Some LTTE and Reader Comments:
Subway attack
The subway attack on Sean Patrick Conroy (Inquirer, March 29) brought back some disturbing memories. In 1986, my brother and I were on the Broad Street line heading to LaSalle University. We were viciously attacked - for amusement - by 10 students. Unlike Conroy, we were able to fight back and hold some of the perpetrators until the police arrived. I suffered a broken nose and lacerations.
Many things in the stories are similar: black males attacking white victims, the SEPTA police doing a fantastic job, and the perpetrators' lives being ruined.
And, once again, the family and educational structures have failed, so the criminal justice system must provide relief. What a shame.
Joe Truitt Ambler
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What would the reaction to the beating death of Sean Patrick Conroy have been if he were black and the five youths were white? Would there be an automatic assumption that the motive was race-related? I don't know the answer, but if we are to continue to debate race issues as Obama makes his march toward the presidency, this type of tough question must be asked.
Robert Watterson, Philadelphia
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I take issue with the characterization of the attack on Mr. Conroy as "random." Mr. Conroy was probably singled out because he was white.
To conclude, without evidence, that this attack was perpetrated "for no reason" is to dismiss the possibility of this being a racial hate crime. Why do we presume that white people can only be perpetrators of racial hate crimes, and not also their victims?
Ross Chapman, Philadelphia
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It is amazing how several black youths jumped a white male, and it is not a hate crime. If it were white teens who jumped a black male, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been on the first plane to Killadelphia.
I think these punks should be tried as adults when caught, and also seek the death penalty. But I'm sure they will get off because they come from a broken home.
Diane L. Veteri
Lindenwold, N.J.
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When Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama used the thoughtless term "typical white person," was he referring in general to a decent man like Sean Conroy?
I assume that the senator, local politicians, members of the media and black community leaders will not utter as nonchalantly as Obama spoke of a Caucasian stereotype the term "typical young black person" to describe this cowardly group of criminals.
John Leonard, Philadelphia
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I'm outraged that this is called a random attack. If the victim were a black male attacked by white teens, it would be viewed as a racial attack. My thoughts and prayers go out to this young man's fiancée and his family.
Maybe someone with enough courage will come out and start noticing that there is a such thing as reverse discrimination.
Joann Vance, Williamstown, N.J.
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I assume Barack Obama's grandmother was a Philadelphia subway rider. He says she's "a typical white person," scared when she sees black people on the street. After hearing about the murder of Sean Patrick Conroy and how he was attacked for fun, I have to ask where Obama gets his intelligence.
Joseph Messina, Philadelphia
If they cared TV stations would be "SPONDATIOUSLY BLOWING UP"...
I have already told my fiance that if I ever see this happening, I am getting involved and let the chips fall where they may.
Charge them as adults.....with a hate crime.
Until it is publicly identified, the evil can hide anywhere and everywhere. Until we ALL sit at the table and use the same language, the evil will remain undefeated. And some will profit mightily.
The last comment was close to being right. In Obama’s book, he tells the story of how his grandmother encountered an aggressive pan handler at the bus stop, a Black pan handler, who frightened her.
Well, I’ve encountered some aggressive pan handlers in Seattle, too, and they frighten me. One of them actually sat down at a table with me in Starbucks and started pressuring me.
The truly scary scenario is if Obama gets elected, and then something ‘happens’ to him.
I don’t endorse or support that, but instead cringe at how it would rip our country up. Our enemies on the far shores know this, and would try to make it happen.
Most major US cities would become hell-towns, and the infiltration by foreigners would step up in the confusion.
That’s why I think Obama poses the biggest threat to our country.
I wish I had the old R. Crum cover "City of Brotherly Love" which shows a group of Philly whites and blacks beating the crap out of eachother. This was from the early 1960s.
Philly has a LONG history of interracial violence. In the old days, it was largely white on black, but since the late 1960s, it has switched to black on white.
The last time I can remember a large scale white on black incident was when a riot nearly broke out in SW Philly when a black family tried to move into a poor white neighborhood in the late 1980s.
All of this points to the fact that Philly is one of the most racially backward places in 21st Century America.
“...four teens inexplicably attacked...”
“... wonder why no one has turned in the other teens, or what could have prompted them in the first place to attack an innocent guy...”
Whoever wrote those words knows why, and is deliberately trying to stop us from thinking about it.
It wasn’t inexplicable. It was a hate crime. Blacks attack Whites. That’s a hate crime.
What prompted them to attack is the hatred for Whites that they learned from their elders and their Rev Wright type ministers.
Anyone who tries to justify blacks attacking Whites is equally guilty.
CW2 Ping?
Sad ping.
Still, Wright speaks English. The mullahs speak hate in Arabic and make pleasantries in English. Wright speaks hate and pleasantries both in English. Hooray for Wright speaking out! Because he at least is like the dog that barks before biting.
I am happy there are fellows like Joe Truitt and his brother. Hooray for the Truitt brothers!
I had this happen to me. I was walking through a parking lot and a group of African-Americans were gathered around a car. I heard someone say, “hey there’s a white guy, let’s git him!”
By the time I turned, there was an unknown number of guys jumping me. Luckily, this was on an Army post and right next to my baracks. The baracks cleared out and a brawl ensued, so my damage was pretty minimal. Then I got in trouble for “inciting a brawl!”
Rascism is racism, regardless of the aggressors!
More arrests:
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080402_3_more_teens_held_in_fatal_Center_City_attack.html
Need advice from you guys, because I worry that I may be the next hate crime victim. I live alone in a wooded area, a small older white woman. I’ve complained to UPS several times that their driver drops my packages on the road 100 yards from my house, making no attempt to come up my driveway. Anyone could walk or drive along and pick up those packages, as no houses face the road.
The errant driver is a black man. I did complain three times to UPS. Last week, he delivered a box at a time when I happened to be coming home. We talked, or HE talked, giving me the okey doke about how hard my driveway is to navigate, the power lines overhead are too low. I told him that if he’d bother to come up the road during the last nine months, he see that I’ve had trees taken out and the cable and electric companies have tightened the wires.
Two days later, last Thursday, he came up to my gate, then got out and started yelling that the lines had not been raised. Well, they had been, but apparently not high enough for his truck — though DHL and FedEx have had no problems.
I took mop from the carport to hold up the wire, but something fell into my eye, and I ran into the house to get goggles and clean out my eye. When I came out, he had gone. About two minutes later, he came stomping up on my porch and pounded on my door. When I opened the door (a mistake) I could see he was in a rage. He managed to hold onto it and just shout at me: “I backed down the driveway.” And off he stomped again, leaving me shaken and terrified.
Here’s my problem. If he were white, I’d have complained to the company immediately with a phone call followed by a letter to various execs including the CEO. But BEcause He Is Black, I’m afraid to say anything, as he may try to get back at me....next year when the house burns down, who will I suspect?
So what do I do? I thought I might go down to the police station and ask them. I know they are VERY careful about who drives around this island, very protective.
I’ve written to various online vendors asking whether they can please please send packages any way but UPS, and if not, I will not order from them again.
But getting in touch with UPS and lodging a complaint, or at least tactfully suggesting anger management for this man seems risky.
What do you think?
Thanks,
Ms. Veto
These inner city gang ‘youths’ are just misunderstood kids that need a break. Former Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales said so. This nonsense is tolerated by both parties.
Ping
The real tragedy, and the legacy of the black community, is that no one from the family Stanton has come forward to ID the other murderers........
All the welfare and educational assistance in the world is never going to solve the problem of the black communities, only they can. Till that happens, build a wall and only let the people out who have no intentions of returning..........