Land of the brave

Snickers Man

Donald Trump wrote: »

Well one of the issues is that one can't ever seem to reach a point in the debate where you can actually address the root of these problems.

That man who was shot in the hotel was white. So there wasn't much about it. If he had been black, then there'd have been riots about it. What is never discussed is the overall state of things that means the man was shot dead in a hallway. Was it bad training, trigger happy cop, lack of alternative methods to subdue an unarmed (and crying from being scared) drunk man? No - he was white so nothing to see here. If he had been black it would have been just because the shooter was a racist. So the actual real issues and causes are never addressed

I'm wary about agreeing with somebody who chooses to call himself Donald Trump but I actually agree with much of what you say. I think focusing on race as the main issue distorts the problem and prevents people from confronting the issue in an effective way.

Some years ago there was the notorious Trayvon Martin case, in which a 17year old kid was walking home from the candy store, minding his own business when he was spotted by a local man who participated in the area's equivalent of a neighbourhood watch scheme.

The man was suspicious because he didn't recognise the kid (who was from out of town but was staying in the area with his dad as the invited guests of a local woman), he was wearing a hoodie over his head (it was raining) and he appeared to be wandering around aimlessly as if he was "casing" local houses in preparation for a burglary (actually he was engrossed in a telephone call with a girlfriend). The man called the police, and then started to chase after the kid who had seen that the man was taking an interest in him. Despite being advised by the police dispatcher not to do so.

When the cops got there, they found a kid dead from a gunshot wound and the man with a bloody nose saying that the kid had attacked HIM, that he was afraid for his life because he thought the kid would take his gun and kill him with it and that he shot him in self defence.

The cops said "Sounds reasonable, sir. You're free to go."
Some months later, a court said much the same thing.

I think that was a terrible event and that the paranoid gunman should have been locked up but America was bitterly divided on the case. Their "right to bear arms" should not be infringed because an over excitable incompetent caused the death of a kid who had been doing no harm whatsoever, except get spooked by a weirdo who was following him.

It shouldn't have mattered that the kid was black and the man was Latino. But that was what people seemed to concentrate on.