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13-month Old Shot in the Face by a Teenager


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I had to ban another poster today today,  They posted the following message which interested me.

My name was Antonio West. I was the 13-month old child who was shot in the face at point blank range by two black teens, who were attempting to rob my mother, who was also shot. I think my murder and my mommy’s wounding made the news for maybe a day, and then disappeared.

A Grand Jury of my mommy's peers from Brunswick, Georgia ruled the black teens who murdered me will not face the death penalty... too bad it was me who got the death sentence from my killers instead, because Mommy didn’t have the money they demanded.

See, my family made the mistake of being white in a 73% non-white neighborhood, but my murder wasn’t ruled a ‘hate crime’. Oh, and President Obama didn’t take a single moment to acknowledge my murder. He couldn’t have any children who could possibly look like me - so why should he care? I’m one of the youngest murder victims in our great Nation's history, but the media didn’t care to cover the story of my being killed in cold blood.

There isn’t a white equivalent of Al Sharpton, because if there was he would be branded a ‘racist’. So no one’s rushing to Brunswick, Georgia to demonstrate and demand ‘justice’ for me. There’s no ‘White Panther’ party, either, to put a bounty on the lives of the two black teens who murdered me. I have no voice, I have no representation, and unlike those who shot me in the face while I sat innocently in my stroller - I no longer have my life.

Isn’t this a great country, or what?
So while you’re out seeking ‘justice for Trayvon or Michael Brown’, please remember to seek ‘justice’ for me. Tell your friends about me, tell your families, get tee-shirts with my face on them, and make the world pay attention, just like you did for Trayvon and Michael Brown.

I won’t hold my breath. I don’t have to anymore,

This story did not ring true so I checked out the story and found that CBS covered it and tragically it is a true story. The problem is the way this story is related.  It setup a classic false equivalency, which really does a disservice to the victims of the crime.  Snopes.com, the fact checking website, explain this quite well.

The comparisons in the example text between the killings of Trayvon Martin and Antonio West are an example of false equivalency, however, as the two cases are nearly polar opposites. In the Trayvon Martin case, there was never any doubt as to the identity of his killer (George Zimmerman), yet several weeks elapsed before the shooter was charged with a crime and taken into custody, and the local police were widely criticized for mishandling the investigation of the incident. In the Antonio West case the identity of the killer(s) was initially unknown, but suspects were quickly determined through police investigation and then promptly arrested and charged, with no one suggesting that local police mishandled any aspect of the case. The circumstances of the Trayvon Martin case therefore fostered the public perception (correct or not) that the case would never have been properly investigated and adjudicated had it not been widely publicized in the media, but nothing about the Antonio West suggested that anyone need "rush to Brunswick GA to demand justice" in order for justice to be done. The reference to a "hate crime" is also a red herring: George Zimmerman was not charged with a hate crime, nor did police investigating the Antonio West shooting find any evidence that the race of the victims was a factor in the commission of the crime. 

I wish they would get rid the the term "hate crime."  All crime is hate, the idea that one murder is worse than another because of the race is silly.  If you shoot a baby deliberately, I don't care what color you, or the baby, are, you get the worst possible punishment.  Which is exactly what happened in this case.

What the banned poster should have wrote was, "...criminal committed a heinous act, was swiftly apprehended, and punished."  Not need for a white Al Sharpton or a White Panther Party (Isn't that the GOP?)

I did not ban the person for simply posting this message, which should be obvious as I just re-posted it, I banned them because they posted in 10 unrelated conversations.

 

 

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I'm assuming you saw the long stream of vile disgusting photos of black people that were posted by the poster named jim jum. I never saw the message you quoted, just the awful pictures, which brought home to me how much some whites really despise Blacks. 

 

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Hi @Cynique yes I saw messages and deleted them. Checking for these messages was the first thing I did this morning.  As I wrote in my service announcement about trolls, I did not expect these attacks to stop. 

Unfortunately, I had to stop unregistered guests from posting.  One of the complaints I get from would be posters is that they can't register (I know, go figure), so I allowed people to posts as "guests."  But this is also the easiest way for someone to spam the forum, so I had to put an end to the option, which will reduce posting--something we can not afford.

So the spammers won that battle, by forcing me to require every poster to register.  But it is the same battle criminals won by forcing everyone to lock up their cars, homes, buy theft insurance, etc... Just making life more difficult for everyone because a few people are just wicked.

A lot of time these racists attacks are just kids goofing around for kicks.  I don't think this most recent attack was for "fun."  The effort that was taken was not trivial; the variety of IP addresses used (all from the South) and the numerous accounts set up reflect more thought and coordination that some kids just goofing around.  

My wife suggested I call the police.  I explained to her that the police will not give a crap about what is going on here, and that I don't have the time, or inclination, to get them involved even if they did care.  

The web is still very much like the wild west.  There is no law and no protection.  The place is controlled by the likes of Google, Amazon and Facebook--they make the rules.  Sadly, the rest of us are just fighting each other for what remains.

The racists attacks are the result of misdirection and confusion.  Black folks are the scapegoats for problems created by the plutocracy.  But racists are too ignorant to see that attacking us will never solve the problems they are experiencing, for they are victims like us.  

 

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