbing in Washington Heights, Chicago.

Daniel Jones, 26 years old, black, shot, West Garfield Park, Chicago.

Damarcus Boswell, 18, black, Marquette Park, Chicago.

JEFFY: Shaquille Ross, 18 years old, black, shot, West Englewood, Chicago.

Donald Ray, 21 years old, black, shot, South Austin, Chicago.

Kezon Lamb, 20 years old, Chicago, shot.

GLENN: Oduro Yeboah, 22, black, shot, Uptown.

Owen Spears, 22, black, Humboldt Park, Chicago, shot to death.

Pierre Peters, 41, black, shot to death, South Austin, Chicago.

STU: Joel Wade, black, 20 years old, shot, Chicago.

Seadl Commings, 27 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

Dorval Jenkins, 19 years old, black, shot, Chicago.

PAT: 15-year-old Dekarlos Scott, black, Rosslyn Park, Chicago.

GLENN: Mr. President, may I ask a question, could any of these young men have been your son? Any of — any of these young men? Did they look like they could be your son?

Al Sharpton, is there any injustice happening here? Is there any epidemic going on here? Where are you, Al Sharpton? Why aren't you -- why aren't you encouraging people to burn down the convenience stores in Chicago? Why aren't people protesting in the streets of Chicago and turning over cars — not police cars, because this is mainly black-on-black crime in Chicago. No cops involved here. These are just kids killing kids with illegal guns.

You want to talk about oppression, you want to talk about slavery, slavery exists. It exists in the inner city where you're a slave to crime. You can't get your kids out because of the crime. You worry about your kids as they go out. Don't get shot in the front lawn. You don't even have to be doing anything wrong. Three years old, shot to death, front lawn. 14-year-old shot from inside the house even though the fighting was happening outside the house.

Where is the justice? Where is the peace? Where are the marches? Where are the civil rights activists? Where are people saying take control of your own damn life? Where is the president on this one? Why are we lumping people together and saying that — as Tavis Smiley did on Bill O'Reilly, giving five names and lumping the real, what appears to me, to be injustice in New York.

That is injustice.

The Crisis of Meaning: Searching for truth and purpose

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Anxiety, anger, and chronic dissatisfaction signal a country searching for meaning. Without truth and purpose, politics becomes a dangerous substitute for identity.

We have built a world overflowing with noise, convenience, and endless choice, yet something essential has slipped out of reach. You can sense it in the restless mood of the country, the anxiety among young people who cannot explain why they feel empty, in the angry confusion that dominates our politics.

We have more wealth than any nation in history, but the heart of the culture feels strangely malnourished. Before we can debate debt or elections, we must confront the reality that we created a world of things, but not a world of purpose.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

What we are living through is not just economic or political dysfunction. It is the vacuum that appears when a civilization mistakes abundance for meaning.

Modern life is stuffed with everything except what the human soul actually needs. We built systems to make life faster, easier, and more efficient — and then wondered why those systems cannot teach our children who they are, why they matter, or what is worth living for.

We tell the next generation to chase success, influence, and wealth, turning childhood into branding. We ask kids what they want to do, not who they want to be. We build a world wired for dopamine rather than dignity, and then we wonder why so many people feel unmoored.

When everything is curated, optimized, and delivered at the push of a button, the question “what is my life for?” gets lost in the static.

The crisis beneath the headlines

It is not just the young who feel this crisis. Every part of our society is straining under the weight of meaninglessness.

Look at the debt cycle — the mathematical fate no civilization has ever escaped once it crosses a threshold that we seem to have already blown by. While ordinary families feel the pressure, our leaders respond with distraction, with denial, or by rewriting the very history that could have warned us.

You cannot survive a crisis you refuse to name, and you cannot rebuild a world whose foundations you no longer understand.

We have entered a cultural moment where the noise is so loud that it drowns out the simplest truths. We are living in a country that no longer knows how to hear itself think.

So people go searching. Some drift toward the false promise of socialism, some toward the empty thrill of rebellion. Some simply check out. When a culture forgets what gives life meaning, it becomes vulnerable to every ideology that offers a quick answer.

The quiet return of meaning

And yet, quietly, something else is happening. Beneath the frustration and cynicism, many Americans are recognizing that meaning does not come from what we own, but from what we honor. It does not rise from success, but from virtue. It does not emerge from noise, but from the small, sacred things that modern life has pushed to the margins — the home, the table, the duty you fulfill, the person you help when no one is watching.

The danger is assuming that this rediscovery happens on its own. It does not.

Reorientation requires intention. It requires rebuilding the habits and virtues that once held us together. It requires telling the truth about our history instead of rewriting it to fit today’s narratives. And it requires acknowledging what has been erased: that meaning is inseparable from God’s presence in a nation’s life.

Harold M. Lambert / Contributor | Getty Images

Where renewal begins

We have built a world without stillness, and then we wondered why no one can hear the questions that matter. Those questions remain, whether we acknowledge them or not. They do not disappear just because we drown them in entertainment or noise. They wait for us, and the longer we ignore them, the more disoriented we become.

Meaning is still available. It is found in rebuilding the smallest, most human spaces — the places that cannot be digitized, globalized, or automated. The home. The family. The community.

These are the daily virtues that do not trend on social media, but that hold a civilization upright. If we want to repair this country, we begin there, exactly where every durable civilization has always begun: one virtue at a time, one tradition at a time, one generation at a time.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The Bubba Effect erupts as America’s power brokers go rogue

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When institutions betray the public’s trust, the country splits, and the spiral is hard to stop.

Something drastic is happening in American life. Headlines that should leave us stunned barely register anymore. Stories that once would have united the country instead dissolve into silence or shrugs.

It is not apathy exactly. It is something deeper — a growing belief that the people in charge either cannot or will not fix what is broken.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf.

I call this response the Bubba effect. It describes what happens when institutions lose so much public trust that “Bubba,” the average American minding his own business, finally throws his hands up and says, “Fine. I will handle it myself.” Not because he wants to, but because the system that was supposed to protect him now feels indifferent, corrupt, or openly hostile.

The Bubba effect is not a political movement. It is a survival instinct.

What triggers the Bubba effect

We are watching the triggers unfold in real time. When members of Congress publicly encourage active duty troops to disregard orders from the commander in chief, that is not a political squabble. When a federal judge quietly rewrites the rules so one branch of government can secretly surveil another, that is not normal. That is how republics fall. Yet these stories glided across the news cycle without urgency, without consequence, without explanation.

When the American people see the leadership class shrug, they conclude — correctly — that no one is steering the ship.

This is how the Bubba effect spreads. It is not just individuals resisting authority. It is sheriffs refusing to enforce new policies, school boards ignoring state mandates, entire communities saying, “We do not believe you anymore.” It becomes institutional, cultural, national.

A country cracking from the inside

This effect can be seen in Dearborn, Michigan. In the rise of fringe voices like Nick Fuentes. In the Epstein scandal, where powerful people could not seem to locate a single accountable adult. These stories are different in content but identical in message: The system protects itself, not you.

When people feel ignored or betrayed, they will align with anyone who appears willing to fight on their behalf. That does not mean they suddenly agree with everything that person says. It means they feel abandoned by the institutions that were supposed to be trustworthy.

The Bubba effect is what fills that vacuum.

The dangers of a faithless system

A republic cannot survive without credibility. Congress cannot oversee intelligence agencies if it refuses to discipline its own members. The military cannot remain apolitical if its chain of command becomes optional. The judiciary cannot defend the Constitution while inventing loopholes that erase the separation of powers.

History shows that once a nation militarizes politics, normalizes constitutional shortcuts, or allows government agencies to operate without scrutiny, it does not return to equilibrium peacefully. Something will give.

The question is what — and when.

The responsibility now belongs to us

In a healthy country, this is where the media steps in. This is where universities, pastors, journalists, and cultural leaders pause the outrage machine and explain what is at stake. But today, too many see themselves not as guardians of the republic, but of ideology. Their first loyalty is to narrative, not truth.

The founders never trusted the press more than the public. They trusted citizens who understood their rights, lived their responsibilities, and demanded accountability. That is the antidote to the Bubba effect — not rage, but citizenship.

How to respond without breaking ourselves

Do not riot. Do not withdraw. Do not cheer on destruction just because you dislike the target. That is how nations lose themselves. Instead, demand transparency. Call your representatives. Insist on consequences. Refuse to normalize constitutional violations simply because “everyone does it.” If you expect nothing, you will get nothing.

Do not hand your voice to the loudest warrior simply because he is swinging a bat at the establishment. You do not beat corruption by joining a different version of it. You beat it by modeling the country you want to preserve: principled, accountable, rooted in truth.

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Every republic reaches a moment when historians will later say, “That was the warning.” We are living in ours. But warnings are gifts if they are recognized. Institutions bend. People fail. The Constitution can recover — if enough Americans still know and cherish it.

It does not take a majority. Twenty percent of the country — awake, educated, and courageous — can reset the system. It has happened before. It can happen again.

Wake up. Stand up. Demand integrity — from leaders, from institutions, and from yourself. Because the Bubba effect will not end until Americans reclaim the duty that has always belonged to them: preserving the republic for the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Warning: Stop letting TikTok activists think for you

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Bad-faith attacks on Israel and AIPAC warp every debate. Real answers emerge only when people set aside scripts and ask what serves America’s long-term interests.

The search for truth has always required something very much in short supply these days: honesty. Not performative questions, not scripted outrage, not whatever happens to be trending on TikTok, but real curiosity.

Some issues, often focused on foreign aid, AIPAC, or Israel, have become hotbeds of debate and disagreement. Before we jump into those debates, however, we must return to a simpler, more important issue: honest questioning. Without it, nothing in these debates matters.

Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

The phrase “just asking questions” has re-entered the zeitgeist, and that’s fine. We should always question power. But too many of those questions feel preloaded with someone else’s answer. If the goal is truth, then the questions should come from a sincere desire to understand, not from a hunt for a villain.

Honest desire for truth is the only foundation that can support a real conversation about these issues.

Truth-seeking is real work

Right now, plenty of people are not seeking the truth at all. They are repeating something they heard from a politician on cable news or from a stranger on TikTok who has never opened a history book. That is not a search for answers. That is simply outsourcing your own thought.

If you want the truth, you need to work for it. You cannot treat the world like a Marvel movie where the good guy appears in a cape and the villain hisses on command. Real life does not give you a neat script with the moral wrapped up in two hours.

But that is how people are approaching politics now. They want the oppressed and the oppressor, the heroic underdog and the cartoon villain. They embrace this fantastical framing because it is easier than wrestling with reality.

This framing took root in the 1960s when the left rebuilt its worldview around colonizers and the colonized. Overnight, Zionism was recast as imperialism. Suddenly, every conflict had to fit the same script. Today’s young activists are just recycling the same narrative with updated graphics. Everything becomes a morality play. No nuance, no context, just the comforting clarity of heroes and villains.

Bad-faith questions

This same mindset is fueling the sudden obsession with Israel, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in particular. You hear it from members of Congress and activists alike: AIPAC pulls the strings, AIPAC controls the government, AIPAC should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The questions are dramatic, but are they being asked in good faith?

FARA is clear. The standard is whether an individual or group acts under the direction or control of a foreign government. AIPAC simply does not qualify.

Here is a detail conveniently left out of these arguments: Dozens of domestic organizations — Armenian, Cuban, Irish, Turkish — lobby Congress on behalf of other countries. None of them registers under FARA because — like AIPAC — they are independent, domestic organizations.

If someone has a sincere problem with the structure of foreign lobbying, fair enough. Let us have that conversation. But singling out AIPAC alone is not a search for truth. It is bias dressed up as bravery.

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If someone wants to question foreign aid to Israel, fine. Let’s have that debate. But let’s ask the right questions. The issue is not the size of the package but whether the aid advances our interests. What does the United States gain? Does the investment strengthen our position in the region? How does it compare to what we give other nations? And do we examine those countries with the same intensity?

The real target

These questions reflect good-faith scrutiny. But narrowing the entire argument to one country or one dollar amount misses the larger problem. If someone objects to the way America handles foreign aid, the target is not Israel. The target is the system itself — an entrenched bureaucracy, poor transparency, and decades-old commitments that have never been re-examined. Those problems run through programs around the world.

If you want answers, you need to broaden the lens. You have to be willing to put aside the movie script and confront reality. You have to hold yourself to a simple rule: Ask questions because you want the truth, not because you want a target.

That is the only way this country ever gets clarity on foreign aid, influence, alliances, and our place in the world. Questioning is not just allowed. It is essential. But only if it is honest.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

The melting pot fails when we stop agreeing to melt

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Texas now hosts Quran-first academies, Sharia-compliant housing schemes, and rapidly multiplying mosques — all part of a movement building a self-contained society apart from the country around it.

It is time to talk honestly about what is happening inside America’s rapidly growing Muslim communities. In city after city, large pockets of newcomers are choosing to build insulated enclaves rather than enter the broader American culture.

That trend is accelerating, and the longer we ignore it, the harder it becomes to address.

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world.

America has always welcomed people of every faith and people from every corner of the world, but the deal has never changed: You come here and you join the American family. You are free to honor your traditions, keep your faith, but you must embrace the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. You melt into the shared culture that allows all of us to live side by side.

Across the country, this bargain is being rejected by Islamist communities that insist on building a parallel society with its own rules, its own boundaries, and its own vision for how life should be lived.

Texas illustrates the trend. The state now has roughly 330 mosques. At least 48 of them were built in just the last 24 months. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex alone has around 200 Islamic centers. Houston has another hundred or so. Many of these communities have no interest in blending into American life.

This is not the same as past waves of immigration. Irish, Italian, Korean, Mexican, and every other group arrived with pride in their heritage. Still, they also raised American flags and wanted their children to be part of the country’s future. They became doctors, small-business owners, teachers, and soldiers. They wanted to be Americans.

What we are watching now is not the melting pot. It is isolation by design.

Parallel societies do not end well

More than 300 fundamentalist Islamic schools now operate full-time across the country. Many use Quran-first curricula that require students to spend hours memorizing religious texts before they ever reach math or science. In Dallas, Brighter Horizons Academy enrolls more than 1,700 students and draws federal support while operating on a social model that keeps children culturally isolated.

Then there is the Epic City project in Collin and Hunt counties — 402 acres originally designated only for Muslim buyers, with Sharia-compliant financing and a mega-mosque at the center. After public outcry and state investigations, the developers renamed it “The Meadows,” but a new sign does not erase the original intent. It is not a neighborhood. It is a parallel society.

Americans should not hesitate to say that parallel societies are dangerous. Europe tried this experiment, and the results could not be clearer. In Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, entire neighborhoods now operate under their own cultural rules, some openly hostile to Western norms. When citizens speak up, they are branded bigots for asserting a basic right: the ability to live safely in their own communities.

A crisis of confidence

While this separation widens, another crisis is unfolding at home. A recent Gallup survey shows that about 40% of American women ages 18 to 39 would leave the country permanently if given the chance. Nearly half of a rising generation — daughters, sisters, soon-to-be mothers — no longer believe this nation is worth building a future in.

And who shapes the worldview of young boys? Their mothers. If a mother no longer believes America is home, why would her child grow up ready to defend it?

As Texas goes, so goes America. And as America goes, so goes the free world. If we lose confidence in our own national identity at the same time that we allow separatist enclaves to spread unchecked, the outcome is predictable. Europe is already showing us what comes next: cultural fracture, political radicalization, and the slow death of national unity.

Brandon Bell / Staff | Getty Images

Stand up and tell the truth

America welcomes Muslims. America defends their right to worship freely. A Muslim who loves the Constitution, respects the rule of law, and wants to raise a family in peace is more than welcome in America.

But an Islamist movement that rejects assimilation, builds enclaves governed by its own religious framework, and treats American law as optional is not simply another participant in our melting pot. It is a direct challenge to it. If we refuse to call this problem out out of fear of being called names, we will bear the consequences.

Europe is already feeling those consequences — rising conflict and a political class too paralyzed to admit the obvious. When people feel their culture, safety, and freedoms slipping away, they will follow anyone who promises to defend them. History has shown that over and over again.

Stand up. Speak plainly. Be unafraid. You can practice any faith in this country, but the supremacy of the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian moral framework that shaped it is non-negotiable. It is what guarantees your freedom in the first place.

If you come here and honor that foundation, welcome. If you come here to undermine it, you do not belong here.

Wake up to what is unfolding before the consequences arrive. Because when a nation refuses to say what is true, the truth eventually forces its way in — and by then, it is always too late.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.