The ‘War on Black People’: But Who Is Winning?
Source: frontpagemag.com
Colin Flaherty is an award-winning reporter and author of White Girl Bleed a Lot: The return of racial violence and how the media ignore it.
St. Louis is now Ground Zero for the “war on black males”: So named by Spike Lee after a white cop shot a black teenager, unleashing ten days of riots and rage and free shopping in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson.But here is what Spike Lee did not say: Black people are winning the war. At least in St. Louis.
Black-on-white crime is an everyday fact of life in this once vibrant city. And more and more people — the ones who are left, anyway — are wondering why local media refuse to tell the truth about it.
The latest example came Sunday evening. A group of black people on bicycles surrounded, threatened, and robbed two horse-drawn carriages — the kind you find in the nicer parts of town where tourists congregate.
A place where black mob violence used to be rare. Not anymore. Not for a long time. Not in St. Louis.
The local CBS affiliate reported that two suspects have been arrested, and the owner of the carriage company put on a brave front, saying crime is unusual in that part of St. Louis:
“We’ve been there seven nights a week for 35 years and never had an issue with anything,” Jerry Kirk says. “This is the first time that we’ve ever had an incident this way, and I’m not aware that there’s ever been an incident like this ever before.”
To its credit, the news station allowed readers in the comments section to tell the full story of racial violence and denial that its own reporter did not — or could not — say. And they did, by the hundreds:
“I’m from St. Louis,” said one reader at the CBS St. Louis web site. “This happened in the big tourist area called the Riverfront, right along the Mississippi. Right across the river is East St. Louis, Illinois, totally crime ridden. The truth is that rampaging “teen” boys come streaming across the bridge all the time to beat people, rob them and terrorize families, especially during big festivals. Yes, I’ve seen it personally and it was damned scary. I’m shocked to hear this carriage owner say this has never happened to his employees before. They’re either very, very lucky, or he’s lying. The area needs cops stationed down there along the Riverfront 24/7. Thank God Missouri finally has concealed carry.”
Many of the readers wondered why it was so easy to report on the racial angle in the Ferguson shooting, and so difficult thereafter. “Nice to see Missouri’s back to normal after all that awful, awful White Racism of the past few weeks,” said another.
From the Arch to the Delmar Loop to the Riverfront, readers of White Girl Bleed a Lot: The return of racial violence to America and how the media ignore it know that black mob violence happens often but is reported rarely.
St. Louis is often credited as being the birthplace of the Knockout Game, where black people attack non-black people for spite or fun. Sometimes throwing in a bit of robbery. Local judge Jennifer Joyce said one man alone was responsible for 300 cases of the knockout attacks.
The mayor even stumbled across a case of the Knockout game: When the suspects went to trial, the main witness mysteriously decided not to show up. “Free my TKO Boys,” they exclaimed on Facebook as they celebrated.
One of the freed suspects was shot dead a year later, while breaking into a home. His grandfather said the 15-year-old was a good boy, “just like Trayvon.”
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is on the front lines of this war on black people — determined not to let anyone know there is a war of any kind. Or if there is, it is pretty much normal. Back when the Knockout Game was only a regional phenomena, the Post dispatch said anyone playing it displayed a “sociopathic lack of empathy.”
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