‘I could determine self defense as easily as any kind of murder from that video.’
you are aware, I’m sure, that the dad/son combo forced the confrontation by tracking this individual down in their cars, with the son hopping out with drawn firearm; I’m sure you’re equally aware that this individual did absolutely nothing to the dynamic duo to warrant being confronted with a drawn firearm...put yourself in the victim’s place, and then imagine what your response would be if someone came along and said ‘sure looks like self defense to me...’
“put yourself in the victim’s place”
Hard for some here. Some can go part of the way, but not all of the way. On another thread I was challenged about bringing up “the state of race relations” in our country, many thinking that race SHOULDN’T have anything to do with this. On the surface, I, like everyone else here, agree with that sentiment. Trouble is, it DOES have something to do with it. For some (too many?), it always does...and THAT is the state of race relations today. It’s frustrating. It’s maddening. It also happens to be true.
Don’t believe it? Look at the voting history of Black America in ANY given election and then go back and listen to the speeches given by many of the Democrat candidates they vote for. When was the last time that a Democrat ran a campaign and didn’t try to stoke fear among Blacks by drawing attention to the “inherent racism found in the other party”? Here at FR, we know that this is pandering, race-baiting, false accusations, call it whatever. But that’s only seeing part of the issue. How are those comments received by the ones to whom they are directed? THAT is just as important. We’ve all seen and heard race-baiting on TV, in movies, in music, in textbooks...it’s everywhere. We’re all sickened by it, because it distorts. Well, that’s US (FR, White America). That’s OUR reaction. If I do my math correctly, that’s only 50% of the conversation when it comes to “race relations” though. What about the misinformed/ill-informed—how does that incessant drumbeat affect them? How does it affect a Black “young skull full of mush”? What impact does it play in forming his/her world-view. As a school teacher I can tell you it has its impact and I will spend part of my time trying to fill in the missing parts to the miseducation that has taken place (sometimes to greater, sometimes to lesser effect).
Flash forward to the incident: you talked about putting yourself in the victim’s place. Okay, two guys, shotguns out, trolling around, confronting me (this is where I hear a lot of people say, “but HE grabbed the gun” or “I would have asked ‘What’s up?’” or “If he didn’t do anything wrong, why did he get into it with these guys?”—and that’s where I think putting yourself in his place ends) If I’m putting myself in his place, I’m thinking about this encounter, “I’m about to be killed here!”
These comments will, of course, be dismissed as falling for...oh, how was it referred to yesterday...Ah, “the propaganda of Talcum X.”
There was no “forced confrontation”. The dead perp could have easily gone where the truck could not.
But he chose not to. He chose poorly.