Posted on 03/08/2010 6:28:04 PM PST by Justaham
Two students at the University of Missouri-Columbia were suspended Wednesday after their arrests in a case of cotton balls thrown across the lawn of the campus black-culture center.
Campus police on Tuesday evening arrested the students, one of whom is from the St. Louis area, on suspicion of a felony hate crime. The two were released on bond, and charges were pending.
The incident happened early Friday at the Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, near the middle of campus. Nathan Stephens, the center's coordinator, said students were offended because of the 'symbolic violence' that harkened to days of slavery on cotton plantations."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsblaze.com ...
Would Q-tips count as half a hate crime?
Yes. It was clearly racist in intent. I hope few here come to their defense.
Probably receives a double-ended sentence.
A felony hate crime? Absolutely not.
Give me a break. Racist? Really?
This is no different than when kids toilet paper houses. Classless for sure, but racist?
The last thing we should do is give the political correctness whores any more ammo? God knows if they had vandalized a Confederate graveyard you would see people cheering them.
Were they cotton, milled in the American South? Or were they polyester, manufactured in China? Inquiring public defenders want to know...
It probably was. Does that still mean it’s right to charge them with federal felony charges?
Nope - but I remember flying over a golf course dropping stale marshmallows ....
I don’t have to defend them to call hate crime legislation pathetic and unconstitutional. The pathetic whiney asses who got their panties in a wad over this need to grow the hell up and move on.
What was that line from Atlas Shrugged? Make everything a crime so you have a nation of law-breakers walking around?
I'm not going to defend the idiots, but the charge of "felony hate crime" disturbs me very much.
Yes, it was stupid and apparently intended to stir up racial sh*t. (Pranksters love to pick on people who squeal.) But I’m skeptical that it was worth calling it a “felony hate crime” (what are those love crimes, anyhow?).
Black folks should be aware, however that the cotton business, or the black nexus with it, didn’t end with the banning of slavery. Free plantations existed prior to the Emancipation Proclamation. Many former slaves stayed as paid workers when slavery was banned. Other former slaves saved money and bought cotton plantations and some became wealthy that way. Mechanized cotton picking did not come until decades later.
Unlike the recent San Diego incidents, here the perps were actually white. Of course, this is racism. Whether it rises to the level of a felony is questionable.
Stupid prank in poor taste does not equal a felony.
When I first moved to Dallas the New Black Panther Party was walking around downtown making sure prime parking spaces were filled by black drivers only. They threatened me when I parked in a “black space” and I was shocked. The police did nothing and no one seemed to care.
That should be a felony hate crime because it was a threat of violence to keep someone from a public space. Nobody cared.
This was a prank that threatened nothing and everybody cares.
Give me a break.
How is decorating a field with cotton balls racism? I mean seriously?
Both - but one time my girlfriend was the bomber ... we’d fly over this yuppie 9 hole course and let fly during a tournament ...
My great grandmother had a great line about “Sticks and stones” that has served me well over the years. Its why I don’t care if anyone calls me a racist.
I sure hope they never allow Mother Nature to allow dandelions to go seed-head on their lawn.
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