The Chicago Tribune has released video of the unprovoked assault on a popular young black bartender by another black man on a crowded street corner. William Lee of the Tribune has the story of the February 7 assault on 32 year-old Marques Gaines in front of a busy 7-Eleven store on the Near North Side of Chicago at about 4:20 AM. The video shows what appears to be two men confronting Gaines as he steps out of the store with a bag of chips. After a few moments Gains tries to step away and the larger of the two men cold cocks him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Seconds after Gaines falls in the street, two people run up and begin rummaging through his pockets.
As several dozen people walk by, going in and out of the store, waiting
for the light to change before crossing the street, all within a few
feet of the injured man, nobody stops to help or even try and prevent the cab which
accidently ran him over. Gaines died later in the hospital. An
attorney hired by the victim's family argues that the 7-Eleven store
should have had more security. Perhaps an armed guard should have been
on 24-hour duty. The attorney also complains that the police should
have caught the attacker by now.
This is happening as the Chicago Police Department has been branded as racist and officers are undergoing diversity and use of force training.
Question...if the culture in Chicago among urban blacks includes watching the assault of a fellow black, watching his robbery as he lays unconscious, then walking past his body as he lays on a busy street until he is run over, then what level of policing is required to protect urban blacks from beating and killing each other and anyone else stupid enough to be caught alone there?
.
This is happening as the Chicago Police Department has been branded as racist and officers are undergoing diversity and use of force training.
Question...if the culture in Chicago among urban blacks includes watching the assault of a fellow black, watching his robbery as he lays unconscious, then walking past his body as he lays on a busy street until he is run over, then what level of policing is required to protect urban blacks from beating and killing each other and anyone else stupid enough to be caught alone there?
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The crime and indifference are appalling. And it's personal, since I have actually been in that 7-11. But the last paragraph in this post comes dangerously close to ugly stereotyping. Given the undeniable differences in rates of criminality among groups in this country, it is perhaps understandable to associate criminal behaviors with culture and look to culture as a root cause of certain behaviors.
However, what we must also remember is that we cannot paint the law-abiding with the same brush as we paint criminals, and that membership in a culture is not, in and of itself, bad.
"Fellow black" is also somewhat unfortunate---although the BLM movement is maddening, and I grant that those who subscribe to it are responsible for their own ignorance, the fact remains that we are all in this together. Language like "fellow black" is needlessly divisive.
The indifference shown by these people is nothing short of disgusting,and it deserves all the criticism in the world---but our outrage at that shouldn't spill over into divisive and counterproductive rhetoric.
Preach, federalist!