Rampant Racism Indeed

Random thoughts on the Parkside hate crime stories and the JT coverage of said stories.

For those of you who have missed the stories, check out the JT on line for the last few days. In a nutshell, the JT reported hate crimes at Parkside, including two noose incidents and a list of black people who were going to die in a day or two. Oops, it turns out that the incidents were perpetrated by a black female student at Parkside reportedly wanting to bring attention to the problem of racism.

Kind of like raping someone to bring attention to the problem of rape. Or selling guns to violent drug lords to bring attention to the problem of gun violence.

The Journal Times had a collective leg tingle at the prospect of writing a story about threats to black people. If you want attention, there is no better way to get it unless you stop giving money to Planned Parenthood.

Watch the JT slowly slink away from this story now that the perpetrator has been found to be black. The slinking began today with a below-the-fold story that claims racism is still a problem at Parkside, despite the "hoax."

About that hoax thing. Is a threat suddenly transformed into a "hoax" if committed by a black person? Does a threat remain a hate crime if the perpetrator is white? The underlying crime, threatening black people, is still the same.

Would the police, the university, and the media be so careful in withholding the name of the perpetrator if he/she were white? They want to protect her they say. Wow, if someone threatened to kill me and the police knew who it was, I think I ought to have that information, you know, for my own protection.

If someone is arrested, it is public information, is it not? Can we conclude that the perpetrator has not been arrested? Are there two standards of justice depending on race? What is it called when officials treat one race better than another? I think that is called institutional racism.