A Mugging on Lake Street

Chicago Mag ^ | September 2009 | John Conroy

[Bob017]

Interesting piece where a veteran liberal investigative reporter looks into his own beating and finds himself confronting harsh and lingering questions of race and the causes of crime.

" I’d gone downtown that day to talk to a man who had a dream of creating an agency of investigative journalists (a dream, but no funding), and I went to see him because I’m one of thousands of journalists who’ve lost their paychecks in the last two years. I was dismissed by the Chicago Reader in December 2007. (The New York Times noted the coincidence that I lost my job just as the Chicago City Council was set to approve a $19.8-million settlement for four African American men whose argument I’d ushered into public debate—that they’d been tortured by Chicago police under the command of Jon Burge.) Thus, as I scramble to make a living from freelance assignments, I should also be thankful that an editor solicited this story and kept the offer on the table until I overcame my reluctance. That editor was laid off while the contract was in the mail.

But it’s difficult to dress this in costume. I think of myself as a tolerant man, but that tolerance has been taxed by the pain and the consequence to my body and my life. At a moment when millions of Americans set race aside to vote for an African American presidential candidate, I’ve been forced by juveniles to look it square in the face. Last February, Attorney General Eric Holder said that we are a nation of cowards when it comes to addressing race. I plead guilty. There is no joy in writing this...

[Billthedrill]

I think you caught it there. "I don't hate anybody, so why should anybody hate me?" Son, it isn't a liberal world and some people hate everybody in it.

One grows impatient with this spate of navel-gazing. A long article yes, but can you imagine what it would have been like if, say, he'd shot the young thug in self-defense? How many moral and intellectual cartwheels would this poor sap have gone through if that had happened? Better just be a victim and shut up, friend - you'll feel better about yourself. If it had been me and I had, contrary to the enlightened policies of the Chicago Powers That Be, been armed, I'd be in prison. You get what you reward. Now let's re-examine why gangs of young thugs feel perfectly safe in mugging random people bicycling down the street.

[Interesting Times]

I was thinking about your words near the end - about your “karma bank.” It’s hard to think about, because when something like this happens, it’s Larry hitting John, not blacks hitting whites. But I think a certain amount of our collective karma does catch up with us sometimes. For the two hundred years of slavery, of lynchings, of making a intellectual justification for subjugating a group of people, of white flight, of Jim Crow - maybe you didn’t get what you deserve, but maybe you got what has been coming to us.

Talk is cheap, lady. Why not amble through the ghetto every day so the denizens can help you work off all that racial guilt?

[Godwin1]

A lot of overthinking going on here. White guy attacked without provocation in a Black neighborhood: of course it is racial. The kids are taught to hate white people. We know, after Rev. Wright was exposed, that at least some Black churches purvey hate. Even the most successful African-Americans appear poisoned with racial anger and hatred: the president, his wife, Eric Holder, most members of the Black Caucus,the now infamous Van Jones. The victim is just lucky the kids did not have a firearm.

[FlyingEagle]

Simple case of assault with intent to kill, racially motivated.

[Lurker]

I was dismissed by the Chicago Reader in December 2007

Ah yes. The Chicago Reader, a paper just chock full of left wing liberals, advertisements for hookers, and anonymous gay sex.

Personally I'm laughing my ass off that this liberal pussy got his ass whipped by a few of the feral 'youths' roaming the streets of Chicago.

[razorback-bert]

maybe you didn’t get what you deserve, but maybe you got what has been coming to us.

I hope she gets what is coming to her, so she won't feel left out.

[Dianna]

For the two hundred years of slavery, of lynchings, of making a intellectual justification for subjugating a group of people, of white flight, of Jim Crow - maybe you didn’t get what you deserve, but maybe you got what has been coming to us.

No she di'nt...

[elizabethgrace]

Yep!

[Gilbo_3]

Larrys 1 White Dude 0

cant believe I read that far into the comments either...

liberalism is a mental disease...proven by the authors admission of still riding those streets...

he prolly shoulda interviewed Reginald Denny before agreeing to the 'diversion' interview with racist future nba star 'larry'...

[BBell]

Good read. Thanks for posting.

[hiredhand]

Only a liberal tighty whitey could write an analysis like that on a mugging. He's an idiot... and if he doesn't brighten up just a tad, he'll be a dead idiot.

...and for the record, the incident certainly isn't isolated to black against white, as in the case of the author. Some of the meanest, most ignorant, hateful people I've ever met were white people, and it galled me more than anybody will ever know that they spoke as if I simply thought the way they did. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Ole boy on the bike better wise up before his liberalism kills him.

[AppyPappy]

In the criminal world, crimes are often described as “mistakes”. Mistakes do not require remorse. It’s just something that happened, like dialing a wrong phone number. That’s why Larry and his family wanted to blow the whole thing off. The victim was expecting some remorse but that is not how it works.

In the world of boys being raised by mommas, there is a quickness to excuse bad behavior. Bad fathers tend to ignore bad behavior but bad mommas will make excuses and claim their son is being “picked on”. The violence exhibited by their sons is like a form of harmless “venting”. The victim must have done something or better yet, he is part of a greater conspiracy to keep their son down therefore he deserved it.

You know it is bad when a white woman comes into the school when her son messes up and claims her son is being picked on because his father is black. A white person waving the race card even though most of the black kids in the school have white mommas. It’s not like he is unique.

[Bob017]

“In the world of boys being raised by mommas, there is a quickness to excuse bad behavior. Bad fathers tend to ignore bad behavior but bad mommas will make excuses and claim their son is being “picked on”. The violence exhibited by their sons is like a form of harmless “venting”.”

Interesting analyis, sounds like that was indeed the case here.