[rant]
I have to agree with brwnsuga.
When I posted this story, my only thought was that it was a heinous crime that should be publicized, not that it was a race story.
We now know the race of the perps. As far as I know, the names or race of the victim and his daughter have not been released. Maybe this was a racial attack, maybe it was not. There is not enough information to know. To assume that this was a racial attack or to make comments to the effect that the race of the perps explains the crime makes Freepers look like a bunch of racists.
These are thugs. I don’t care if they are white thugs or black thugs. It pisses me off when Jackson or Sharpton assume that any white on black crime is a race based hate crime and it should justifiably piss off blacks when whites do the same thing in reverse.
Yeah, these perps lived down to the worst racial stereotypes of blacks. Some of the comments on this thread live down to the worst stereotypes of conservatives.
[/rant]
But still, I think the black community has a specific problem with thugish behavior. In fact the 'thug problem' is worse for those many good black kids than for most white people; they live in the same neighborhoods as these creeps. If they felt OK about beating down a family guy in a very public place like this I shrudder to think what life at the local park or high school is like.
We are frustrated by what we see as a double standard: race is reported and obsessed upon endlessly in white-on-black crime, and hidden when the reverse is the case. We are suspiciious of the rush to enact 'hate crime laws' which seem to only ever be used to charge whites, when according to FBI statistics black-on-white crime is 10x more common then the reverse.
We are appalled by 6 on one beatings, no matter who is handing them out. It is a part of our culture. This is why white people hate and spurn those among our kin who act this way: mostly biker gangs (who we've done a lot to tame and eliminate since their heyday). We consider this a cowardly form of fighting, not suited to real men.
We don't understand or appreciate or condone thug culture. We don't understand why the black community seems to. We don't idealize thugs. "Thug Life" was a top selling rap album. Yes, I'm sure a lot of stupid 14 year old white boys bought it -- but the fact is the culture that created it is black culture. The culture that supports thug life is black culture.
The mothers and fathers who are raising boys who go out and do six-on-one beatings, and beat old people, and slap girls in the ass, and kick people in the head they have knocked our are black moms and black dads.
We don't get it. Don't you teach them the basics of civilization? Do past wrongs committed against your forebearers release you from the common bonds of our civilization?
We are appalled and horrified that this continues, and seems to be getting worse. We don't understand it, and yes, when it happens that a white person is beat down like this we see it as a racial incident.
We have trouble imagining a gang of 'goths or skatepunks' beating down a 45 year old man in this situation.
We still believe in squaring up and fighting fair. That's old fashioned, but it's part of our culture and heritage, and it means something to us. We still believe a fight is over when someone goes 'lights out' or begs for mercy. These are rules we've developed for thousands of years and they are important to us.
We know your culture and your history are different. We'd like to think that over time we're growing together, to a common culture. Hell, we've been here a lot of generations together. We've fought, and bled and cried together. We've made love and have lots of beautiful people amnong us to prove it.
But still, this cultural divide. This unholy acceptance of the most depraved gang thuggery.
It scares us. For ourselves and our kids. For our wives and moms and daughters.
We see this, and we shake our heads in dispair. "How can they think like that?:"
BrwnSgr you seem like a very sincere person, so I've tried to give the honest reply to your comments.
Somehow the answer to this has to start in the black community and not with everyone carrying 16 round Glocks.