*Before one reads this article, turn the television to an episode of “First 48”. Listen carefully to how the show describes the suspects. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the suspects are African American.
Mass Murders, Mass Excuses
It’s been fourteen years since Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold murdered thirteen human beings & injured twenty-four at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado. It’s been eight months since James Holmes killed twelve human beings & injured fifty-eight at Century 16 Multiplex Movie Theater in Aurora, Colorado. It’s been three months since Adam Lanza killed twenty-seven human beings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It’s time to move on. It’s time to talk about more important issues plaguing America…Kristen Stewart’s emotionless expressions, Nikki Minaj’s latest hair color, & Chuck Hagel not loving Israel enough. Though its miniscule in statue compared to the before mentioned subjects, I have an issue America can discuss: when it comes to murder, mass murder in particular, why do White people always receive a “get out of jail free” card? No matter if a White brother kills one person or forty, it’s never their fault. When it comes to African American killers though, the treatment is totally reversed. Black killers are lynched in the media before ever making it to trial to be legally lynched by a supposed “jury of their own peers”. I have compiled a few articles for comparisons in media coverage between White killers & African American killers to prove my point. At the end of each article, I will give my opinion of them in the commentary section below it.
Connecticut School Massacre: Adam Lanza “spent hours playing Call of Duty
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9752141/Connecticut-school-massacre-Adam-Lanza-spent-hours-playing-Call-Of-Duty.html
It has emerged that Lanza spent his time in the basement of the family’s four-bedroom home in Newtown playing video games, such as Call of Duty and obsessing over guns and military equipment, according to an interview in The Sun with plumber Peter Wlasuk.
Commentary: Video games. Blame video games. Its not Lanza’s fault, its those darn video games!
Adam Lanza and Asperger’s syndrome: Sandy Hook massacre puts mental health in the national spotlight
Adam Lanza and Asperger’s syndrome: Sandy Hook massacre puts mental health in the national spotlight
Asperger’s syndrome is a neurological condition that, while incurable, can be managed if treated. Sufferers of this autism spectrum disorder often experience difficulty with emotional connection, engage in ritualistic behaviors, and become isolated from peers. These symptoms plagued Lanza, who many in his town have described as an intelligent, but extremely awkward, loner.
Commentary: Must be a mental disorder. Normal middle class White children don’t kill people. Right?
James Eagan Holmes Psychiatrist, Not Politicians, Could Have Prevented Aurora Tragedy
http://www.policymic.com/articles/12020/james-eagan-holmes-psychiatrist-not-politicians-could-have-prevented-aurora-tragedy
Any law enforcement entering James Holmes’ apartment in the weeks prior to the massacre could have seen that “something was wrong,” and that wrong thing, which included guns, large stashes of ammunition, incendiary devices and flammable liquids, would have had nothing to do with society-wide gun control or the Tea Party. It would have everything to do with the responsibility of those in authority to take action to protect innocent life from someone who’s got the materials, means, and motive to do something very bad.
School administrators, psychiatrists, and others in leadership roles have too often acted less like leaders, and more like members of Tony Soprano’s “family” covering up for enforcement actions in the alley back of the Bada Bing club. Thirteen people might still be alive, and 59 others might be healthy and uninjured, if Dr. Lynne Fenton had made a few phone calls, raised her voice, and insisted that James Holmes receive a law enforcement visit — or even contacted her school’s own violence prevention task force.
Commentary: Poor James Holmes…its not his fault he shot up a movie theater, its his university’s psychiatrists. SHAME ON YOU SCHOOL PSYCHIATRISTS!!
Colo. suspect James Holmes “smart” but “quiet,” teachers and neighbors say
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57477097/colo-suspect-james-holmes-smart-but-quiet-teachers-and-neighbors-say/
Twenty-four-year-old James Holmes left different impressions on people he encountered in life. At the University of California, Riverside, where he graduated with honors in neuroscience in 2010, he’s remembered as brilliant.
“He was an honor student, so academically he was at the top of the top,” University Chancellor Tim White said at a press conference. “He really distinguished himself from an academic point of view during his four years with us, graduating with highest honors.”
Julie Adams lived around the corner. Her son played soccer with James. She says his intelligence was obvious early on.
“People come here because of the school district,” Adams said, “so there’s lots and lots of kids because of that and obviously his parents wanted to give him the best and that’s why they lived here.”
In high school, Holmes won a competitive position at a rigorous science boot camp and an internship in neurobiology at the prestigious Salk Institute.
Tom Mai, who lived next door with his family for a decade, remembers James as smart, quiet, polite.
Commentary: Oh my God…he is so smart…how could this happen? Did I mention he was smart? Never mind the fact he is on trial for murdering thirteen human beings, he is so polite.
The following articles are on an African American killer.
Judge Sentences Atlanta Courthouse Shooter Brian Nichols To Life Without Parole
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,466586,00.html
A judge on Saturday sentenced the man who killed four people in a brazen courthouse escape to several terms of life in prison without parole on more than fifty charges.
Superior Court Judge James Bodiford was required by law to sentence Brian Nichols to life in prison with or without chance of parole after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a death sentence.
On Saturday, Bodiford gave Nichols, 37, consecutive maximum sentences on every charge, meaning he will likely die in prison.
“If there was any more I could give you, I would,” Bodiford said. “I intended to and did give the maximum sentence. It’s a large number of years.”
Among the sentences were four of life without parole, plus hundreds of additional years behind bars.
“Life with the possibility of parole is not an appropriate sentence,” Bodiford said in explaining his decision. “It’s not in the ballpark.”
Nichols was on trial for rape in 2005 when he grabbed a guard’s gun and fatally shot the judge, a court reporter and a sheriff’s deputy in the courthouse. He fled and killed a federal agent in an Atlanta neighborhood.
Nichols, who did not take the stand in his own defense, spoke in court for the first time on Saturday.
“I just wanted to say that I know that the things I’ve done caused a lot of pain and I’m sorry,” he said. “And I just wanted to say that I will not bring dishonor to the decision to spare my life. That’s it.”
The judge declared a deadlock in the sentencing phase of the trial against Nichols Friday after jurors couldn’t agree on whether to give him the death penalty. Death sentences in Georgia require a unanimous jury decision, so Nichols automatically got life in prison. State law required Bodiford to decide which life prison sentence to give Nichols.
“This is not a criticism of the jury,” Bodiford said. “They did everything they could to come up with a unanimous decision. Sometimes it’s impossible to do.”
Prosecutors had urged jurors to sentence Nichols to death after he was convicted last month of murder and dozens of other counts in the killings.
The sentence caps more than three years of efforts to bring Nichols to justice since his arrest that were repeatedly bogged down by legal complications, frustrating victims’ relatives and angering state legislators over the costs.
Nichols was being escorted to his trial for rape when he beat a deputy guarding him and stole her gun. He burst into the courtroom and shot and killed Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau and Deputy Hoyt Teasley.
He fled downtown Atlanta and managed to evade hundreds of police officers searching for him overnight. In Atlanta’s posh Buckhead neighborhood, he shot and killed federal agent David Wilhelm at a house the agent was renovating.
Nichols was captured the next day in suburban Gwinnett County after a woman he took hostage, Ashley Smith Robinson, alerted police to his whereabouts. Smith Robinson was credited with bringing a peaceful ending to the rampage by appealing to Nichols’ religious beliefs and giving him illegal drugs.
Nichols, who was raised in Baltimore, confessed to the killings but claimed he was legally insane and that he believed he was a slave rebelling against his masters. Prosecutors argued that he concocted the delusions to avoid the death penalty.
In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors asked the jury for a death sentence while defense lawyers urged jurors to avoid vengeance.
“That’s the kind of vengeful, recriminative response that begets more violence,” defense attorney Henderson Hill said.
Prosecutor Clint Rucker called Nichols an “extremely dangerous” killer who would try to escape again if sent to prison for life.
Nichols’ rampage prompted attorneys and judges to question their safety and law enforcement around the state to re-examine courthouse security measures.
Commentary: This article could be summed up in the following: “If it was up to me, this Black rapist son of a b*tch would be strapped to a gurney and executed tomorrow!! Did I mention he was on trial for rape? He is a rapist. All Black men are sexual beasts.”
Judge, Two Others Killed in Courthouse Shooting
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150119,00.html#ixzz2FQGfON3z
Atlantans were on edge Friday after a rape suspect allegedly shot and killed three people in a downtown courthouse and made a desperate escape, sparking a citywide manhunt.
“We recognize this is a very scary situation,” said Mayor Shirley Franklin, who assured citizens that city, state and federal authorities were concentrating their resources on capturing the fugitive, Brian Nichols.
Nichols was at the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta to face charges of raping and holding his girlfriend prisoner. But before entering the courtroom, police say he grabbed a sheriff’s deputy’s gun and used it to kill three people, including Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes
The deputy was in critical condition with a gunshot wound to her head, a doctor at Grady Memorial Hospital said. She was expected to survive.
Nichols also allegedly carjacked a series of vehicles following the 9 a.m. EST shooting. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office most recently sent out an alert for a green 1997 green Honda Accord, license plate 658-4YN.
“He already showed that he doesn’t care about taking lives,” said Harold Copus, a former FBI special agent in Atlanta. “We have to be very concerned about a hostage situation. If that gets in the way of him and … another car, he will take a hostage.
“We have to find him.”
An emergency command post was set up in the city. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department was leading the investigation. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Georgia Bureau of Investigation were contributing their efforts, along with about 100 state troopers and officers from surrounding counties.
Nichols, 33, is described as a black male, 6’1″ who weigh 200 pounds, and has a medium complexion. Authorities asked people to call 404-730-5129 if they had information about his whereabouts.
Judge Barnes, who died from a gunshot wound to the head, was overseeing Nichols’ case. An initial trial ended in a hung jury last week and a retrial was under way.
Atlanta, famous for its traffic, was in a virtual lockdown following the shootings. Police were out in force, setting up roadblocks at major intersections in downtown and midtown. State police cast a net outside the city, and patrol cars were being positioned on median strips along I-75 and I-285.
The courthouse, located in the heart of the city near major tourist destinations, remained closed. Investigators were still poring over the crime scene, and it was not clear if the bodies of the judge and a court stenographer who was also killed had been removed from the building.
Nichols was charged with raping and holding his girlfriend prisoner last August. Other charges he faced were sodomy and possession of a machine gun, a handgun and a large quantity of marijuana. His second trial began on Monday.
Deputies said they found two hand-made knives, or shanks, hidden in Nichols’ shoe on Wednesday, an indication he may have been plotting his bid for freedom.
That discovery, along with what they described as unusual behavior, worried prosecutors
The deputy, who is being treated at Grady Memorial Hospital and has not yet been questioned, was injured, though Dreher would not say how. Earlier, a doctor at Grady said she was shot through the mouth and was in critical condition.
Apparently armed with the deputy’s gun, Nichols allegedly entered the courtroom and held law enforcement officers there at bay. He then shot Barnes and the clerk, both of whom died in the courtroom, Dreher said.
The suspect ordered bailiffs to handcuff everyone else before running out of the courtroom, located on the eighth floor, and out through a stairwell.
Nichols somehow managed to flee the courthouse, where he ran into another sheriff’s deputy whom he shot and killed, according to multiple descriptions of the events from authorities and witnesses.
Nichols scrambled for an escape vehicle, eventually happening upon O’Briant, the AJC reporter and police said. The AJC reporter said Nichols pistol-whipped him, breaking his wrist and requiring him to get 15 stitches above his eye.
Speaking to reporters after being treated for his injuries, O’Briant said he hoped the reason he hadn’t been shot was because Nichols was out of bullets.
It was not known if Nichols is only carrying the first firearm he stole or if he managed to collect more, Dreher said. Officers at the scene were working to account for all the deputies’ weapons.
“This guy has nothing else to lose — he’s facing life in prison,” said Renee Rockwell, a prosecutor familiar with the case and a witness to the shooting aftermath inside the courthouse.
Commentary: Oh my God, a big scary Black man is on the loose! RUUUUUUUUUUUN!!!!!!!!!!! He is on trial for rape also so be careful!
Notice the inequalities in reporting? Coined by writer & media critic Earl Ofari Hutchinson, the media’s main goal is the “Destruction the Black Male Image”. Why is it that White killers with substantial more amounts of blood on their hands get painted as brilliant, intelligent, shy, or quiet, while African American killers are simply labeled ghetto, thugs, or products of a broken home? Don’t forget about rapist! One doesn’t need a PhD in Family Counseling & Media Studies to understand why citizens react the way they do during mass murders. It’s unfathomable to believe perfect little White boys from perfect little homes with perfect little parents with perfect little dogs with a perfect little school with perfect little lives can murder twenty children, execute classmates in cafeterias, or blow away Christmas time shoppers. Instead of the media admitting that “things aren’t all well in Rancho Cucamonga”, they formulate well-construed explanations…excuses would be the better word. It’s not Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold’s fault they murdered thirteen human beings, its Marylyn Manson’s music & bullies. Its not James Holmes’ fault he murdered twelve human beings, it’s the movie theater’s lack of an armed guard & his college counselor for not letting the authorities know sooner. It’s not Adam Lanza’s fault for slaughtering twenty-seven human beings, its lax gun laws & Asperger’s Syndrome. But when it comes to Brian Nichols, no psychological examinations, no family history…he is just a rapist, a sodomizer…a simple drug dealer. People just can’t accept the fact that products of the American dream can sometimes become defective.
One of my favorite poems I learned while pledging my beloved fraternity Omega Psi Phi was “Excuses”. It goes as following:
Excuses are tools of the incompetent.
They build monuments of nothingness.
Those who specialize in them seldom accomplish anything.
Therefore I shall have no excuses.
If America wants progress towards safer schools, safer workplaces, safer cities, & safer streets, it must stop making excuses. More gun laws aren’t the answer because:
A. Criminals don’t abide by them.
B. It’s the normal seeming people who are perpetrating these atrocities.
The answer is a thorough examination of the home & American society in general. After that, anything is fair game.
It doesn’t matter how many cars are in the driveway or spelling bee trophies are on the wall, some children will kill. America isn’t ready to accept that fact & is investing its money not on the next mass murder prevention, but the previous mass murder explanation. I expect more mass murders in the near future because of that idiocy & with those mass murders will come mass excuses. Hence the title, “Mass Murders, Mass Excuses”…
*I advised the reader to turn the television to an episode of “First 48” before reading this article. Does one remember the treatment & descriptions of the suspect? Did the police investigators say how brilliant or intelligent the accused killer was? Did the news run any stories on how the suspect behaved at school & why the school board didn’t tip authorities off sooner? Did any of the police investigators ask the suspect’s friends & family what type of video games the suspect played or what kind of music the suspect listened to? Was the suspect’s Dr. called in to talk about any personality disorders/mental imbalances the suspect might possess? Why not? Wouldn’t years in a gun infested, drug filled, non-opportunity giving, 3rd world like environment create the very monster they paint the suspect as? Nope…African American killers get no special treatment…at the end of the day they are, as rapper Big Krit says “just another nigga”…
Question Authority 