“When Marjon Rostami and Dave Forster were beaten on the night of April 14 by a gang of marauders at the corner of Church Street and Brambleton Ave in Norfolk, it was not news, at least not according to the Virginian Pilot. The community is outraged, in part, because we all know that had a gang of whites attacked two black reporters, it would have been a national story. This is the inherent injustice and divisiveness of racial politics.
A persistent question about the incident is whether this was a hate crime? That is the question the media and others want answered, as if an assault on two people by a mob is far less serious if it is not motivated by hatred. To show how absurd it became, inferences were drawn that it could not be a hate crime because Rostami is Iranian. Thank God that Dennis Finley, Pilot Editor and racial expert has declared that Marjon is white. I believe that hate crimes legislation is unconstitutional, but for the sake of argument, if this had been a white mob attacking two identifiably minority people, it would automatically have been deemed a hate crime.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the whole incident was the statements of young black residents of the area. Safari Tripp, a black man who lives in the area, told a local TV station, “If you’re by yourself or you’re not from around here or you don’t know anybody around here, you’re a target. Automatically.”
This is a problem of lawlessness rather than one of race. Assaults and murders take place in urban communities all the time. The real need is for leadership that is not bound by the chains of political correctness, not willing to make excuses for lawlessness, but demands effective law enforcement for all of our citizens and holds the media accountable for playing racial games with the lives of people. It is time to call our communities and our country together as “one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.”
Sorry, failed to mention the press conference today is at 2 pm. If you live in VA you need to hear E.W. Jackson!
“Safari Tripp, a black man who lives in the area, told a local TV station, “If you’re by yourself or you’re not from around here or you don’t know anybody around here, you’re a target. Automatically.””
And members of this culture wonder why attitudes about them persist.
this is plain speaking, I like this man.
Hey, this sounds like a GREAT American. I hope he gets elected.
Check out his site.