Murders That Matter

 

It is interesting to note which deaths that are considered meaningful and diagnostic of the state America according to our betters. The latest Meaningful Death is the killing of Ahmad Arbery in Georgia by two room-temperature IQ vigilantes who thought they had caught a burglar (officially, an innocent jogger who just happened to trespass a bit). Oddly enough, none of the other thousands of other murders in America so far this year have been quite as diagnostic of the racist nightmare that is the Trump Era.

In the same year that a Hispanic white man shot Trayvon Martin, there were over 14,000 murders in the US, about half of them African Americans and over 90 percent of those killed by other African Americans. (African-Americans make up about 13 percent of the US.)  Few of those other murders had significance for the Narrative.

In 2014, Eric Garner (“I can’t breathe”) resisted arrest for some trivial offense and died when several policemen were needed to subdue him. Michael Brown (of “hands up” mythology) was shot In Ferguson. The other 14,162 deaths by homicide that year were largely non-diagnostic of the State of our Nation.

Freddy Gray’s freakish death was diagnostic of America in 2015. Three of the six policemen involved in his arrest were black, as was the driver of the vehicle in which he died, and as was the police chief, the mayor, and the majority of the Baltimore city council. Civil rights issues that year fell under the purview of a black US attorney general appointed by a black POTUS. Nevertheless, white racists, presumably with ninja-level skills, managed to cause this incident. Few if any of the other 15,882 homicides that year had diagnostic significance. And of course, the huge jump in homicides from 2014 was in no way a reflection on Obama’s handling of race relations, social conditions, or crime prevention.

In 2016, 14 Dallas cops (five fatally) were shot by a black man. Oddly enough, this event had no diagnostic significance other than a possible indictment of systematic police abuse causing anger within black communities. In any event, it slipped quickly and quietly out of the national headlines. That same year, Sylville Smith, an up-and-coming young career criminal in Milwaukee fired at police while fleeing the scene of a robbery and was shot dead by a black detective under the authority of a black police chief in a city whose political establishment was and still is to the left of every jurisdiction east of Portland. Nevertheless, white racism managed to sneak in and cause this injustice. Naturally, riots ensued. Murders in the US jumped again that year to over 17,000 despite the racial healing and insightful economic stewardship of Barack Obama.

The FBI only categorizes offenders and victims by race for a fraction of the total reported murders because not all jurisdictions provide that data (for reasons that have nothing to do with political correctness, of course) the data samples for the most recent seven years are graphed below. Oddly enough it does not reflect a contemporary pattern of white murderousness toward African Americans.

The notion that the killing of young Mr. Arbery is diagnostic of Trump’s America is not merely an ungrounded, innumerate, and profoundly stupid repetition of a pointless, media-driven psychodrama but bad for the country.

I was a teenager when my father was an attorney for the US Dept of Justice Civil Rights Division, often gone for weeks at a time filing, investigating, and designing desegregation plans in Tennessee and northern Mississippi in 1965-7. Things have changed since then in case anyone hasn’t noticed. New social advances and new problems and yet two or three generations of white liberals (and exploitative black “leaders”) are still generating the ego-boosting thrill of being morally superior to the virtually extinct white racist of yore. The nearly auto-erogenous nature of The Narrative has made people more irrational, more detached from the simple truth that it is no longer 1960 or even close.

Imagine what America would be like if our leftward brethren:

• Stopped promoting the sick, hateful fantasy that America beyond the suburbs is a seething mass of violent racists.

• Started to accept that the national urban nightmare is largely the result of sustained, cynical political misuse of misguided good intentions from half a century ago.

• Stopped using PC to deflect attention from the social pathology within a large swath of the African-American demographic so that an honest examination and new solutions can begin.

• Started to use their power of media control and authority to adversely judge any and all behaviors that are detrimental to black youth. There is nothing natural or endemic in “gangsta” culture, or useful in the notion that academic success is “acting white.”

• Stopped using PC to viciously attack African American leaders who rightly believe that fostering family, virtue, self-reliance, self-respect is a better path than fostering dependency and excusing destructive behavior. They don’t have to agree with everything Thomas Sowell has written, for example, but they must accept that it is substantive and deserves a substantive good-faith response.

Imagine what America would be if…

Instead, a few thousand homicides and drug-overdoses from now there will be yet another Meaningful Death that tells us what a racist, benighted people we really are. Please forgive me in advance for the hatred I will feel for the poisonous narcissists who will rally to that narrative when I know that they have the power in media, academia and in circles of wealth and influence to do much, much better than that.

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  1. Rapporteur Inactive
    Rapporteur
    @Rapporteur

    This. So very much this. For example, this crime in Flint would seem to be more interesting given the debate over mandatory mask-wearing than the Meaningful Deaths you called out above. Only, the perps and the victims were all the same race, so it’s memory-holed.

    • #1
  2. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Rapporteur (View Comment):

    This. So very much this. For example, this crime in Flint would seem to be more interesting given the debate over mandatory mask-wearing than the Meaningful Deaths you called out above. Only, the perps and the victims were all the same race, so it’s memory-holed.

    I saw that story. Nauseating. Pointless. Stupid. And not all that exceptional.

    • #2
  3. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame. 

    • #3
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    “vigilantes who thought they had caught a burglar “

    I don’t even believe that because it sounds too much like an excuse.  I think the deliberately killed the guy, but we’ll see as more evidence is uncovered . . .

    • #4
  5. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame.

    It is not whether it is a story but that the volume, nature and purpose of the coverage is about the Narrative not the story.  

    • #5
  6. Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… Coolidge
    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo…
    @GumbyMark

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame.

    It is not whether it is a story but that the volume, nature and purpose of the coverage is about the Narrative not the story.

    It’s a significant story.  I’m not bothered about the coverage.  Trayvon Martin and other crime stories are not relevant to it.

    • #6
  7. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame.

    It is not whether it is a story but that the volume, nature and purpose of the coverage is about the Narrative not the story.

    It’s a significant story. I’m not bothered about the coverage. Trayvon Martin and other crime stories are not relevant to it.

    Then you must not have access to Twitter or MSNBC. This is all about Trump’s America and the revival of white supremacy. This story does not have legs on its own merits to get a week of national coverage.. Dateline and true crime shows often highlight cruel murders that did not get similar attention.

    I carry no brief for the killers or their buddies in local law enforcement. It’s just that there is no way in hell national media would jump on this if the racial chromatics were reversed. That is undeniable.

    • #7
  8. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    It’s just that there is no way in hell national media would jump on this if the racial chromatics were reversed. That is undeniable.

    Anyone want to try to argue with that?

     

    • #8
  9. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    The next day after the video made the rounds a young black man shot and killed an eighty-year-old couple who were visiting a veterans’ grave yard.  Why didn’t this get the same national attention?

    • #9
  10. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    The racist narrative, above all, takes precedence. I can’t imagine that ever changing. Sadly.

    • #10
  11. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Stad (View Comment):

    “vigilantes who thought they had caught a burglar “

    I don’t even believe that because it sounds too much like an excuse. I think the deliberately killed the guy, but we’ll see as more evidence is uncovered . . .

    No argument from me. I don’t think we’re dealing with master strategists.

    • #11
  12. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    I’ve been following this story, but I’ll add media reporting is not totally reliable. For those of you that are CHL holders should remember that most states, if not all states require that to make a citizen arrest requires that you actually witness a crime that has been committed. Unlike a police officer you cannot detain anyone based upon probable cause. If you try to detain someone without witnessing a crime and that action leads to injury, or death, self defense is not an allowable defense.

    The former police officer in this incident should have known better, and the apparent cover-up by a prosecutor shortly after the incident is just as stupid.

    • #12
  13. Michael Minnott Member
    Michael Minnott
    @MichaelMinnott

    Ironically this story is likely to peter out due to the fact that white people and the political right appear to be taking it seriously.  I get the feeling that the media is enthrall to a Manson Family style “Helter Skelter” fantasy.  “Surely,” they may be thinking, “now that we have a real murder to exploit, the racists in fly-over land will finally reveal their true colors.”  There may be a few people still pushing apologetics for Arbery’s killers, but the trend appears to be that pretty much everyone thinks it’s murder.  Once that becomes clear the media will sulk and abandon the story.

    • #13
  14. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Ta Nahisi Coates attended Howard University but did not graduate.

    He is also a MacArthur Fellow aka the genius grant.

    Coates has devalued the MacArthur Fellowship.

     

    • #14
  15. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    I’ve been following this story, but I’ll add media reporting is not totally reliable. For those of you that are CHL holders should remember that most states, if not all states require that to make a citizen arrest requires that you actually witness a crime that has been committed. Unlike a police officer you cannot detain anyone based upon probable cause. If you try to detain someone without witnessing a crime and that action leads to injury, or death, self defense is not an allowable defense.

    The former police officer in this incident should have known better, and the apparent cover-up by a prosecutor shortly after the incident is just as stupid.

    The police department has a history of less than professional conduct.

    George Burnhill, the county DA, has explained why he didn’t initially file charges. Robert Stacy McCain posted the letter here.

    Whether this an accurate account of his actions, a coverup, or an attempt to justify himself after the fact I don’t know.

    It is entirely possible that this was not a lawful killing–and that the usual race baiters, who are already involved, will use this death for their own ends.

    Andrew Branca has already begun to cover the case; it’s behind his Law of Self Defense site’s paywall. I expect that it will be as good as his excellent work on the Trayvon Martin case was for Legal Insurrection and wouldn’t be surprised if occasional updates appear there.

    Stacy McCain notes:

    A 1960s radical once said: “The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.” Whenever the Left seizes on some incident like the Arbery shooting, they do so to advance their agenda, and the role of supposedly “objective” journalists in assisting this project is what we need to focus on: What propaganda methods are involved

    . . . if McMichael recognized Arbery as he ran down Satilla Drive (“hauling ass,” McMichael said in his statement to police), he would have been aware that Arbery was a convicted felon with a history that involved firearms. Was it reasonable for McMichael to believe Arbery had a weapon? Could this explain why the former police officer decided to get his gun and pursue Arbery? Furthermore, because George Barnhill’s son was also involved in prosecuting Arbery, this helps explain why the case didn’t result in an immediate arrest, because Barnhill (who was chosen to handle the prosecution after the Glynn County D.A. recused herself) had to recuse himself after Arbery’s family objected to his possible conflict of interest. My purpose in drawing attention to this is not to argue about the shooting, but rather to show how the omission of these facts distort perceptions of the case.

    So, two methods of propaganda — selectivity and omission — are part of how the media has shaped the narrative of Ahmaud Arbery’s death, and they have done this to advance a political agenda: “Blame Trump!”

     

    • #15
  16. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    Stacy McCain notes:

    A 1960s radical once said: “The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution.” Whenever the Left seizes on some incident like the Arbery shooting, they do so to advance their agenda, and the role of supposedly “objective” journalists in assisting this project is what we need to focus on: What propaganda methods are involved

    That is important. I don’t remember if I ever heard that saying before, but I’ve come to much the same conclusion, though not so concisely stated, in the last 40 years of left-watching.  It’s what I’m getting at when I point out, e.g. during the Russian hoax, that leftist arguments are based on what we think, not what they think. They think the anti-communist right will be susceptible to fears about Russia, so they go with that. It’s why they will argue federalism when trying to stop tort reform. They don’t believe in federalism but they think we might be susceptible to federalism, and we are. But the issue is never the issue.

    • #16
  17. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame.

    Stad (View Comment):

    “vigilantes who thought they had caught a burglar “

    I don’t even believe that because it sounds too much like an excuse. I think the deliberately killed the guy, but we’ll see as more evidence is uncovered . . .

    I disagree with both of you about this.  I have watched the video, and read the careful explanation of the prosecutor who found that there was no probable cause to arrest either Travis or Gregory McMichael.  I do not know all of the facts yet, but based on what I know, this was a tragic but not criminal encounter.

    I probably need to do a separate post on this.  The video clearly shows Ahmaud Arbery running up to Travis McMichael, attacking him and hitting him, and trying to take away McMichael’s gun.  They struggle over the gun — partially out of the picture — then return into the screen, still struggling over the gun.  McMichael wrests the gun away from Arbery’s grasp, and shoots him.

    Here is the prosecutor’s letter, explaining how McMichael’s actions were legal under Georgia law, and how Arbery attacked McMichael. 

    There is a travesty of justice here.  An experienced and independent prosecutor, with 36 years experience, found that there was “insufficient probable cause to issue arrest warrants at this time.”  But both Travis and Gregory McMichael have now been arrested, without probable cause, in violation of their constitutional rights.

    The prosecutor in question — George Barnhill in neighboring Waycross county — withdrew from the case based on one of the weakest “conflict of interest” claims that I’ve ever seen — Barnhill’s son works for the same prosecutor’s office in Brunswick county (where the incident took place) at which Gregory McMichael used to work.

    But the BLM folks are on the march, so this case gets punted to yet another prosecutor, who is punting to a grand jury, because now that the national media is misleading everyone about the case and there may be more race riots ginned up as a consequence of a justifiable shooting in self-defense, none of the politicians are willing to take a stand.

    Predictably, David French has a piece getting it wrong.  Andrew Klavan got it wrong, too, though he is just mistaken in his belief that you can’t head off in your truck with guns in order to do a “citizen’s arrest.”  Actually, in Georgia, you can.  You can’t just shoot the suspect — but you can defend yourself if the suspect attacks you, which is what happened here.

    • #17
  18. Bob W Member
    Bob W
    @WBob

    It’s clear that the kid attacked the guy with the gun and died as a result. The context surrounding this occurrence may be in dispute but that much is clear. And apparently the kid had mental health problems and priori convictions, according to the prosecutors letter. 

    In order to turn this from a justifiable homicide or even unintentional killing, they are going to have to say that the McMichaels’ presence there was itself a crime and that therefore the death is on them. But that’s sort of a technicality. Even if they get convicted of that, it’s hard to make the case that they intentionally hunted down and shot the kid while he was just running along. 

    • #18
  19. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame.

    It is not whether it is a story but that the volume, nature and purpose of the coverage is about the Narrative not the story.

    There is some discussion that this is related to the backlash for the progressives refusing to consider black crime.  I do not know enough about that geographic area to weigh the argument.  Maybe there had been burglaries in that area.  I have had some discussion but others who may know the area better than I do.  We are eventually going to see some Bernard Goetz effects.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_New_York_City_Subway_shooting#Perpetrator

    “Death Wish” was roundly trashed by movie critics.

    • #19
  20. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Why did the race baiters in the Zimmerman case push so hard to get him charged despite the absence of actual evidence? Because if he was arrested, he can be sued. 

    Could that be going on here?

    Stefan Molyneux does a good job analyzing the events so far.

     

    • #20
  21. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    There is nothing difficult about this. It is a newsworthy story in its own right. You have the video, you have the refusal of local authorities to prosecute, and their recognition they were wrong to do so as they are now busy pointing fingers at each other in blame.

    Stad (View Comment):

    “vigilantes who thought they had caught a burglar “

    I don’t even believe that because it sounds too much like an excuse. I think the deliberately killed the guy, but we’ll see as more evidence is uncovered . . .

    I disagree with both of you about this. I have watched the video, and read the careful explanation of the prosecutor who found that there was no probable cause to arrest either Travis or Gregory McMichael. I do not know all of the facts yet, but based on what I know, this was a tragic but not criminal encounter.

    I probably need to do a separate post on this. The video clearly shows Ahmaud Arbery running up to Travis McMichael, attacking him and hitting him, and trying to take away McMichael’s gun. They struggle over the gun — partially out of the picture — then return into the screen, still struggling over the gun. McMichael wrests the gun away from Arbery’s grasp, and shoots him.

    Here is the prosecutor’s letter, explaining how McMichael’s actions were legal under Georgia law, and how Arbery attacked McMichael.

    There is a travesty of justice here. An experienced and independent prosecutor, with 36 years experience, found that there was “insufficient probable cause to issue arrest warrants at this time.” But both Travis and Gregory McMichael have now been arrested, without probable cause, in violation of their constitutional rights.

    The prosecutor in question — George Barnhill in neighboring Waycross county — withdrew from the case based on one of the weakest “conflict of interest” claims that I’ve ever seen — Barnhill’s son works for the same prosecutor’s office in Brunswick county (where the incident took place) at which Gregory McMichael used to work.

     

    I agree with you.

    I’ve heard more information than what the OP presented, but I haven’t paid close attention.

    I kind of assumed it’s another fake crime pinned on white folks to gin up outrage that black people suffer for crimes they commit. Since every instance has been exactly that, I haven’t cared.

    I heard the construction site had had a string of robberies of tools. I know that’s a think at construction sites.

    I know this was a retired deputy/sheriff who knows what the law requires.

    If honesty and integrity existed in the media, I would not be surprised if they were hired/volunteered security.

    But essentially it’s either a real wolf finally or just another cry for attention. And the media has not comported itself to establish trust.

    • #21
  22. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Mostly, I am totally shocked at the number of relevant details posted here in this thread that were not part of CNN ‘s or MSNBC’s take on this incident. Maybe VOX will have the full story for us.

    • #22
  23. Stina Inactive
    Stina
    @CM

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Mostly, I am totally shocked at the number of relevant details posted here in this thread that were not part of CNN ‘s or MSNBC’s take on this incident. Maybe VOX will have the full story for us.

    I feel you need a /sarc tag here because surely you are not surprised at all, lol.

    • #23
  24. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio…
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Mostly, I am totally shocked at the number of relevant details posted here in this thread that were not part of CNN ‘s or MSNBC’s take on this incident. Maybe VOX will have the full story for us.

    Yeah, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Vox reported that, as clearly shown on the video, Travis and Greg McMichael were in full Klan regalia, then burned a cross in the front yard before hanging a poor innocent jogger from a tree and then shooting him with the shotgun.  These folks have an amazing ability to see things in a video that are not there.

    • #24
  25. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    Doug Watt (View Comment):

    I’ve been following this story, but I’ll add media reporting is not totally reliable. For those of you that are CHL holders should remember that most states, if not all states require that to make a citizen arrest requires that you actually witness a crime that has been committed. Unlike a police officer you cannot detain anyone based upon probable cause. If you try to detain someone without witnessing a crime and that action leads to injury, or death, self defense is not an allowable defense.

    The former police officer in this incident should have known better, and the apparent cover-up by a prosecutor shortly after the incident is just as stupid.

    I have not been following this story… I have a stupid question: what was their motive for shooting/killing a black jogger?  Did they actually think he was a burglar and were trying to apprehend him?  Was it more nefarious?

    Georgia is a weird state.

    1. Atlanta has a large black population, I think it’s a majority black city
    2. the rest of Georgia

     

    • #25
  26. Phil Turmel Inactive
    Phil Turmel
    @PhilTurmel

    MISTER BITCOIN (View Comment):
    I have not been following this story… I have a stupid question: what was their motive for shooting/killing a black jogger? Did they actually think he was a burglar and were trying to apprehend him? Was it more nefarious?

    Watch the whole video in #20.  Seriously.  It answers your stupid question.

    TL/DW: Yes, they thought he was a burglar and were attempting a citizens’ arrest.  In a manner legal in Georgia.  The younger McMichael defended himself from Arbery’s sudden attack.

    • #26
  27. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    @oldbathos, this is one of the best posts I’ve ever read on Ricochet.

    • #27
  28. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Regardless of the details of this particular shooting, the point of the OP stands that the press and the left work awfully hard to publicize certain one-off crimes/shootings/whatever to try to portray America as a nightmare country where black people are routinely terrorized by white people.

    • #28
  29. MISTER BITCOIN Inactive
    MISTER BITCOIN
    @MISTERBITCOIN

    The guy who took the video has now been charged with murder

    https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Man-who-filmed-Arbery-shooting-video-charged-in-15287286.php

     

     

     

    • #29
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