More on the Christopher Lane murder
Today the WSJ publishes an editorial pretty much along the same lines as my piece on the subject from yesterday.
From the WSJ:
The death of Christopher Lane, while as troubling as that of Trayvon Martin, will not become a national touchstone of racial and cultural debate or reflection.
But maybe it should…
There won’t be any debate over “stand your ground” laws or self-defense in this case because Lane had no chance to defend himself. There is no evidence so far of a racial motive. Lane seems to have been shot simply because he was there…
Some are focusing on the ease of obtaining a gun in the U.S., as (inevitably) is the reflexive CNN, and it would almost be a relief if we could blame such a murder on guns.
Then we wouldn’t have to focus on a culture that produces teenagers for whom the prospect of shooting an innocent man in the back on a Friday evening apparently raised not a scintilla of conscience. That is the deeper tragedy, and the real scandal, of too much of American life.
That is also an issue of far greater consequence to the future of young black men than the acquittal of George Zimmerman in his awful showdown with Trayvon. If only Mr. Sharpton and his fellow black leaders paid attention to what was missing in the lives of those three teenagers. Maybe President Obama would even care to use it as one of his teachable moments.
Fat chance.
One person who is using it as a teachable moment is James Johnson, the father of another boy who was threatened by the trio. It was Johnson who made the call to police that led to the arrest of the three.
Yesterday I called Johnson a hero for several reasons. Today we have a videotape (hat tip: “carl in atlanta“) in which he states he thinks the Chris Lane killing (and several further killings that he says were planned by the group) was a gang initiation. Johnson (who knows the three suspects well) also cites lack of fathering as a factor:
Wish we could clone this guy.
Note, also, what he says about the tightness of the black community in Duncan, Oklahoma. I speculated about that yesterday in this comment:
Also, Duncan Oklahoma is a VERY white town…the town is only 1% African-American and over 90% white. I have little doubt that the three suspects knew many black people in town, of course. But a randomly selected victim would almost certainly have been white.
I’m assuming that all three suspects lived in Duncan. Do the math: Duncan has a population of about 22,500. If about 1% are African-American, as stated in the link, that would be about 225 people. So this would be a very small group in which many would almost certainly be known to the others.
Again, I want to caution that these facts do not mean the motives weren’t racial. They may very well have been; we just don’t know.
What we do know is that Obama not only has declined to use the Lane murder as that sort of “teachable moment,” but that his only comments on the matter so far have been the following:
This sounds like a pretty tragic case,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest replied when told about the murder of Christopher Lane. Earnest said that he hadn’t heard about the murder previously…
Earnest said that Obama’s comments after the Trayvon Martin case apply here. “[T]he president I think himself has spoken pretty eloquently about violence,” Earnest said when asked why Obama commented on the killing of Martin but not of Lane. “He expressed his concern about the impact of violence in communities across the country,” he added, referring to Obama’s comments after the Martin case.
Obama’s comments after the Martin case? First there were some off-the-cuff remarks about how Obama identified with Trayvon Martin. Then he gave a speech after the not guilty verdict was rendered, the text of which is here. In it, the president focused mainly on airing African-American grievances about profiling (including reminiscences about his own experience in that regard), empathizing with the grief of the African-American community without mentioning anything about Zimmerman or his family, asserting the need to have still another “conversation” about race, fighting against stand your ground laws (which had nothing to do with the case), ascribing African-American violence and poverty to “a very difficult history” (i.e. slavery and discrimination), and calling for a federal program to give young young African American men “the sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them.”
Extrapolating from those previous remarks, it’s difficult not to conclude that in the Lane case Obama identifies more with the accused killers and their families than the victim of their attack (whom he has not mentioned), that he would like to work in some further gun restrictions if he could (which probably would have little or no relevance to the facts of the case), that he thinks the killers were angry about profiling, that their violence was motivated by that same “difficult history,” and that they need to know we care. Not a word about the actual influences that seem to have come into play here: gangs, father absence and the breakdown of the family in general, and a popular culture that glorifies and extols senseless and nihilistic violence as a way to prove that one has the requisite toughness to enter manhood.
I know there have been discussions many times about the attempts by those on the left to blame public figures such as Sarah Palin for the actions of mentally deranged individuals. Will any of those same finger-pointers now even hint that the ridiculous hype over Trayvon Martin’s death and the uninformed or deliberately misleading narratives may be playing a role in recent black-on-white violence?
Democrats get to hype up a mob, lynching, criminal escapade and they don’t get into trouble. The rest of you, however, are under different standards. Such is the feel of the totalitarian boot, in some ways.
So the lesson we’re supposed to have gained from the Trayvon shooting is that you shouldn’t reflexively assume that a black youth (in a hoodie – for some reason) is dangerous.
And the lesson from the Lane murder is -what? – that you shouldn’t just assume you’re safe jogging by several black youths because they might be bored. Or wanting to impress their Crips friends.
Head spinning.
Today’s news reports say the likely shooter was dancing with glee when arrested, and made a mockery of his arraignment, and that these thugs had all sorts of gang and gun shots, hints that they were out to shoot somebody, and anti-white statements on their social media–all reported in the British press, but in the U.S. MSM not so much. So, their racial motive to kill a white at random seems very clear to me.
It is painfully obvious to all with eyes to see and ears to hear that this kind of savagery is what you get when you replace Judeo-Christianity’s heretofore nearly universal permeation of society, and the moral and behavioral structure and expectations it taught, with a similarly near total permeation by a neo-Paganism in which there are no rules and standards, and pretty much anything goes.
When the “culture”–when TV, movies, and video games with their powerful visual images and messages are saturated with amorality, sex, violence and drugs, when music, particularly Rap–with its violence, sex, and drugs, when the “thug life”–made glamorous–with its criminality and easy money, lots of fast cars, fancy, expensive clothes and bling, misogyny and plenty of ho’s to dominate, use, and kick around is made attractive and what kids see should be emulated.
When punishments are no longer harsh, the law increasingly lax and impotent, non-judgementalism the ideal, nobody takes responsibility for their actions and their consequences, everybody is a “victim” with an easy excuse, and nothing is anybody’s fault.
When the formerly reasonably stable family structure is fractured, when abortion–with its coarsening of respect for life and maternal feelings–is rampant, marriage and childbirth within an intact family are no longer encouraged, there are more and more single or absentee parents caught up in their own personal gratifications, and the behavior and virtues of discipline, hard work, preparation, honesty, persistence, starting from the bottom, and high aspirations that religion fostered are no longer taught in schools.
It took Christianity more than a thousand years to “civilize” and then another thousand to keep reasonably civilized a formerly Pagan world, but it’s taken only two or three generations to make a very good start at reversing nearly all of that progress.
Wolla Dalbo,
You wrote: “When . . . the law [is] increasingly lax and impotent. . . .” You have touched on a thought that I have considered for quite some time.
(Alert: this will divert the thread’s conversation, so reply at your own risk)
Laws must have a moral foundation to be both reasonable and expected to be followed. Regulations, on the other hand, are not laws, but procedures designed by unelected bureaucrats and without any fundamental moral purpose. We are becoming more and more a nation of regulations rather than a nation of laws; in other words, we are becoming increasingly law-less. It’s an inverse relationship.
Interesting concept T; and no doubt valid in many aspects of daily life.
On the other hand there are clear laws that pertain to this case. There are definitive laws about who can own guns; in every state and locale. These three would not qualify under any circumstances. There are even more definitive laws about committing murder.
This kind of lawlessness has it roots somewhere outside the scope of bureaucratic regulations. I would suggest it is rooted in a culture of hate; a culture that is fed by very visible and vocal individuals and organizations, and tolerated by a larger group that simply wants to get along.
Cliches have their roots in reality. “You reap what you sow” is one that applies.
Galatians 6:7-9 — King James Version (KJV)
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
The odds that the chosen victim was not a result of racial animus are exceedingly rare.
WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, dies
White. Hot. Rage.
Yeah, we’re going to have a race war, all right. I think it’s pretty inevitable at this point.
The blacks have already started it. The question is, when do the whites decide to fight back?
While I agree that in this video this father of one kid makes sense there is one (albeit nitpicking) issue that I don’t like:
“These kids are good kids” he says.
NO, they are NOT good kids. “Good kids” don’t do the kind of crap these kids did. They are not good kids, they are heartless animals. period.
I somewhat agree with Rickl, a race war is coming. The question is can we do something to stop it? Could we please elect leaders who will face this issue head on and deal with it by telling the so-called (really, they are media and self-anointed) “black” leaders to cut out their anti-white crap and deal with the issues facing lower-class blacks before it is too late.
Blacks are rarely victimized by whites in armed robbery, murder, assault or rape. That was the fallacy about the Duke lacrosse case. White males rarely rape black females. About 90% of interracial crime is black on white. Young, lower class black males are a threat to all. As Charles said, we have to sort this out.
rickl: “Yeah, we’re going to have a race war, all right. I think it’s pretty inevitable at this point.”
It’s not really a race war, even though it may seem that way. It’s a war between those who believe in law and order and the uneducated blacks who are egged on by the race hustlers and condoned by the democrats. There are many good, law abiding blacks. People who think and act just like any law abiding citizen of any other color. They shouldn’t be lumped in with the thugs in the black community.
That’s one reason I disagree with Robert Oculus . He wants to stuff all blacks into a category of uncivilized savages. It just isn’t so. There are many white thugs among us as well. As single motherhood increases in the white community, we will see more young white men getting into the same kind of trouble.
The problem is, as stated by James Johnson, young men with time on their hands and stimulants like the rap, gang-banger culture and race hustlers are going to do unbelievably stupid, evil things.
Johnson’s statement that these were good boys probably referred to the fact that most boys are not inherently evil, but they can go bad rather quickly due to a lack of supervision and bad examples set by rap celebrities and race hustlers.
What they’ve done is unforgivable and irreparable. It’s a tragedy of immense sadness for Christopher Lane’s family. Even if the perps are put to death, it won’t bring their son back. We can only hope that severe punishment might deter other young boys from doing such evil things.
The solution to this kind of thing is not a race war. Even though we are white hot with anger and feel like something must be done, spilling blood may seem a satisfying short term solution but will not treat the root cause. The long term solution is intact families and proper parenting. Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen unless our leaders and the many LIVs who vote for progressivism start understanding that there are very good reasons why the family has long been the center of Western civilization.
You are exactly right, J. J. As horrific as this murder was the vast majority of the victims of black gang violence are themselves black. It happens every day on the streets of Detroit, Oakland and elsewhere.
“egged on by the race hustlers and condoned by the democrats”. Yes. But unfortunately – no, not just unfortunately but disastrously – there is political payoff for the Democrats in stoking racial resentment (and other identity group resentment a la Sandra Fluke). It’s all they have since their policies and accomplishments have been epic fail. And it is really, really bad for the country.
Here is a chilling example of what I was just talking about:
Hate crimes faked at Oberlin
There is nothing ‘we’ can do to stop this race war. It only takes one side to declare war. The other side either buries its head in the sand (which the US did back in the ’90s when Osama bin Dead declared war on us) or they fight back. We have no way to stop it short of preemptive measures. Of course, those preemptive measures will set the race baiters seething all the more, creating more animus between the racial groups.
No, there’s nothing we can do to stop the race war short of surrendering to all the calls for reparations from whitey. This crackuh ain’t gonna go for that.
And as far as the argument above about there being good blacks, well, there are claims going around that there are good muslims, too. But I don’t hear blacks, just like muslims, ever condemn the violence in their own community. It’s always whitey’s/US’ fault. These good blacks better start speaking up NOW. Because once the SHTF, it’ll be way too late.
One of the black killers, Edwards, said in his social media that he hates white people and that he has “knocked off 5 of them” since the Martin trial. He calls whites “woods” which is a derogatory term for whites. (who knew?) There will probably more evidence that this crime was racially motivated but the msm will supress it.
It was to their advantage that the town was 90%white. It made their goal easier.
While the father who alerted the killers to the police is admirable. I don’t think I can call him a hero. He did what he was supposed to do as a father and a citizen. A father is supposed to live with his chilfren and teach them morals. He did his job as a father. A hero risks his life to save others.
Except for the statements of the murderers.
Short for “peckerwood”.
And, really, what can we expect when the president calls his campaigning organization “ofay”?
Kit,
‘Woods’ is short for ‘Peckerwoods’.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=peckerwood
and
Sorry, Rob Crawford, I didn’t see your post before I made mine. Refresh is my friend.
My father-in-law, a wonderful man and outstanding citizen, lived his whole life in Arkansas up close and personal with blacks where the population was 40% black. He knew that some of them were bad people but that most of them were good and he had black friends and patients. (He was a Dr.) He called himself a “peckerwood.” To him and many of his friends it was a humorous way to describe themselves as country bred southerners. I never got any sense that it was a term of derision. That doesn’t mean that some do consider to be an insult, but I never heard it used that way.
RickZ: “But I don’t hear blacks, just like muslims, ever condemn the violence in their own community.” You aren’t watching enough Fox News. They have a number of black contributors who condemn it in no uncertain terms. Of course they are all called race traitors and Uncle Toms by the race hustlers and progs. The MSM will never, ever show any of these people or air their opinions. It would destroy their narrative of racial injustice. The “racial injustice” narrative is just like the “war on women” narrative – a useful political tool for the progs.
JJ,
To be honest, I don’t care what blacks, or anyone else for that matter, say on any news channel opinion show; that’s just fluff. I want to see rallies decrying the racial violence, just as they did with the trumped up Trayvon Martin crap. I want to see marches and protests against the murderous violence emanating from within the black community by their feral children. That is what I meant by blacks are not speaking up. Besides, how many libbies do you think watch Faux News in the first place?
Rob Crawford:
As far as “the statements of the murderers” go–
Only one (Jones, the driver) has been quoted as speaking of motive, and he cited boredom.
Only one(a different one) has a history of anti-white statements on Twitter (Edwards). We don’t know how active he was in making the decision about the victim, or why Lane was chosen. The shooter was Luna; we know little about him and his motives, except what Jones has said for all three of them.
It remains to be seen what the actual motive was in the killing itself. Edwards is certainly a racist, however.
And of course we know the opinion of Mr. Johnson, who seems to know all three, and says it was a gang initiation but does not cite a specifically racial motive.
Looking for motives, to me, is a distinction without a difference. Is there a good reason (motive) to randomly kill someone in cold blood? To look for “why” some people do such things is almost like trying to excuse it. Bad childhood, being poor are not a reason to commit evil. Sometimes evil is just that, evil, and should be labeled as such. It’s too bad, almost criminal, but the “Great Society” is to blame for much of the problems our country faces today. The black family went through slavery, Jim Crow and terrible discrimination and remained strong, but in 50 years has been savaged by “benevolence” of big government.
As a black man, this is my perspective. Blacks will make every excuse they can to say there is not a racial motive to the killing. I have one thing to say to whites in this country. There is a race war happening in this country, you better wake up. I’m a law enforcement officer, I know that many blacks have a deep seeded hatred of whites. My wife and have plans to leave the U.S. in a few years. Good luck to all of you that plan to stick it out.
Daniel P.Moynihan saw all this coming and he was pilloried. Google Moynihan Report.
Rick Z, good point about wanting to see rallies and demonstrations. The problem is that any conservative minded blacks who take to the streets will be scorned by the race hustlers, the MSM, and the democrat party. They would be treated just like the TEA Party only attacked even more strongly because they are “traitors to their race.” Only the most outspoken and visible of them are on “Faux News.” That doesn’t mean there aren’t quite a number of them.
One thing I have noticed about blacks who have made it out of the black neighborhoods (One of them is a neighbor of mine.) is that they just want to keep their heads down. They don’t want to offend the poor blacks but they especially don’t want to call attention to themselves in the white neighborhoods where they live, which are usually filled with leftists. (As mine is.)
L. Reed: ” I have one thing to say to whites in this country. There is a race war happening in this country, you better wake up. ”
Yes, we here at neo’s get the picture. The question is, how does a majority of the people get the message? We have a government that can’t even name our foreign enemies. How do we get them to name our domestic enemies? We have a MSM that is in helping them shape the narrative. The war can only be fought and won if the forces of local, state, and national law enforcement are in the fight. If they have no direction and support from their leaders and the majority of citizens, they can’t win. As a law enforcement officer you must see this. Otherwise why would you be planning on leaving?
Jimmy J.
I am not just a black law enforcement officer, I am very conservative. In my 30 years, I have not met one male black conservative, that includes in law enforcement. the progressives, leftist, liberals, whatever they call themselves, have control of the courts, schools, lawyer bars, and most of the State’s governments. I came to recognize this long ago. The election of POTUS was no accident. It was planned long ago. I’m 55 yrs. old, I just don’t have the energy to fight anymore. I’m going to take my money and the sanity that I left and enjoy the rest of my life away from all this and what is already here and coming down the road. We have lost, it’s over.
L. Reed @ &:02 . . .
I’ve lived in Chicago almost all my life, and recently have been thinking about where I could go when the city runs out of money and the mobs start looting. I’ve noticed a lot of hostile people on my main commercial street in the past few years (not just blacks but also including blacks).
I understand your feelings about wanting to live in a nice safe quiet place where one doesn’t have to interact with socially disturbed people.
I’m just curious . . . where do you think such a place exists? Any place I think of seems to have major drawbacks for an older person just moving in.
J.J.,
Just to clarify: I didn’t use the word conservative blacks. I used just the word blacks. I was actually thinking of protests from the race baiters like Greasy Al and ‘Cut Off His Nuts’ Jackson. Honestly, a protest by ‘conservative’ blacks wouldn’t accomplish anything, just as whites protesting down every MLK Blvd in every city that has one would be useless. But I know the contortionist extortionists will never criticize their own. Not criticizing their own is most definitely a Democrat Party/progressive trait. Republicans went after Nixon along with the Dems. Now the Dems are busy going after anyone who criticizes Chocolate Jesus.
L. Reed:
I don’t remember seeing you comment here before, but I hope you stick around here at Neo’s place, whether you stay in the U.S. or not. Your input is welcome.
I’ve made a couple of intemperate comments here in the past few days, born out of increasing frustration and anger. Alcohol may have also been involved.
I wasn’t raised to hate black people.* I’m also 55, and I’ve lived in the North all my life, so I never experienced life in the Jim Crow era.
(*My parents were from Maryland, and my mom said that she witnessed a lynching when she was a child. I wish I had asked her about that while she was alive. I’ve done a little research online, and found a few possibilities as to which one it was.)
But I have a hard time understanding why race relations seemed to deteriorate as soon as the civil rights laws were passed in the 1960s. Almost immediately, there were riots in dozens of cities around the country. Then along came the Black Panthers* and the Black Power movement.
If I had to guess, I’d say that it was Communist infiltrators throwing a monkey wrench into race relations that should have been improving. We know that they were involved in the antiwar and environmental movements.
(*About 25 years ago I knew a guy who said he was an ex-Panther. He was pretty much a recluse and a shut-in who spent most of his time tending his incredible jazz collection. I didn’t get the impression that he hated white people.)
Promethea:
I have actively looked outside the country as well as inside the country for a place that I can be self-sufficient, grow raise and grow my own food, plenty of water resources, etc. I have visited places in small town areas of East, TN, Texas, and Kentucky. Before and when I research these places, the first thing I do is look at the demographics. It is really sad and hurts me to say this as a black man, but I have just seen too much: If an area has a population of more than 1 to 3 percent of Blacks, or the democrats control the local government, there’s no way in hell I would contemplate moving there. When it all starts, and it will, I want to be able to protect my wife and I. For decades White Americans have not paid attention to what’s going on. Will it take the murder of Chris Lane for people to finally stand up and pay attention? I don’t think so. So that’s why I have decided to secure whatever money I have, and get out of here. I have found I small farming town in a Country in S. America, where I plan to purchase a small 2-acre farm. I sometimes lose sleep over the thought of leaving my country the way I am. I wrestle with fact that maybe I’m a coward for not standing my ground, or even trying to persuade my very liberal Obama loving family (brothers, sister, cousins). I found the task to be useless. I truly hope that there is an awakening in our Country before God takes me. If there is, I will come back to our wonderful land.
L Reed,
The America that we loved misses you already.
I do hope you can come back to our wonderful land if it is ever wonderful again.
All the best to a fellow conservative.
Kit
L Reed . . .
Thanks for your answer. It’s funny, but after reading on the internet so many people’s descriptions of their lives, I also chose Kentucky or Tennessee.
I guess Instapundit made a big impression on me. If hundreds of thousands of former-liberal refugees move to Knoxville or thereabouts, the locals can blame him for this mass migration.
My entire family, except for one single person, are liberals without a clue. Of course, I’m just day-dreaming here. I’ll probably stay here or move to a place with relatives.
I’m a lot older than you are, so I can be less proactive. As a law enforcement officer, you have great skills, which would be welcome anywhere.
On Thursday night in Boston, a white guy walked out of a Burger King in Copley Square (a few yards from the first marathon bomb site) and was shot dead by a black man in an apparent “random shooting”. Of course, you’d be hard pressed to find a description of the shooter online now…and the Boston press are doing their best to squelch this story.
The more the media and the governments deny the racist black attacks against whites all across the country, in their attempt to limit the damage, the more explosive the backlash will be once it erupts. And it will erupt. You can’t keep sweeping under the carpet these crimes, their motivations and the racial identity of the perpetrators, not in this day and age of instant personal communication of information and ideas on a global scale (the internet), and expect no reaction. The media’s slanting/hiding the news is a pressure cooker explosion in the making, no different than The Boston Marathon Bombers, and just as deliberate.
A lot of people back in 2008 or before, considered the Leftist alliance to be some kind of political issue, that can be solved with campaigns, social reform, or slogans. They considered George Soros to be just some guy with money using it for his free speech. They thought that Democrats were much alike to Republicans.
If they haven’t learned to recognize what it is they are dealing and who it is they are dealing with, the Left will educate them soon enough. Count on it.
The more of them there are out there amongst the populace, the more America deserves to be burned to ashes and rebuilt anew. Remember that. Collective punishment and sin, is not yet gone from this earth.
We have lost, it’s over.
I’ll only accept we have lost when we’ve killed 99% of the Leftist alliance.
Then if I lose, I’ll accept it then. Until then, however… there are things left to do. “Extreme options” people like to call “extreme” to make themselves feel better about sitting around and shopping at Amazon, for some reason.
If I had to guess, I’d say that it was Communist infiltrators throwing a monkey wrench into race relations that should have been improving.
It was Muslims actually. Black Panthers were a primarily Muslim, black liberation theology based doctrine. Whether they found Mohammed or Mohammed found them, is unknown as of this time. But Communist agitators were certainly involved as well, they just weren’t particularly known for their favor of using religious tools.
Both Martin Luther King and Malcom X, leaders of the black fight for freedom, were executed by certain factions associated with the Black Panthers. Primarily because they could have contested control of the black community to their future plantation lords.
Lyndon Johnson signed a welfare law into popular, which essentially destroyed the black middle class. Without a middle class to aspire to, drugs, crime, and black liberation churches were all that was left. Certainly Malcom X and MLKj were too dead to say much about it then.
Hate for members of the Leftist alliance is good and required for there to be a successful war. But it’s only the starting step, the first step of many. Afterwards, one requires resources, leadership, organization, and training.
Hate for the Left, comes directly from a reaction with love for humanity, America, people, or the weak. The more you love those things, the more you hate that which hurts and destroys them. The less you love them, the more fake and weak your love, the less powerful your hate as well.
Overall, love and hate form the two mixtures that when combined, produces real human motivation. As opposed to the other weak or fake motivations. The weak sauce is no good for a war.
Those who find themselves angry, should devote more efforts to improving their own capabilities and training themselves. A useful guideline I’ve learned is that anger or hate is only true when the person that feels it is getting ready to kill someone. Getting angry on the internet, while sitting around in a chair talking… is perhaps an exercise in self masochism. Nothing will ever be accomplished by words and emotions. It takes actions to get things done.