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Posted on 11/07/2002 11:47:11 AM PST by Lassiter
Let's avoid offensive racial overtones in Carr trial
Add us to the list of people offended by a report of the Carr brothers being hanged in effigy -- not just because it's a tasteless prank that trivializes the death penalty and the tragedy of this case for all involved.
More offensive by far is how this stunt injected inflammatory racial overtones into a case in which race played no role.
A homeowner in west Wichita recently erected a display on his front yard showing two dummies -- in black face -- hanging by nooses from trees. A sign below the dangling bodies read "Carr Bros," referring to the two brothers found guilty Monday of the December 2000 killing spree that shocked this community.
We'll take the man at his word that his display was not racially motivated; he took it down after receiving complaints that it was offensive.
But how someone in this day and age could not understand that such a mock-lynching would be racially offensive is hard to understand.
For many black Wichitans, the display recalled a time not so long ago in this country when African-Americans were routinely intimidated, terrorized and lynched by racists.
We further deplore this stunt because it encourages the misguided notion (forwarded in many letters we've received) that this was a racially motivated hate crime. Prosecutors have clearly established that greed and lust -- not racial prejudice -- motivated Reginald and Jonathan Carr to choose their victims and commit these brutal crimes.
Wichitans are understandably emotional and angry about what the Carrs did to our community. They are understandably eager for justice.
Justice will be done.
But we don't need vigilante sentiments, race-baiting comments or ugly, vengeful glee. As this emotional trial reaches its conclusion, let's keep our emotions in check and work toward community healing, not hate and division.
All of our civilized human nature tells us that where there is life there is hope. The survivor testified that the five were frequently separated. Any would-be hero therefore would have had to overcome not only fear of consequences to himself or herself, but a substantial lielihood that one or more friends might be hurt or killed in retaliation. That is asking an awful lot, particularly of people who had been brutalized and were undoubtedly in shock.
Let's remember that the heroes on 9/11 who fought back were the ones who had the advantage of knowing what happened to the other three planes. They knew what they faced and knew they had nothing to lose.
Don't judge these young people harshly. I don't think there are many among us who could have done what you suggest in the circumstances they faced.
It was sarcasm. A "clear" is some type of high-level $cientologist. So, even a clear dummy would offend someone.
Clearly. :-)
Apparently, Steve Rose rarely replies because I've heard that before. Don't give up on writing the media, though. They do read it.
Are we?
Compared to the proportion of black victims of white criminals, yes. But compared to the proportion of black victims of black criminals, I'm not so sure.
I must not be much of an "American male", then, because I would find it beyond repulsive.
Are we?
Compared to the proportion of black victims of white criminals, yes. But compared to the proportion of black victims of black criminals, I'm not so sure.
About as many whites are murdered by blacks each year as blacks are by whites. As whites make up 75% of the population and blacks, 12%; it stands that blacks are killing whites disproportionately, about 6 to 1. Where is the screaming from the left wing (main steam) press? The truth dies a quick, silent death when the underclass is demonstrably without moral value. I'll bet the disproportionate murder began with the great society, the point where the left began to undermine the black family structure with a huge, seductive welfare program.
I think I'll send these thoughts off to the author of this piece.
After a short drive, both vehicles stopped in an empty field. Reginald Carr ordered H.G. to go sit with Miss Muller in Mr. Sander's car. A moment later, she saw the men line up in front of the Honda. In her testimony H.G. said, "I turned to Heather and said, 'They're going to shoot us.' "
The Carr brothers ordered H.G. and Miss Muller out of the car. Miss Muller stood next to Mr. Sander, her former boyfriend, while H.G. stood beside her boyfriend, Mr. Befort. The Carrs ordered them to turn away and kneel in the snow. "As I was kneeling, a gun shot went off," says H.G. "[Then] I heard Aaron [Sander]. . . . I could distinguish Aaron's voice. He said, 'Please, no sir, please.' The gun went off."
H.G. heard three shots before she was hit: "I felt the bullet hit the back of my head. It went kind of gray with white like stars. I wasn't knocked unconscious. I didn't fall forward. Then someone kicked me, and I had fallen forward. I was playing dead. I didn't move. I didn't want them to shoot me again."
As H.G. lay in the snow, the Carrs drove off in Jason Befort's pickup, running over the victims as they left. H.G. says she felt the truck hit her body, too.
Let me add that I don't think the effegy hangings was a good idea either. These guys deserve to hang; I think it was racially motivated though I don't believe in hate crime legislation; I think the media is generally completely one-sided on the hate crimes issue; and I can see why an effegy of a black guy hanging in someone's yard is offensive and could be taken to mean something other than it likely meant, more than if it were a white guy; also, I think Randy is a big time liberal who is wrong most of the time but he has a point in this column, but those who disagree have a point too and should write him.
No hate there. Nah.
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