The Las Vegas mass shooting and killing by Stephen Paddock resulting in 58 deaths and hundreds of injured individuals is a horrific event in our history. The media’s focus on the motive of the killer and the whitewashing of Paddock committing the crime loses the point. There are no good motives for killing anyone—let alone over 50 persons. Any killer who kills innocent persons while perched from a high-rise luxury hotel shooting them down as if he were playing a video game, is not a good person. Much of the media has gone out of the way to paint Paddock as a regular white guy. I can’t but help to think how the media would have addressed the killer if he or she were Black, Muslim or both. Every possible good trait known about Paddock has been mentioned. From being prescribed Valium to being a high stakes gambler and an apparently wealthy individual with a girlfriend, the media has struggled to make sense out of his killing rage. Contrasting the depictions of a good white male … [Read more...] about What if the Las Vegas Killer was Black, Muslim or God Forbid Both
guns
Baltimore and D.C. – A Tale of Two Violent Cities
I lived in West Baltimore until age 7 in the same block on North Ave where unrest and rioting occurred after Freddie Gray was fatally wounded in a police van. During my time there, my parents warned me to stay away from the front windows for fear of stray bullets. After attending law school in Washington, D.C., I eventually moved to the District of Columbia where I currently reside. Despite being less than 40 miles apart, the two cities are as different as night and day except when it comes to the recent spike in violent crime. Baltimore is mostly a blue collar city with almost one fourth of its residents living below the standard of living. Washington with its federal government presence and large influx of millennials residing there bears little to no resemblance to Baltimore. Both cities like many others are experiencing increased spikes in crime not seen in many years—for reasons not clearly known. In Baltimore, the spike was thought to be due to several … [Read more...] about Baltimore and D.C. – A Tale of Two Violent Cities
Why Charleston Church Killings Are All About Race
Dylann Roof goes into Emanuel African Methodist Church, a historically black church, kills the Pastor and 8 persons during Bible study and some people raise the gun control issue. I understand about guns and gun control legislation. The facts of the Charleston church killings are about race hatred in America. And any discussion of gun control in these particular killings dilutes and diminishes the real reason of racial hatred towards blacks. No one ever said 911 was about faulty security checks in airplane flying schools from which the terrorists learned how to fly airplanes but never learned how to land them. No one said Columbine school killings and the Boston Marathon bombings were about making home grown bombs. No one said the 1963 killings of 4 little girls bombed at a Birmingham church was about bombs. To be black in America means being a target for terrorism and hatred whether blacks want to be or not. Being black in America means no place feels safe without … [Read more...] about Why Charleston Church Killings Are All About Race