Ferguson Is the Wrong Tragedy to Wake America Up [groan]

Time Magazine ^ | November 24, 2014 | Professor John McWhorter, Columbia University

[2ndDivisionVet]

For many, the main lesson of the Ferguson verdict is that Michael Brown would still be alive if he were white — that Darren Wilson’s gunshots were the spawn of the racism always just beneath the surface of the white American soul.

However, in light of what we heard last night, I feel that the Ferguson incident is instructive to America in a larger sense. The key element in the Brown-Wilson encounter was not any specific action either man took — it was the preset hostility to the cops that Brown apparently harbored. And that hostility was key because it was indeed totally justified.

The right-wing take on Brown, that he was simply a “thug,” is a know-nothing position. The question we must ask is: What is the situation that makes two young black men comfortable dismissing a police officer’s request to step aside?

These men were expressing a community-wide sense that the official keepers of order are morally bankrupt. What America owes communities like Ferguson — and black America in general — is a sincere grappling with that take on law enforcement that is so endemic in black communities nationwide. As Northwestern philosopher Charles Mills has put it, “Black citizens are still differentially vulnerable to police violence, thereby illustrating their second class citizenship.”(continued)

[KarlInOhio]

And yes, if the guy lurching back toward Wilson had been white, just maybe he wouldn’t have fired those last shots.

But we do know that Wilson fired the lethal final shots upon Brown coming back toward him. Firing these shots was indeed impulsive;

So after Wilson had already been in a life and death struggle with Brown and Brown starts coming back Wilson should assume that Brown was surrendering rather coming back for more.

At least the author has given up on the initial story of Wilson shooting Brown in the back or with his hands up. Now maybe the author can just read the eye witness testimony that Brown had his head down and was charging at Wilson.

[RichardW]

Does this fool have an e-mail address?

[taterjay]

How about Mike Brown just committed a robbery and he was feeling invincible. He had just strong armed a shopkeeper and knowing this he 1)might get arrested on the way home (Dorian Johnson admitted this) and 2)he strongarmed one person, why not a cop? With 100 percent suspension of disbelief, there is still no way to pin any part of this on Darren Wilson. Mike Brown 1)took cigars 2)pushed shopkeeper 3)mouthed officer 4)slammed door on officer 5)hit officer and reached for gun 6)did not get on ground when ordered 7)charged officer. Case closed.

[Mark17]

Well put bro. I couldn’t have put it any better. I worked in a California prison for 25 years. Most of the problems we had (not all) were from black inmates.

[PghBaldy]

John McWhorter is usually better than the average black liberal on various racial issues. He misses the boat on this one, though.

[armydawg505]

So long as black citizens continue to slaughter each other on a daily basis and commit other violent crimes far out of line with their percentage of the total population, there will continue to be a strong police presence in their neighborhoods. So long as white neighborhoods continue to have mostly quiet, law abiding citizens, there will be minimal police presence in their areas. Cops go where they are needed, not necessarily where they are wanted.

[JGT]

Sounds like a trial balloon (pun intended) for the basis of Holder’s civil rights case.

[armydawg505]

Certainly white guys have fought cops for their guns and most often times, either the criminal or the cop dies. Does that shock you that a cop would not stop and say, “Hey Mr White Guy, lets be reasonable about this and stop fighting for my gun” or do you just assume he would try to reason with a white gun going after his gun while shooting a black guy doing the same thing?

[tumblindice]

What makes a Columbia professor of English and comparative literature qualified to decide that those of us who call thugs thugs are “know nothings”?
Bite me, egghead.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Call me crazy, but once a perp goes for a cop’s gun, it usually doesn’t end well for the perp (be they White, Black or Polka Dot). I just find it incredulous the intellectual (sic) gymnastics these leftists go through to rationalize thug behavior.

I think we should set up an area of about 100 square miles, put all the ferals and their apologists in it and watch the fun begin. Call it the “Thunderdome Republic.” And NONE get to leave if they “win.”

[Olog-hai]

Did this McWhorter screed get lost on the way to the New Republic . . . ?

[fella]

Sounds like a wordsmith owning up to the fact that they are fomenting a race war to increase their sales.

[Dark Knight]

However, in light of what we heard last night, I feel that the Ferguson incident is instructive to America in a larger sense. The key element in the Brown-Wilson encounter was not any specific action either man took — it was the preset hostility to the cops that Brown apparently harbored. And that hostility was key because it was indeed totally justified. <<

Occam’s Razor is pretty specific. The simplest explanation that is the most instructive is the best explanation. The moment the currently deceased person made the choice to commit a robbery and then did it, that action set the stage for his death. Other explanations could possibly have some merit, but are orders of magnitude weaker, as are his. To ignore this is proof that he unaware of the application of rationality or logic. Maybe he is good in a book club discussion? Fiction of course.

DK

[WilliamofCarmichael]

For many, the main lesson of the Ferguson verdict is that Michael Brown would still be alive if he were white — that Darren Wilson’s gunshots were the spawn of the racism always just beneath the surface of the white American soul . . . “Black citizens are still differentially vulnerable to police violence, thereby illustrating their second class citizenship.” {Then we whites must be third class citizens because more whites die white being arrested than blacks] . . . the less committed observer will see the facts piling up and conclude that one can be fully aware of racism’s persistence and yet still feel that the part racism played in Brown’s death is too abstract to qualify as a Selma-style — or even Trayvon-style — teaching moment. We need here Selma, Sanford — we want to make all of America put down their beers and feel this turning point. Again, of course Brown didn’t deserve to die — at all. But we have an urgent and challenging task here. And if so — and, God, it’s very much so — aren’t other deaths that have grieved us more useful in teaching a vast nation of people, with various levels of understanding and concern, that we have a serious problem here?

A good start would be to end the lies. How about trying some impartial truth -- from the federal government itself.

I am not trying to make this a racial thing..

1. Obama-Holder demagogues have already done that
2. this is the part backed by federal government facts
3. .. some may even prove Obama-Holder demagogues right;
4. -- that's fine with me
5. it's truth that matters most.

The FBI and other sources of homicide by law enforcement figures below include the majority of all police departments.

The point of this reply is to point out that whites are the most likely to die while being arrested.

The Obama-Holder U.S. Dept. Just Us, the race-grievance industry, and university employees will of course exploit all shootings to the max vis-a-vis race more than any concern for the poor victim.

That is why the facts are being ignored. The ARD data show that whites are more likely to die while being arrested and IMO there is no doubt that some of those deaths were the intention of the police.

But the main point is I bet that policemen don't care about race compared to protecting themselves from being killed or maimed.

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2009 - Statistical Tables

"From 2003 through 2009, a total of 4,813 deaths were reported to the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) Arrest-Related Deaths (ARD) program."

Of these, about 6 in 10 deaths (2,931) were classified as homicide by law enforcement personnel, and 4 in 10 (1,882) were attributed to other manners of death.

Table 1 Number of reported arrest-related deaths, by manner of death, 2003-2009

Manner of death	2003-2009	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
All manners	4,813	627	673	689	721	745	629	729
Homicide —by law enforcement	2,931	376	375	377	447	455	404	497
by other persons	27	3	4	4	2	7	3	4
Suicide	541	60	84	82	67	78	76	94
Intoxication	525	83	83	90	76	89	54	50
Accidental injury	272	53	41	47	39	35	28	29
Natural causes	244	26	46	32	34	42	33	31
Unknown	273	26	40	57	56	39	31	24

Note: Due to variation in reporting, caution should be used in comparing counts from year to year. See Methodology for information on missing data by state for each year. Counts may differ from previous publication due to additional information.

Table 5 Number of reported arrest-related deaths, by manner of death and demographic characteristics, 2003-2009

Demographic characteristics	All manners	Homicide	Suicide	Intoxication	Accident	Natural causes	Unknown
Total	4,813	2,958	541	525	272	244	273
Sex
Male	4,594	2,851	517	490	259	218	259
Female	218	107	24	35	13	26	13
Unknown	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Race/Hispanic origin
White, non-Hispanic	2,026	1,233	327	178	95	110	83
Black, non-Hispanic	1,529	937	80	217	111	85	99
Hispanic	949	599	110	109	55	29	47
Other*	150	107	12	17	4	4	6
Unknown	159	82	12	4	7	16	38
Age
17 or younger	127	99	6	5	13	0	4
18-24	909	685	80	53	54	10	27
25-34	1,391	893	140	177	65	41	75
35-44	1,238	658	159	190	78	66	87
45-54	752	390	105	84	45	75	53
55 or older	317	188	44	11	12	52	10
Unknown	79	45	7	5	5	0	17

*Includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders, and persons of two or more races.

To me this shows that it is not a racial thing. It happens to all races. These figures however do not show those thought "murdered" by police. I have not yet located data for recent years. Why can't I find data for recent years? I do not know.. maybe the Dept of Just Us and Race-Grievance Industry don't want it known that whites are the most likely to die being arrested.

More on interracial homicides. TABLE 14 Percent of justifiable able homicides

Race of felon
	Race of citizen who killed felon							Race of officer who killed felon
	Total	White	Black	Other*				Total	White	Black	Other*
Total	100%	55%	42%	3%				100%	86%	13%	1%
White	41%	37%	3%	1%				60%	56%	3%	1%
Black	57	17	39	2				38	27	11	--
Other	2	1	--	1				3	2	--	--

Note: Detail may not sum to total due to rounding. -- Less than 0.5%.

*Other race includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Hawaiians, and other Pacifi c Islanders

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; Homicide Trends in the United States, 1980-2008. Annual Rates for 2009 and 2010

(on Page 33)

RE: The ARD program data that I posted above (first table), it is true that blacks represent about 12% of the national population and that suggests that the figures "prove" discrimination; to wit, there are way too many blacks compared to white majority.

Good point. The same thing ought to apply to the following homicide and other crime data it seems to me.

Expanded Homicide Data
Table 6 data for multiple years.

FBI Homicides Statistics

Year of Stats	Race of Victims	Total	White Offenders	Black Offenders	Unknown & other
2012	White	3,128	2,614	431	83
	Black	2,648	193	2,412	43
2011	White	3,172	2,630	448	94
	Black	2,695	193	2,447	55
2010	White	3,327	2,777	447	103
	Black	2,720	218	2,459	43
2009	White	3,518	2,963	454	101
	Black	2,867	209	2,604	54
2008	White	3,643	3,036	504	103
	Black	3,024	230	2,722	72
2007	White	3,587	2,918	566	103
	Black	3,221	245	2,905	71
2006	White	3,709	3,026	573	110
	Black	3,303	208	3,034	61
2005	White	3,785	3,150	516	119
	Black	3,289	230	2,984	75
2004	White	3,727	3,123	522	85
	Black	3,067	228	2,784	55
1995	White	4,954	4,124	699	131
	Black	4,764	281	4,422	61

I did not find data for the years 1996 through 2003

www.fbi.gov About Us CJIS UCR Crime in the U.S. Here's the links to most of the FBI tables I referenced above.

Here's 2012

Here's 2011

Here's 2010

Here's 2009

• choose Continue to Crime in the United States, 2009
• choose Homicides
• choose Expanded Homicide Data Table 6

Here's 2008

Here's 2007

• choose Homicides
• choose Expanded Homicide Data Tables / Table 5

Here's 2006

• choose Expanded Homicide Data
• choose Expanded Homicide Table 5

Here's 2005

• choose Expanded Homicide Data
• choose Expanded Homicide Data Table 5

It is long past the time when facts should be made public to expose the lies and misrepresentations of the Obama-Holder demagogues and the race-grievance industry.

There is a gold mine of facts out there that will expose the lies and misrepresentations of the Obama-Holder demagogues and the race-grievance industry.

That's the way to an honest discussion of race.

Here's a couple of tables from the FBI new NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System) that also show truth.

Please note that the last four columns of the Offender Table are my additions.. THEY ARE NOT PART OF THE FBI TABLES. I just want to make that clear.

To me the dearth of white offenders vis-a-vis white victims is significant.

Compare that to the dearth of black victims vis-a-vis the surplus of black offenders. Who are the victims of that surplus?

My guess is that there is a connection between the surplus of black offenders and the surplus of white victims (compared to white offenders).

The links immediately following are U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics Criminal Victimization in the United States, [YYYY] Statistical Tables and their Table 42: "Percent distribution of single-offender victimizations, by type of crime, race of victim, and perceived race of offender" show an inordinate amount of black-on-white crime in some crime categories. I have to emphasis that Statistical Tables' data are based upon surveys, they are not FBI/police crime figures. However since 2009 Table 42 data are no longer made public that I can find. If those data are being hidden then the Obama-Holder federal government is not very impartial.

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Now back to the FBI data and tables

www.fbi.gov, Victims' Race
by Offense Category, 2012

Offense Category	"Total Victims1"	White	Black	"American Indian or Alaskan Native"	"Asian/Pacific Islander"	"Unknown Race"
Total	4,332,695	3,156,006	901,159	22,326	50,615	202,589
Crimes Against Persons	1,327,863	893,984	374,220	11,133	10,072	38,454
Assault Offenses	1,228,498	820,215	354,624	10,126	9,274	34,259
Homicide Offenses	3,943	1,885	1,940	22	34	62
Kidnapping/Abduction	15,797	10,946	4,059	162	181	449
Sex Offenses, Forcible	73,132	55,876	12,569	743	546	3,398
Sex Offenses, Nonforcible	6,493	5,062	1,028	80	37	286
Crimes Against Property	3,004,832	2,262,022	526,939	11,193	40,543	164,135
Arson	12,300	7,816	2,706	48	109	1,621
Bribery	250	197	35	3	2	13
Burglary/Breaking & Entering	538,561	402,371	106,177	1,776	7,124	21,113
Counterfeiting/Forgery	39,203	30,973	4,335	166	509	3,220
Destruction/Damage/Vandalism	660,184	485,374	129,772	2,791	8,657	33,590
Embezzlement	3,654	3,053	364	11	38	188
Extortion/Blackmail	1,207	902	221	3	28	53
Fraud Offenses	216,429	163,449	34,812	530	3,010	14,628
Larceny/Theft Offenses	1,262,354	992,072	177,229	4,752	16,507	71,794
Motor Vehicle Theft	159,295	106,661	39,588	621	2,057	10,368
Robbery	81,554	47,647	29,138	396	2,155	2,218
Stolen Property Offenses	29,841	21,507	2,562	96	347	5,329

¹ This table includes only individual (person) victims and does not include business, financial institution, government, religious organization, or other victims. Victims are counted once for each offense type to which they are connected.

www.fbi.gov, Offenders' Race
by Offense Category, 2012

Offense Category	"Total Victims1"	White	Black	"American Indian or Alaskan Native"	"Asian/ Pacific Islander"	"Unknown Race"	Number of white victims vs. number of white offenders	Number of black victims vs. number of black offenders
Total	4,556,183	2,574,105	1,261,337	39,967	29,895	650,879
Crimes Against Persons	1,297,153	768,147	452,877	12,905	9,718	53,506	125,837	-78,657	1.16	0.83
Assault Offenses	1,199,433	706,529	425,744	11,963	8,899	46,298	113,686	-71,120	1.16	0.83
Homicide Offenses	4,465	1,798	2,232	29	27	379	87	-292	1.05	0.87
Kidnapping/Abduction	16,328	9,432	5,890	178	150	678	1,514	-1,831	1.16	0.69
Sex Offenses, Forcible	70,441	45,694	17,745	650	593	5,759	10,182	-5,176	1.22	0.71
Sex Offenses, Nonforcible	6,486	4,694	1,266	85	49	392	368	-238	1.08	0.81
Crimes Against Property	2,361,079	1,180,180	572,430	18,083	13,504	576,882	1,081,842	-45,491	1.92	0.92
Arson	10,827	5,796	2,124	71	45	2,791	2,020	582	1.35	1.27
Bribery	412	298	94	5	4	11	-101	-59	0.66	0.37
Burglary/Breaking & Entering	316,477	135,148	67,924	1,615	1,188	110,602	267,223	38,253	2.98	1.56
Counterfeiting/Forgery	68,197	41,299	16,845	317	488	9,248	-10,326	-12,510	0.75	0.26
Destruction/Damage/Vandalism	434,796	210,310	97,822	3,270	2,313	121,081	275,064	31,950	2.31	1.33
Embezzlement	18,520	12,548	4,881	56	136	899	-9,495	-4,517	0.24	0.07
Extortion/Blackmail	1,180	657	316	2	22	183	245	-95	1.37	0.70
Fraud Offenses	173,359	92,094	37,757	903	1,178	41,427	71,355	-2,945	1.77	0.92
Larceny/Theft Offenses	1,100,592	587,178	244,545	10,043	6,837	251,989	404,894	-67,316	1.69	0.72
Motor Vehicle Theft	85,909	37,404	18,213	858	450	28,984	69,257	21,375	2.85	2.17
Robbery	105,005	26,173	70,039	483	468	7,842	21,474	-40,901	1.82	0.42
Stolen Property Offenses	45,805	31,275	11,870	460	375	1,825	-9,768	-9,308	0.69	0.22
Crimes Against Society	897,951	625,778	236,030	8,979	6,673	20,491	-625,778	-236,030
Drug/Narcotic Offenses	790,828	566,888	194,224	8,351	5,453	15,912	-566,888	-194,224
Gambling Offenses	2,320	873	1,230	11	113	93	-873	-1,230
Pornography/Obscene Material	5,962	4,691	659	24	36	552	-4,691	-659
Prostitution Offenses	12,182	7,248	4,199	52	373	310	-7,248	-4,199
Weapon Law Violations	86,659	46,078	35,718	541	698	3,624	-46,078	-35,718

¹Does not include 1,741,162 incidents with Unknown Offenders. Offenders are counted once for each offense type to which they are connected.

[Dallas59]

I’ll say it in all caps. THE BLACK PROBLEM IS NOT MY PROBLEM.

[Dallas59]

The problem here that nobody wants to point out of a fear of being labelled a racist is that the culture these people grow up in is completely screwed up. Police do not end up going after these black guys more than white guys because they are racist, anymore than the police arrest more men than women because they are sexist. Why are blacks disproportionately incarcerated? Its because they commit more crime.

Despite making up less than 15% of the US population, blacks commit for 55% of all robbery, 49% of all murder and more than a 1/3 of all rape. (Source: FBI crime database)

Young black men kill 14X more than young white men. (Source: Time Magazine)

Even when controlling for socio-economic status, black still show disproportionately higher crime rates. Even blacks from richer backgrounds have higher rates of violent crimes than poor whites. (Source: Harvard study of racial disparity in crime)

Blacks accounted for nearly 50% of all homicide victims in the U.S, and 93% of these victims are killed by other blacks. (Source: US Department of Justice)

Black males, which account for only 6% of the US population, commit 1 in every 3 rapes in America. Black men rape thousands of white women every year.

While neighborhoods with high levels of poverty and high unemployment do have a weak correlation with crime rate, the strongest correlation with crime is the percentage of blacks within a neighborhood.

So what’s my point? Are facts racist? Its that these stereotypes did not appear out of thin air. Blacks are not targeted by the police because the police hate non-whites, if that was true than Asians or Indians would be just as targeted. But they aren’t because they don’t have anywhere near the crime rates of blacks. And that comes from a culture that glorifies crime and sees being educated and intellectually engaged in a negative way, they call it “acting white”.

Its the exact same reason the police arrest and kill a lot more men than women. Not because the police are sexist towards men, but because men commit disproportionately more crime and murder then women.

[a fool in paradise]

For many, the main lesson of the Ferguson verdict is that Michael Brown's would still be alive shooting would never have made local headlines (outside the usual police blotter news briefs) if he were white

[a fool in paradise]

What is the situation that makes two young black men comfortable dismissing a police officer’s request to step aside? These men were expressing a community-wide sense that the official keepers of order are morally bankrupt.

Is that why black and hispanic youths walk out midblock into oncoming traffic (practically playing chicken with their friends)? Because drivers like myself are "corrupt?

Or is it because of a sense of disrespect for society in general?

[a fool in paradise]

I read that Michael's stepfather called for the crowd to riot by committing arson.

What's Michael's baby-daddy's position been through all of this?

[angry elephant]

Bummer has solved the problem of black rage with amnesty. the Mexican and central American gangs will fight against the black thug gangs in the ghettos. No need for white evil police, hispanics will take care of that.

And the high politicos and the reality show afficiandos will be able to enjoy our own American Hunger Games.

Bummer didn’t really want to grant amnesty to a bunch of folks whom he disdains, just wants to use them to clean up a bunch of his own sons.

Popcorn for us I suppose and champagne for the elite boxes in DC.