How many white people agree with me on this?

Question

White people wear me out, sometimes. .

Yeah, I'm a white person. That's why I hate it when some white people poison the well of race relations.

A jury of six white people in Panama City acquitted all eight people charged in the boot camp death of Martin Lee Anderson. It took them a scant 90 minutes to find nothing wrong in the beating death of a 14-year-old boy. They couldn't have deliberated too hard.

Yeah, I know the guards didn't do anything they hadn't done to other kids. Yeah, I know the state didn't present its case well. Yeah, I know a jury can't base its decisions on the race of the victims or the accused. Yeah, I know jury members didn't want to send any of their neighbors to jail for 30 years on aggravated manslaughter.

But a boy died in the care of those eight people. Somebody did something wrong - whether it was grown men punching a slight-built boy until he was unconscious or a nurse refusing to stop them when the boy had trouble breathing.

When people do something wrong, they're supposed to suffer consequences.
The jurors could have convicted the eight people on lesser charges, such as culpable negligence or neglect of a child - and sent a message of public rebuke, however small the actual penalty. They could have acknowledged you can't beat a kid until he dies and say, "Gee, it was just an accident because the kid had a medical condition we didn't know about."
White people wear me out, sometimes.
At least, the jury had an excuse: It was bound by the specifics of the law. If the state didn't prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, then the state didn't prove its case.
But how can you excuse the vicious reactions of some white people?
After the verdict, a couple of hundred mostly black students took to the streets of Tallahassee to protest. Protesting injustice, whether real or perceived, is an American tradition. Marching is a noble protest that beats the heck out of violence and looting.

But many of the hundreds of white people who registered comments on our Web site didn't see it that way. They verbally lashed the marchers.
"The verdict is in. Get over it," screamed one e-mail on Friday. The verdict was an hour old. Surely, it takes longer to "get over it."
"All those that don't get hit (by traffic) should be arrested," said another e-mail. Hard to tell which outcome he was rooting for.
"The newspaper never ran the pictures (of Anderson) in his dreadlocks, which showed he was a thug," said an e-mail. So all those athletes and musicians with dreadlocks are thugs?
White people wear me out, sometimes.
All those writing mean-spirited letters to the editor and Zing!s can't seem to understand why the Anderson decision upset black people. They can't see why eight people being acquitted of killing a black kid seems like more of our society's historical lack of concern for black lives.

It's not about race, the white critics insist. After all, two of the boot camp guards were black. It's not the killing that's racist. It's the failure to hold somebody accountable that smells of racism.
White people shouldn't be telling blacks to get over it. They shouldn't be blaming the media for publicizing the black reaction. They shouldn't be upset that a few hundred kids marching in the street disrupted their Friday evening commute.
They should be trying to understand why others are concerned.
Obviously, I'm not blaming all white people for the reactions of some white people. Since Friday, I've heard dozens of white people bemoan the Martin Lee Anderson verdict. They remain as confused and heartsick as any black person that a defenseless 14-year-old boy can be killed without consequences. They understand the anger of black people and worry the verdict will further strain race relations.

But I am blaming the seemingly endless hordes of white people who refuse to give up their racism. The ones who write asinine things like "Read the Bible. Blacks will never be equal to whites." The ones who criticize newspapers for "running too many stories about blacks." The ones who think a single O.J. Simpson acquittal makes up for the hundreds of Martin Lee Anderson and Jena, La., cases.
Such people are an embarrassment to civilized society. They make it difficult for the rest of white people to be trusted by black people.

Outraged, I'm not excusing that behavior that was just as wrong!!! And if I am correct the black jury convected them black men to the lesser charges.

Answer 1

I agree.

I live in a rural area two hours from Panama City, and you might be surprised that there are white people here, even some of us "rednecks" out in the sticks, who agree too.

And you might also be surprised at how many black people agree with the verdict. Americans are being conditioned to accept ANY injustice as long as it's for "law and order" or "anti-terrorism." Our local sheriff is well-known in the community to be corrupt, but the same people who tell you bribery and corruption stories will object to proposals to rein in the out-of-control cops "But what about the criminals and terrorists?"

"Order," but AT WHAT COST? And order for WHO? I don't see the corporations, that rape working people, being held to any standard of "order."

Desperate working-class whites, struggling to survive in a barbaric capitalist system, are being trained to blame their problems on blacks and immigrants who have it even worse than they do, and on vaguely-defined groups of "criminals," rather than on the rich who are oppressing them. AND THEY BELIEVE IT. I can't tell you how many times I've discussed this case with people and was told "But the officers were just doing their job."

I guess their job was to kill defenseless kids. And the family of the murdered boy were actually the ones who arranged for him to be in the camp, hoping it would "teach him a little discipline." I bet they know better NOW.

Welcome to late capitalism. Someday our grandchildren will shake their head and ask about us "How did they STAND living like that?"-the same way we ask about the Middle Ages.

Answer 2

I'd say your pretty much spot on with this one. It's ridiculous that that sort of thing can happen in America. I completely agree with you about this. The Jena 6 case is another matter entirely though. Six on one while stomping on someone's head while he's on the ground does warrant their being charged as adults. Of course the matter about the nooses should have brought forth charges as well, but that does not change the fact that the boy being attacked could have easily been killed.

P.S. I do not like your name. He's the one person in this country who I absolutely detest.

Answer 3

I'm also with you on this. There are a lot of ignorant people out there that have never been taught to think for themselves.
It's easy to judge and easy to scoff it off to some bible verse or another weak argument.

I'm weary of the world today.

Answer 4

y dose it have to be black or white it is about a kid that had trouble or was troubled or he would not have be in boot camp in the first place the jury had information that we did not have they made the decision with what they were told so why is it a rascal thing just because they were white and did not vote for the black kid people make me mad when they judge with out all the info and last i think if people were not told what color the defendants were then race would not mater

Answer 5

To many people in the US don't care about HUMAN BEINGS anymore, people are so self centered and greedy they couldn't care less if you live or die, suffer or go hungry. The only thing these people care about is money if they have to kill millions of Innocent people to get they will! And the funnest thing about it is most will say there Christan's and in actuality their helping these people. The most surprising thing is that normal Americans have been fooled by them and aren't doing anything about it.

Answer 6

Sometimes all people wear me out,regardless of color and because of it.
Color is not and should not be an issue,the person is the issue ,good or bad.

Just remember this ,rectums come in all colors and they're all full of s**t.

Oh,my race?
I'm a human.

The sooner the rest of you drop the color lables and join us humans the better off we'll all be.

Answer 7

Absolutely.
I wish I could be that ignorant to the ways of the real world sometimes. I think it would be easier if I was blind, then I would have an excuse.
People sicken me, and sadly it is mostly white ones in all our bigotous glory.
You make some good points my friend, it's a shame most people won't take the time to read it.

Answer 8

Well said bigotry on all levals sucks yet still gos on in society i live in the north of england and the disgusting bigotry is rife people come up to me in a pub and because im white presume i must have racist tendancies then they start banging on about paki this or queer that im sick of it.

Answer 9

This kid died because he had a medical condition. It sucks but hey not everyone is perfectly healthy. The guards did their jobs correctly. They didn't beat this poor little innocent black baby to death. This kid was nothing more than a common criminal. All he had to do was stop fighting back and get up. These kids cried wolf too many times so of course they didn't believe them when he said he didn't feel good and couldn't do the same exercise that all the other kids were doing.

Answer 10

That's our judicial system-------you get a trial by jury. Some decisions we don't like, but we have to accept them. What do you want, a Congrssional investigation of the jury? That would be opening a can of worms.