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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Charges of Racism in Beating on Belleville Area School Bus

Via Michelle Malkin  StlToday.com has a story of a beating that took place on a school bus that was first reported to be racially motivated and unprovoked.   A spokesmsan for the Belleville police now claims, after reviewing the tape, the beating may not be racially motivated.  Watch for yourselves and decide: 

As a parent, my heart aches for this boy who was beaten in what appears to be an entirely uprovoked incident.  The boy enters the bus looking for a seat and finds an open one next to one African American student and sits down.  It is clear the boy is unwelcome as he is shoved a few times in an effort to eject him from his seat.  Whatever the motivation, it is clear this boy is bullied and beaten for no apparent reason. Worse still, the bus driver is nowhere to be found and rather than calm things down other students cheer and egg the beating on.

The post at StLToday.com notes the area has a history of racial problems including; "police harassment of black motorists, cross burnings and discrimination in city hiring." While such practices are abhorrent, they are not justification for a black student to take revenge against the white student who is in no position to have committed any such offenses. It is unclear from the tape, however, what motivated the one student to begin beating the other. The motivation can only be determined after interviewing the students involved as well as witnesses.

If the situation were reversed, leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton and yes, even President Obama would likely ascribe racial motivations to the beating after a cursory review of the evidence as the police captain did in this situation. Charging racism first and asking questions later only fans the flames of hatred that perpetuate racist beliefs rather than eradicate them. If the beating were to be racially motivated, it is time for the left and leaders such as Rev. Sharpton to condemn the hatred rather than flame it. All children black, white and everything in between should be able to ride their school bus without fear.

H/T Memeorandum

2 comments:

  1. Hmm.  That's a hard one.  I can't tell.  Granted I couldn't hear what was being said.  Anytime you have a white person on one side and a black person on the other the first thing people jump to is racial motivation.  It's really not clear that this was a race thing.  Like you said, I think you'd have to ask the people involved.  

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  2. I am glad you commented Brooke :*   I thought about our recent conversation on race when writing this.  It's possible race was involved but the tape is inconclusive.  I will have to look for an update to see if there were any subsequent reports issued.

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