Anyone following the news this week was likely saddened and dismayed by several events. First, Delbert Belton, who was 88, was beaten by two young men and died. Delbert was a veteran of World War Two and was in the parking lot of the local Eagles Lodge.
Also in the news this week was Chris Lane, who is an Australian man who was living in Oklahoma. Chris was shot in the back by three teenage boys who say they were just “bored”.
Recently three young men were caught on video on a school bus beating a classmate while the bus driver called 911.
It is a fallacy of logic to take individual events and project them onto society as a whole. I know that just because a veteran was beaten to death or a young Australian baseball player was gunned down for nothing more than boredom does not mean our entire society has gone nuts. It speaks volumes about the individuals who did these heinous acts. It reflects on their families and perhaps to some extent to their individual communities. We should be careful, however, not to think that this is a reflection on all of American society.
It’s too bad our president did not understand that in regard to the Trayvon Martin killing. It is too bad that the actions of a single idiot (Adam Lanza) at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut have to be projected across all of society.
What bothers me here is the hypocrisy. We have heard nothing from the President of the United States about the beating of Delbert Belton. Mr. Belton, as stated earlier was a veteran of the Second World War, and by all accounts a beloved gentleman in his hometown. He was not wearing a hoodie, was not acting suspiciously, and was beaten to death in the parking lot of an Eagles Lodge by two black youth. They were not members of the neighborhood watch, and they were not on the phone with the police.
Chris lane was a young man from Australia who was in Oklahoma to play baseball. He was doing nothing suspicious, doing nothing wrong, and was shot in the back by three black teens, who admit they wanted to kill someone because they were bored. Chris was just unlucky enough to get picked.
The three young men who beat up the boy on the school bus were also black. Their victim was white. There was a reason for him to be targeted. They had tried to sell him some pot earlier in the school bathroom and he told on them to the principal.
The killing of Delbert Belton did not involve guns. Her was not shot but beaten to death. The boys on the school bus used their fists. The killing of Chris Lane was done with a 22 caliber handgun.
Please hear me clearly; in my mind it does not matter the race of the attackers or of the victims. Skin color is irrelevant to me. However, in the Trayvon Martin case it was the central focus of every protestor. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson were not there because a young man got shot. They were there because a young black man got shot. And in fact, they were not even there because a young black man got shot; they were there because a white man did the shooting.
The President of the United States needs to have a higher standard than the race-baiters Sharpton and Jackson. He needs to be above the fray. If he is going to lead us, to help put the views and feelings of a nation in context, he has an obligation to do so in a responsible, even handed way. He needs to rise above the fray and bring us together. The President needs to unite us, not divide us. In this he has failed. He took a very public and personal interest in the Trayvon Martin case. He has been silent about these three cases.
What may be even worse is that the president has been silent, as many folks have pointed out, on the numerous deaths in Chicago of young black men at the hands of other young black men.
The hypocrisy exists because these folks only talk about these things when it fits their agenda. Speaking out on black on black crime in the city of Chicago where handguns are being used by gang members does not promote the agenda of Barak Obama or Joe Biden or Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or Piers Morgan. They will run like the wind and stir people up when it meets their needs and furthers their cause. If there is nothing in a story that helps advance their agenda it does not interest them.
And the media share in the hypocrisy. They twist and turn and obfuscate. They neglect some things while magnifying others.
This essay is not about race or guns, it is about hypocrisy. The specific events of the last week do not reflect on our society as a whole. They are disturbing and saddening and despicable, but they are the actions of a few idiots. What does reflect on our society is the silence of our president. The double standard in the media, and the spin and silence of the race baiters and gun control advocates says more about our society than the senseless acts of a few isolated morons.
On the murder of Delbert Belton, this is from the Seattle Times:
This piece about Delbert is from James Nye:
The Las Vegas Guardian Express calls Delbert Belton a hate crime victim.
This piece from ABC news sheds light on the mindset of the three young men who shot Chris Lane.
An opinion blog about the killing of Chris Lane:
The Washington Times rightly questions the president’s sudden silence on local criminal cases.
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/time-choosing/2013/aug/23/no-justice-chris-lane/
Radio host Richard Fowler tried to turn the killing of Chris Lane with a 22 caliber handgun into a reason to ban assault weapons on Fox News.
Here is a link to an editorial on The Five regarding the school bus beating.
And then there is this on the weapon used at Sandy Hook.
I will say it again in closing. What happens in an isolated case cannot be projected onto society at large, that is an obvious fallacy of logic. And the racism of a few individuals also does not translate into the racism of an entire society. But the hypocrisy of an individual can be judged by how they react differently to separate cases based upon their own individual bias and agenda. And when the person in question is the president of the United States it is relevant to all of us.
Mr. President, the silence is deafening.
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