“Three black teens shoot white jogger. Who will [Mr. Obama] identify w/ this time?”
—Allen West, African-American conservative and formerly a Republican Congressman, in a tweet chiding President Obama for his identification of black shooting victim Trayvon Martin with his hypothetical son and himself, because of their common race.
You will note that I didn’t say “ethical quote.” I don’t know that West’s quote is ethical. He is a metaphorical bomb-thrower, and exploiting this horrible story to say “how dya like it when its thrown right back at ya, sport?” to President Obama may be satisfying (and well-earned), but I’m not sure it’s productive or responsible. I detested the President’s two comments on the Martin case, and think that they were ill-considered and destructive, but this kind of tit for tat mockery doesn’t clarify why his comments were wrong.
On the other hand, West’s tweet raises some valid ethics points in a modicum of keystrokes. How do we know this killing was racist? Just because the assailants were black and the victim was white, there is no reason to assume that their motive of killing someone for the fun of it wasn’t race blind. Race isn’t always a factor just because the victim and perpetrator are different colors, just as it may not have been a factor in the Martin slaying—which is why a prudent and responsible President should have kept his self-centered musings to himself. West’s tweet, pointing out the contrast between the cases while comparing them, is also valuable to prompt some thought about why Zimmerman’s act became a year long race-relations crisis while this far more heinous and unambiguous case of murder is being looked at as just a crime. Why was Zimmerman suddenly made the symbol of white, racist America, while the vicious act of three young black killers of a white Australian visitors is primed to be a headline of a few days, and then forgotten as an isolated tragedy indicative of nothing…as perhaps it should be?
Finally, West’s tweet should, but probably won’t, alert the President to the foolishness of commenting on local matters whenever he is so moved. Commenting on some cases gives added and unwanted significance to the choice not to comment, which should not be a choice, but rule with few exceptions. I assume now the White House will be asked for the President’s reactions to the thrill killing. [NOTE: this paragraph was added after the publication of the original post.]
Mr. West, as I said, likes to throw bombs; he is what used to be called a rabblerouser. As a general rule intentionally stirring up anger and controversy with well-turned rhetoric is not civil or ethical conduct, but in this case the calculation that his nasty irony can’t make things any worse, and might eventually lead, though some twisted path, to enlightenment, could be correct.
Ethics Alarms 
I read several reports that say one of them is white.
I can’t tell from the pics for sure, although one of them has a white father and one of them has a white mother.
I also saw a video of the DA there saying one of them was joking and laughing about the killing and doing a little dance after they booked him.
It’s too bad the DP is off the table on this…he might stop joking around when they strapped his scum bag ass to the table.
Well, that is another parallel with Zimmerman, who was initially reported as white when in fact he is not.
Hispanic is not a race.
Perhaps not, but Hispanics ARE considered minorities. At least, by those whose livelihoods are dependent on carving out special status for minorities.
Neither is “Jewish” or “Muslim”, and yet…
Aloha Snackbar!
Which is odd, because Indian is, even though that is genetically almost (or is) identical to HIspanic. I guess it is similar to beer not being an alcoholic beverage in my state.
Dots or feathers?
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/20/these-are-the-three-teens-arrested-and-suspected-of-murdering-student-chris-lane-for-the-fun-of-it/
Some pics.
Where do we go when an unethical act is not addressed by the people who can and should address it? I think both President Obama and Alan West are bomb throwers. But, The President of the United States has a bully pulpit and Alan West does not.
I think Alan West’s comments clarify the double standard very well.
Florida Democrat Party will miss Allen West.. He inspires otherwise indifferent voters well outside his district to come out and vote against every Republican.
Hopefully he will increase his gibbering tweets into the 2014 election campaign to remind them of how divisive some types of politicians can be.
West and current bombthrower Alan Grayson are two sides of the same ugly coin. They both need to be kept out of Congress.
Well, I think it would be parallel if the police declined to prosecute the teens in question, or if an all-black jury acquitted them. I think it was the (appearance of) government institutional indifference that sparked the level of outrage in the Martin case, and caused it to reach the level of infamy (as well as the Till comparisons). This is what people who keep pointing to every instance of inter-racial violence appear to be missing.
BUZZZ! Wrong answer. If the police declined to charge, they would be acting in defiance of clearence probable cause to arrest, including, apparently, confessions. The police in the Zimmerman case declined to charge because the DA didn’t think there was sufficient evidence to counter Zimmerman’s self-defense claim, and he was, in fact, correct. So we got millions of dollars of wasted public expense, a few ruined lives, and a new race division…what a good call!
But that answer is a winner compared to your second “parallel,” since Zimmerman was not guilty under the law and available evidence, and the race of the jury had nothing to do with that determination.
Don’t feel bad, though, because there IS no valid parallel. Good try. Thanks.
Eh. We know (some of) that mostly through hindsight. But imagine the furor if the police declined to prosecute the three teens. There would be a firestorm of controversy and protests. Even if later we were to find out that the teen’s confessions were improper or coerced (think Central Park Jogger), that wouldn’t mean that the initial responses, going on the facts as they were presented to the public, were invalid.
But like I said, most of the initial protests in the Martin case were centered around the lack of police investigation/lack of prosecution into a young man’s death, who was walking home from the store, based merely on the word of the man that killed him. The interracial aspect made it salacious enough for news organizations to pick it up, but was not, in and of itself, enough on its own, because such crimes happen every day, and are usually given the appearance at least of an investigation and sent through the justice system in one form or the other.
I fully expect the three teens to follow in that usual fashion, so there isn’t that much controversy to comment on. Everyone can stand in solid agreement that killing people because you are bored is not the way to go. Of course, should these teens have access to guns? Hmm, actually I’m pretty sure you nor West would be happy with the President’s response, were he to give one, on this case. 🙂
Who advocates teens having access to guns? The guns were obviously in their hands illegally, which means that laws were not going to stop them, in all likelihood. Is that the dance? If we can’t use this incident for race-baiting, then we can use it for anti-gun scare-mongering? Yes, I suppose it is.
Anti-gun scare mongering and anti-black scare mongering are very similar.
Do you think the President’s response, were he to give one,would be:
‘Ya know…um…if I had a son, he would look like the shooter.” ?
I will say, with some confidence, that the President’s comments, were he to make some, would be far better and more sensitive than Rev. Jackson’s odd and minimal acknowledgement that the killing of an innocent young man by three teens is “frowned upon”…you know, like picking your nose in public.
Some comments…
Wasn’t he in the Infantry during a shooting war? Pretty sure he was a literal bomb-thrower at some point, too… 😀
Also, the three piles of shit did this, reportedly, because they were bored. They killed a complete stranger because they were bored.
If this doesn’t convince you folks that it is very important that I be kept entertained, I don’t know what is to be done with you…
Lastly, one of the feckless parents of one of the Columbine shooting is out whoring his boy’s corpse for the benefit of statists who think the world will be a better place when the only people who have guns are the people who want to murder us.
Considering his dishonorable discharge… something tells me Allen West may have been a literal loose cannon.
Check your history, Chase. West wasn’t dishonorably discharged. First of all, as a commissioned officer, he couldn’t have been dishonorably discharged anyway. Officers CAN be dismissed and lose their benefits. That didn’t happen in West’s case. He was fined $5,000 and retired with full benefits.
Ah. I was mistaken.
He was dishonorably discharged?
Tit for tat and double standards has long been a part of politics. I don’t see an ending of it unfortunately. It is childish. “He did it first!” and such.
The big question is how do they get away with it?
“The big question is how do they get away with it?”
Their constituents aren’t any different?
Well, I think it’s valid. The president was not rebuked nearly enough for his shoehorning himself and race into the Zimmerman affair. He has indicated he has no shame about it, and I imagine is likely to do it again, next time a juicy story comes along. Until that happens, West is right to chide and chastize for behavior which he feels was unconsionable.
I don’t think so. If that’s your angle, I think West is one of the few people with no right to criticize the president about what he says.
Really? So the black guy can’t criticize a black guy for the way the second black guy inserts himself into race matters?
What the actual fuck is required before one has the right to criticize the shitpile in the White House?
It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with credibility. I don’t give two shits what race they or anyone else is.