Today's story comes from the Baltimore Examiner:
Something not found in the above excerpt, and appearing only at the end of the entire article: Kreager was white and the young assailants were black. WBAL-TV's account of the story, on the other hand, completely failed to mention the races of the attackers and the victim.
Curiously, although victim and perpetrator of this crime are of different races and the victim believes she was targeted because of her race, the police immediately declared that there will be no investigation to determine whether the attack was racially-motivated. The reason why the police appear to have taken this position is even more shocking: Kreager's black attackers exchanged harsh words with the black bus driver during the assault when he told them to stop. Thus, the police concluded that the bus driver had been victimized during the crime and, therefore, it was impossible for the assault to have been racially-motivated, as there was no racial bias during the incident as a whole. This is just crazy logic.
Interestingly enough, race does play an important role in the story. In fact, because of race, the victim actually finds herself on the defensive and fending off accusations in the media that she provoked the attack by using racial epithets when refused a seat. The press even found it important to include claims from the parents of the accused assailants that their children were little angels. See for yourself:
Yes, we live in a world where only Non-Whites can be considered victims of a hate crime and Non-Whites carry impunity against accusations that they could have committed a hate crime. For example, a group of Hispanic men recently jumped a white firefighter outside a restaurant and repeatedly stabbed him, shouting: "we don't want no gringos here." Somehow the police decided that this incident was not "racially-fueled," either.
Would race be given so little attention in either of these incidents if the roles had been reversed? If the assailant been White and the victim Black or Hispanic, the press would have been dying to know whether the crime was racially-motivated and, later, the prosecution would have wanted to know, too. The judge would also have wanted to know, because he would have wanted to make an example out of the perpetrator and a clear statement against racism with an unforgiving prison sentence. Furthermore, the groups claiming to be against racism and bigotry would be chomping at the bit to find out more about the perpetrator and his or her background, because these groups are always looking for some textbook example of an evil "White racist" to dangle before the public, just in case someone started to doubt the necessity of the endless tolerance programs these groups sponsor and receive funding for.
If the system only takes an interest in race-related violence towards Non-Whites and does not seek to provide protection when the perpetrators are racist Non-Whites, then the system itself is racist and discriminatory. A world where information is withheld in order to make Non-Whites look non-threatening could become a very dangerous world for White people. Our modern-day "Rosa Parks" story - with the race roles reversed and a White girl being denied a seat - is just one example.
Kreager after being assaulted on the bus
"Sarah Kreager, 26, said she boarded the bus along with her boyfriend Tuesday afternoon to go downtown to fill a prescription. The bus was crowded, and when she found a seat in the back she was confronted by a student who repeatedly told her to move from seats that were reserved.
[Kreager] tried to sit down on a Baltimore City bus, police say, and middle-schooler told her she couldn’t. When she attempted to take another seat, a middle-schooler wouldn’t let her. Finally, according to police, Kreager just sat down.
She was “immediately attacked” by nine students — three females and six males — from Robert Poole Middle School. Kreager suffered two broken bones in her left eye socket, police said. “She had eye muscles that were damaged,” a police report states. "She had deep lacerations on the top of her head and another above her neck." Two seats and the bus’ rear glass were destroyed during the attack, police said."(more)
Something not found in the above excerpt, and appearing only at the end of the entire article: Kreager was white and the young assailants were black. WBAL-TV's account of the story, on the other hand, completely failed to mention the races of the attackers and the victim.
Curiously, although victim and perpetrator of this crime are of different races and the victim believes she was targeted because of her race, the police immediately declared that there will be no investigation to determine whether the attack was racially-motivated. The reason why the police appear to have taken this position is even more shocking: Kreager's black attackers exchanged harsh words with the black bus driver during the assault when he told them to stop. Thus, the police concluded that the bus driver had been victimized during the crime and, therefore, it was impossible for the assault to have been racially-motivated, as there was no racial bias during the incident as a whole. This is just crazy logic.
Interestingly enough, race does play an important role in the story. In fact, because of race, the victim actually finds herself on the defensive and fending off accusations in the media that she provoked the attack by using racial epithets when refused a seat. The press even found it important to include claims from the parents of the accused assailants that their children were little angels. See for yourself:
Some of the teens and their parents said following the attack that Sarah Kreager, 26, and her boyfriend, Troy Ellis, spit, used racial slurs or threatened them with a knife.
"I never spit. I did not spit. I never said a racial thing," said Kreager, who added that she felt race was one of a number of factors involved in the attack. One of the students, Britny Carter, 14, told The Sun that Kreager spat at one of the other girls in the group and race was not a factor in the attack.
Britny, an eighth-grader, said students had been staring at Kreager, making fun of the fact she had a black eye, which angered Kreager and prompted her to spit. "And then everybody on the bus started fighting," Britny said. Britny's mother, Monalisa Carter, said the attack wasn't a hate crime. "That's so untrue," Carter said. "I did not raise her that way. Britny is not a racial person. She has white friends, black friends; she gets along with everybody."(more)
Yes, we live in a world where only Non-Whites can be considered victims of a hate crime and Non-Whites carry impunity against accusations that they could have committed a hate crime. For example, a group of Hispanic men recently jumped a white firefighter outside a restaurant and repeatedly stabbed him, shouting: "we don't want no gringos here." Somehow the police decided that this incident was not "racially-fueled," either.
Would race be given so little attention in either of these incidents if the roles had been reversed? If the assailant been White and the victim Black or Hispanic, the press would have been dying to know whether the crime was racially-motivated and, later, the prosecution would have wanted to know, too. The judge would also have wanted to know, because he would have wanted to make an example out of the perpetrator and a clear statement against racism with an unforgiving prison sentence. Furthermore, the groups claiming to be against racism and bigotry would be chomping at the bit to find out more about the perpetrator and his or her background, because these groups are always looking for some textbook example of an evil "White racist" to dangle before the public, just in case someone started to doubt the necessity of the endless tolerance programs these groups sponsor and receive funding for.
If the system only takes an interest in race-related violence towards Non-Whites and does not seek to provide protection when the perpetrators are racist Non-Whites, then the system itself is racist and discriminatory. A world where information is withheld in order to make Non-Whites look non-threatening could become a very dangerous world for White people. Our modern-day "Rosa Parks" story - with the race roles reversed and a White girl being denied a seat - is just one example.
