Rich Lowry | The Murders That Don’t Count
Delric Miller IV died in a hail of bullets a month ago. When someone fired 37 AK-47 rounds into his Detroit home at 4:30 a.m., he was mortally wounded while dozing on the couch. He was nine months old. No one made the multicolored teething ring he got for Christmas or his toy hammer into a national symbol of random violence.
Last year, Charinez Jefferson, 17, was shot and killed on a Chicago street. “She begged the shooter not to shoot her because she was pregnant,” a pastor explained. The alleged assailant, Timothy Jones, 18, shot her in the head, chest and back after seeing her walking with a rival gang member. New York Times columnist Charles Blow did not write a column about Jefferson’s killing as a symbol of the perils of being a young black woman in America.
Last June, a stray bullet from a confrontation on a Brighton Beach, N.Y., boardwalk killed 16-year-old Tysha Jones as she sat on a bench. A 19-year-old man, out for revenge after an earlier scuffle on the boardwalk, was charged in the shooting. Tysha’s heartbroken mother was not featured on all the national TV shows.
And on and on it goes.
These are tragedies. One case is not new to me. The same way I have been explaining the FACTS to my fourth grade class about Trayvon Martin, is the same way I’ve explained about Baby Delric and other senseless killings recently in Detroit. They are preparing a PSA which contains those cases, Trayvon, and I will gladly informed my class of the cases you mentioned.
Yesterday an 80 year old man shot and killed a 16 year old here in Detroit as the 16 year old broke into his home. He will not be charged and I applaud that decision. In this case, not to be confused with Zimmerman’s defense, is a prime example of how the Stand Your Ground law should be exercised.
Still, none of this negates the fact that Trayvon would be alive had not Zimmerman pursued him because of “suspicion”. Period. Zimmerman needs to be charged with murder. Period.
Check out the link at the end of this post to test for your hidden biases. Also, there is a link to a column that discusses some black on black crime stats:
http://charleneoldham.com/2012/03/30/walking-a-mile-in-trayvons-shoes/
The flaw in Lowry’s argument is, of course, that he’s not out protesting about these murders, either. He obviously cares about them–surely he’s not just using these murdered children as pawns to make a political point, right?–and yet what has he done about it other than sanctimoniously upbraid others for not stepping up?
(Besides that, he’s probably overstating the case. There likely are people–perhaps even some of the same people protesting in support of justice for Trayvon Martin–calling out for justice for these murdered children, as well.)
I don’t agree with Sharpton and rest of the folks who think racism was a major factor in what happened between Martin and Zimmerman, or for that matter, how the authorities have treated this case since. (Race might’ve been a contributing factor in Zimmerman’s overall profile of the hooded stranger he believed was up to no good, but I can easily see how other factors (the way Trayvon was moving, …) could be / probably were the ones that led Zimmerman to make the call.)
For the most part, it isn’t the incident itself that has folks up in arms; it’s what has and hasn’t happened, since.
It’s the fact that the specifics of the Trayvon Martin case AREN’T common that makes it fodder for protest. Usually, when the police know who shot the unarmed victim, that person is arrested. That is true regardless of the demographics of alleged perpetrator, victim, officers involved, and prosecutor. In all the cases Lowry mentioned (as well as the other one’s commonly mentioned) the perpetrators are either caught or being sought; there are probably very few, if any, where the person alleged to’ve committed the act has admitted doing so, handed over the weapon s/he did it with, and got sent home after a few hours.
I’m not saying that the police and prosecutors definitely did something wrong here… (Indeed, it appears that the law may protect a person who shoots and claims self-defense, particularly when s/he kills the other party, leaving no one to tell the other side of the story.) I am questioning whether or not they did, though, and want outside people to review the case to find out.
(And the more I learn about some of the other cases where allegedly bad people have been killed, the more I question the laws–and the legal system–that allow them to remain free after doing so. When you chase down the guy who stole your car radio, catch him a block or two away, and stab him to death… I’m sorry, but that’s just not a case of self-defense–and, considering that the “victim’s” life was never in danger from the car radio thief outside his house, never was. Any law that says it is, is badly in need of changin’)
Be Blessed,
I think I like you.
I take that as a compliment Jason. Thank you.
Reblogged this on Common Sense and commented:
Very poignia
nt!
you should. I meant it. Thanks for your comments.
Last weekend eight blacks were gunned down in Chicago and I haven’t heard a thing from the so called civil rights leaders.
I think what we need to realize is the APPARENT injustice here. No one is refuting the fact that black on black, white on white, white on black or black or white crimes is disgusting, reprehensible and unnerving. That is NOT the argument here for the Civil Rights Leaders or the many diverse group of citizens calling for JUSTICE.
In the case of Trayvon Martin, as I have stated before, Facts are Facts and we would not be having these commentaries had Zimmerman NOT pursued Trayvon. PERIOD. I’m trying to fathom how some people do not get that part????? This very well could have been a situation we never heard about if Zimmerman had NOT PURSUED Trayvon. The police could have questioned him, realize he had a right to be there and moved on. Maybe this would’ve just been a case of racial anger but not death due to suspicion!
Come on. There are more intelligent people in our society than we give credit for. Maybe not as intelligent in words, but we all have our “niche” in our ecosystem. Let’s be reasonable, level headed and real. Civil Rights Leaders are speaking out for justice…as this case certainly warrants it.
I’m not saying the other cases do not as well!!!!! i believe everyone deserves justice. If you want to share the facts of the 8, i’d love to hear them. In the meantime, I’m praying for their families.
You keep speaking about facts. unless you have a secret source you have no facts.
Like I said, some people hear the same things differently. Guess I have a secret source. It’s called the 911 tape that clearly told Zimmerman NOT to follow but he continued even after acknowledging with, “okay”. I refuse to argue so that’s my say. Enjoy your evening!
but he continued: and you know this how? According to police reports he was walking back to his truck and was attacked from behind.
And you believe the police report because???? Over witnesses and an eyewitness because?????
You do realize the lead detective on the case was ready that night to charge him with manslaughter? Also, you’re aware that the police chief AND prosecuting attorney had to step down/away from the case for “independent” eyes???
You say I keep using facts but I’m still waiting on you to use some.
I’ll have to listen to the tape again, but it sure sounded to me like there were 2-3 minutes between his acknowledging the dispatcher’s suggestion and the incident itself… You can hear him open his SUV door 2 minutes, 15 seconds into the call. The dispatcher asking him if he’s following, etc, happens almost immediately after that. He acknowledges the dispatcher’s saying “We don’t need you to do that” (by saying OK) within 15 seconds of his opening his car door. Even if he ran at full speed away from his vehicle for the full 15 seconds, he could not possibly have reached the spot where the fight and the shooting took place. He HAD to’ve kept following Trayvon–or at least kept walking further away from his vehicle and into folks’ backyards–for a minute or two after acknowledging the dispatcher’s suggestion that he not follow this unknown individual who was “up to no good.”
(And before anyone says it: No, a dispatcher is not a police officer, and what he said was not a lawful order that George Martin was legally obligated to follow. BUT, it was a suggestion by a person experienced in dealing with civilian individuals who find themselves in highly charged, adrenaline-fueled situations, as well as in police procedure. Not following the dispatcher’s advice wasn’t a crime… but it was profoundly stupid, and it resulted in getting Trayvon killed. And if Trayvon actually was the guy Zimmerman thought he might be, it could just as easily’ve resulted in Zimmerman getting himself killed. It’s highly unlikely that more than a handful of law enforcement professionals would advise anyone to do what Zimmerman did, or would defend his actions after the fact.)
The only police reports saying Zimmerman was walking back to his truck at the time of the incident are reports quoting George Zimmerman’s version of events. No other witness observed what either Trayvon or Zimmerman were doing prior to or at the beginning of the fight. No one (other than Zimmerman, of course) saw the first punch, or can testify as to who threw it.
Now, I don’t know whether or not Zimmerman lied in his initial statements to police (or to anyone and everyone since), but he does have motive to do so, seeing how influencing what folks believe happened that night could mean the difference between freedom and a prison cell…
My position from the beginning has been that the law will prevail. Read the Florida stand your ground statute, it requires certain actions by prosecutors, you can say the law is bad, worded wrong, or unfair -but it is the law. A few folks here keep referring to the civil rights leaders and groups calling for justice, those few reasonable voices are doing the right thing, but they are being drowned out and upstaged by the likes of Sharpton and Jackson, not to mention the open and illegal threats and calls for “capture” of a private citizen by TNBPP- where is the media on that? Where are YOU on that? This is an issue that is terrible for a couple reasons, the families of both Martin and Zimmerman – and the rest of the Country, because it is being used to incite racial tension, as well as deflect attention from the real national issues that we should be dealing with, economy, inflation, jobs,fuel prices, etc. Read the Florida statute of stand your ground, then read Florida statute 777.04, when you finish that, ask yourself what the true motivation is regarding Martin/Zimmerman and the “civil rights leaders” and groups- answer yourself honestly, then contact those folks and tell them you see them for what they are – opportunists, and professional antagonists driven by greed, not idealism.
“The Murders That Don’t Count”
Of course they count, and in every instance cited, the police either arrested the killer or are working diligently to arrest the killer—contrary to the Martin case, where they allowed the killer to walk.
Rick,
People are responding to the article posted. Is posting articles such as this for comments also deflecting from “the real national issues that we should be dealing with, economy, inflation, jobs, fuel prices, etc.”?
BB, yes, to a certain extent it does continue the subject, but it is a topic of national interest and as such, is open to rumination. Post`s as this also bring up related subjects that continue to be glossed over by the MSM, I tried to move the comments in that direction, however, even some of the voices from the other side are beginning to be uncomfortable with the direction of this issue, if you hav`nt read Juan Williams excellent piece in the WSJ, here`s a link – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303404704577307613183789698.html My personal opinion is that the Martin/Zimmerman case is being used to overshadow the pressing problems the President and his re-elect campaign are facing – it would seem to be working as the main topic is not that the Presidents budget was voted down unanimously, that a budget has not been passed in three years,(due to the democrat controlled Senate) or that fuel has risen 20+ days in a row, or that housing prices are at a historic low, or any of a laundry list of other issues – but everyone seems to think they know the intimate details of what happened in Sanford Fl. a month ago – how many of those same people know that the President personally lobbied to stop the Keystone pipeline project a couple weeks ago? Which one is of national importance?
Thank you for the link. I admit, sometimes Juan confuses me on some issues. However, I agree with a lot of what he wrote. My question to him is why write this now? These are key issues our community certainly needs to deal with but for the same reasons he wrote this at this time, is the same reason people are protesting……because this tragedy prompted the reactions AND we still have the facts of this case to deal with. Period.
Forensics confirms the cries for help did NOT match George Zimmerman’s voice. Does this change anyone’s views?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/trayvon-martin-case-screams-911-tape-george-zimmerman-experts-article-1.1054067
Correction, this is not confirmed but an opinion. Glad to hear they are going to take a sample of Trayvon’s now.
Jason you post some of the most incindenary biased arguements I’ve seen in a while. It’s like you can’t stand that a white hispanic (correct term) killed an allegedly innocent black male and that this is all over the media and is being categorized as a civil rights issue. So, in order to dilute this you’re posting up a bunch of “strawmen” articles as if there is any parallelism between them and the Trayvon case, outside the fact that murders/killings were involved. It’s ridiculous and you should be ashamed, not as a “journalist” or blogger or whatever you call yourself but as a supposed unbiased human being. You’re muddying the waters with your continuous ignorant rants. First it was the Coon case in Kansas City, now you’re using these other ones that HAVE been in the news locally and at least the baby girl in Detroit has made NATIONAL news. In fact, I first read that story on yahoo when it occured. So in that case you’re either ignorant of the facts are your purposely being misleading and although you didn’t state anything infactual (no one did make a multi-colored teething ring) you’re using them to stoke a fire under the elements racial ignorance.
Lastly, you fail to even connect the reasons why the Trayvon case is even being discussed, which I have posted several times. You pretend like there aren’t whites killing blacks all the time as well. The difference here is:
1. Zimmerman was not handled correctly by law enforcement
2. Law enforcement tried to sweep this under the rug.
3. Trayvon has been shown to not have done anything wrong prior to being stalked.
4. We have audio evidence of the culprit ignorning dispatcher commands and continuing stalking Trayvon, leading to the shooting.
None of the case you listed above has that “perfect storm” of events and in ALLof the cases you bring up, the culprit has been apprehended or is UNKNOWN. There has been no COVER UP and no INJUSTICE being done by law enforcement.
Why you continue to promote this race baiting and reverse racism is beyond me, perhaps because these type of sensationalized postings bring in more traffic (as I noticed none of your other postings seem to get many replies). In which case, you’re being a troll and also just as bad as main stream media.
Be blessed, thanks for that article about the audio experts opinion. Obviously, that’s huge!
Jason, sounds like you recited Juan Williams’ article. However, just like you Juan missed the key ingrediants I posted above, why this case is different. It’s like saying “people get jumped and beat all the time” when referencing the Rodney King beating. Obviously, the Rodney King beating was a perfect storm of events and can’t be compared with other beatings.
And of course, I want to contribute something regarding the Detroit 300…a group of men who I saw come out in face of gang violence and notably during the Delric murder. So again, to say that people aren’t up in arms of black on black crime in their neighborhoods is a complete fabrication and unless yoiu’re in those communities (which neither you nor Juan are) you really have no idea what you’re talking about.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e94_1330748887&comments=1
Ty,
You’re welcome and it is very huge! Thanks for acknowledging Detroit 300! They are regular citizens that mean business! In fact, so much so, they ALMOST compromised the case! I’m here in Detroit and there are a lot of concerned citizens in an uproar about many senseless killings this year alone of children! Still, Trayvon’s case is important to us as well because like you and others mentioned, these cases resulted with arrests or clues for arrests! And some of these arrests were not as apparent as Trayvon’s.
Ty I`ll save myself some time and apply this to most of your comments in this and other post`s, a few things keep popping up in your comments, when using names regarding the Martin/Zimmerman issue, you refer to Trayvon Martin by his first name(did you know him?) and George Zimmerman by his surname. You also throw the word murder around, as well as referring to other folks here as ignorant. I would say that defining someone you don`t know as ignorant because they don`t share your view is less than honorable – or honest, further, you make statements regarding the Martin/Zimmerman issue, such as , “murder, Zimmerman was not handled correctly by law enforcement, law enforcement tried to sweep this under the rug” Those MAY be true statements, and they may not, but for you to denounce and insult others based on what you THINK, instead of what has yet to be PROVEN are the tactics being employed by the likes of Sharpton, Jackson and TNBPP, is that who you side with? Does it make sense to wait for facts to be determined before deciding if it was a murder, or manslaughter, or self defense? I`m comfortable to let the law work, without throwing around terms that are designed to incite folks that really don`t know what happened – are you?
“…you refer to Trayvon Martin by his first name (did you know him?) and George Zimmerman by his surname.”
I do that as well, and I can explain why; I want to stay as far away as possible from accidentally referring to either of them as “George Martin,” (the famous Beatles producer) ((again–I did it twice, early on)), so I use “Trayvon” and “Zimmerman,” and stay away from “George” and “Martin.”
Aside that, many of the groups who believe there’s something amiss in this case refer to the slain boy as Trayvon. One of the big slogans (and the name of one group, I believe) is “Justice for Trayvon.” (Is there a certain degree of marketing theory involved, engendering familiarity with the boy as though he could be our own, or a friend of one of our own children? I don’t doubt there is…)
Also, it’s more common for folks to refer to children and young adults by their first names, while talking about adults by their last. In part, it involves the age of the person speaking… (Folks around the age of George Zimmerman’s father are far more likely to call him George. His contemporaries and those younger are more likely to call him Mr Zimmerman. Since many (most?) of the people discussing this case are older than Trayvon Martin, he doesn’t get the “Mr.” appellation.)
I can’t swear to anyone’s reasoning except for my own–and I can’t expect folks to necessarily believe me, even if I were to swear–but I believe these are the reasons folks refer to the two men the way they do…
Rick,
Trayvon is a kid, hence I’m use to calling kids by their first names. And also Zimmerman (as well as Trayvon) is much more unique than George and provides a better identification for me.
I call people ignorant not because they don’t share my views, I call them ignorant when they say things that aren’t true or bring up topics that they clearly do not know what they are talking about. The whole “white hispanic” debate is ignorance on hispanic culture and race. White = Race ; Hispanic = Ethnicity that’s a fact. It’s like saying 1 + 1 = 3; if I call you ignorant for not understanding addition you can’t rebuttal that by saying “I have a different viewpoint”…you’re wrong, what you’re saying is inherently wrong and you not owning up to your error is consistent with being ignorant.
Notice, I’ve never said that Zimmerman was guilty. He’s a murderer by definition; however, I’m not saying he’s guilty of murder from a legal perspective. As far as the police, no alcohol test, no drug test means a botched job and those are facts that have been backed up. So, while I can wait for other details of the case…I can say that the police did not handle the case correctly in certain regards.
Lastly, I’ve never quoted anything from jessie jackson or al sharpton. I’m taking facts and applying them. You want to make a reply as a voice of reason all of a sudden, yet I’ve read numerous posts from yourself and Jason using strawmens, displacement, reverse racism, and baiting. If you and Jason would allow the investigations to continue without commenting (like you’re telling me) then we wouldn’t be in here discussing opposite sides of the spectrums (although i feel like i’m more in the middle, while you and Jason viewpoints are taken almost from the ultra/extreme conservatists opinions).
p.s. i wrote this before reading respac’s reply…but i share the viewpoint of why I use Trayvon vs Zimmerman. Actually, using someone’s last name is a sign of formality and respect…not sure why that’s an issue for you though.
Actually Ty, he`s a killer by definition. But as I said before, you default to Zimmerman bad, Martin good. You may be right. You may not. Maybe it`s just me, but you come off as having the idea you are somehow superior in your thought processes and judgement of others . You may be right. You may not. done.
Rick however you want to put it, I’m not saying he’s a legally guilty of murder is my point. We can call him a killer from here on though if it’s more accurate.
And where have i defaulted to Zimmerman bad and Martin good? Highlight something I’ve stated that was untrue that depicted Zimmerman in a negative light. Most of my postings have been about the police department and also trying to make sense on of the race baiting and reverse racisim some of you have been posting. I have no idea if Zimmerman acted within his rights when he shot Trayvon…but I do find it peculiar that he had this conversation with a dispatcher with racial overtones or prejudicial overtones and that he felt the need to follow someone with a gun in waist. Those alone don’t make him guilty of anything, but it doesn’t necessarily show that he was looking to diffuse any encounters.