Hate Crimes Come In All Colors
The Danger Of the Media Rushing To Judgement
On Monday, Aug 25 friends and family said goodbye to Michael Brown, the 18-year-old who was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
A family friend described Michael as a big guy, and was a kind, gentle soul, who before he left this Earth, the day that he was killed, he was out spreading the word of Jesus Christ. That description is in direct conflict with the young man who had committed strong-arm robbery ten minutes before he was confronted by officer Darren Wilson.
Brown's great-uncle, the Rev. Charles Ewing spoke at the funeral saying that, "Michael Brown's blood is crying from the ground, crying for vengeance, crying for justice." The problem is that you can have vengeance or you can justice but you can't have both.
The biased way this tragedy has been consistently portrayed by the main stream media has kept the cauldron of hate boiling. Every time a news source leads off with, "Michael Brown the unarmed,18-year-old black teenager, who was was shot dead by a white police officer", they are as responsible for inciting racial tension as much as Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, or Eric Holder.
The media rushed to judgement in this case and so did many Americans. This was all done before any of the evidence was in. You have an "eyewitness" testimony that turned out to be false. And you have a police officer that has a very slim chance for a fair trial.
Ralph Weems, An Iraq War Veteran
Why Is The Media Burying Some Hate Crimes?
It is an irresponsible media that does not objectively report both sides, and buries stories that do not support the biased agenda they are following. Why are we not hearing about hate crimes that have white victims?
Mad World News reports that on Aug. 21, "While walking home from his lifeguard job at Otterbein Swim Club Thursday evening in the Federal Hill neighborhood (Maryland), the victim was attacked by three African-American teenagers who allegedly yelled “Hey, white boy!” before they threw a large rock at his face. After the rock hit the white victim, suspect Sidney Joyner, 19, tried to stab him with a pocket knife, but the man dodged the blade."
After the attack, the suspect was later found by police and was charged with armed robbery, robbery and two counts of assault- but not charged with a hate crime. It was noted that the state’s attorney’s office can modify and add more charges once the full investigation is complete, however, the police are responsible for the initial charges.
In another case a former U.S. Marine Ralph Weems, a 32-year-old white male, was warned not to go inside a restaurant because they didn't like whites but entered anyway and was almost beaten to death by a mob of 20 black black men who followed him out of a restaurant because the black people inside were angry over the death of Michael Brown. Racial slurs were heard coming from the mob. A friend who was with Weems was beaten as well. Again this has not had much attention, and the police have already said they do not believe this was a hate crime. It is be pursued as an aggravated assault.
Where is the outcry? Where is the call for justice? We have been sent a clear message from this administration and the media, for the victim of a hate crime to receive justice, the crime must fit the correct racial profile.
We as a nation have to start holding our media accountable to report accurately and truthfully. They must not rush to judgement before facts are known, thus causing the American people to do the same. We have to tell the pot-stirrers and race-baiters to stay away. The legal system is not to be manipulated to get one's way.
A friend of mine said it best, "It doesn't matter if the perpetrator is white or black or brown or green for that matter, it's wrong and it should be called what it is: A hate crime. It has to be wrong for everybody."
