Karma, it’s a b!tch.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

"Afro-Americans" ARE Americans. no?
to distinguish based upon colour? - there's a word for that: racist.

Racism is not recognizing that races exist or using race as part of a description of a person. "That's a white guy. That's a black guy. That guy's Hispanic, and the other one looks Asian. That girl is blonde, and the other is a redhead." That statement does not make a person that says it racist or sexist or whatever .*ist you want.

If you were robbed/mugged by someone, and you were giving a description to the police, it would be idiocy to think "I can't say it was a (pick an ethnicity) guy because that would be racist."

It takes more than recognizing that people are different (which we all are) to be racist.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

"Afro-Americans" ARE Americans. no?
to distinguish based upon colour? - there's a word for that: racist.

I've always used the term "blacks".

I've heard interviews with many who said they preferred that over "African American".

[1990C4S]

It is hard to have any sympathy for a person who lacks the mental wherewithal to figure out that pulling a gun on a busy road might not end well.

I would not have been surprised if two motorists shot him.

[Gretch]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

While it's pretty obvious you are only be facetious, you have actually stumbled upon something here. You are more right than you know. We do, indeed, have a certain subset of Americans who do just as you describe - they resort to firearms to settle what are, to the rest of us, quite minor disputes. We have discussed this in a number of recent threads.

The murder rate among this group is far, far higher than it is among the rest of American society. The rate of gun violence among this group is far, far higher than it is among the rest of our population. Many would assume that this group, this subset of American society, would have to be ignorant gun totin' red necks. They would, of course, be quite wrong. This group is comprised of young black men of the ages from around 15 to 30 or so. They shoot at and murder one another at a rate wildly disproportionate to their numbers. And they do so for reasons that are entirely unjustifiable to the rest of us. That is exactly what went down here...

A young black man feels he was slighted in some way and turns immediately to his gun. It's a story that plays out in our black inner city neighborhoods every day, day after day after day. It's reached the point that we never even hear about it on the news, in spite of the fact that our black inner city neighborhoods generate a combined couple of dozen such incidents per day.

The only reason this one came to our attention is because the circumstances were a bit outside of their established norm. It didn't go down in some black inner city ghetto (of their own making), and the perp did not target one of his own. So the rest of us took notice. Otherwise it would have never been reported.

So, yeah, this level of gun violence happens every day, several times every day, right here in America. But it does not happen among responsible gun owners. It does not happen among law abiding gun owners. It happens, with monotonous regularity, among a certain demographic - young inner city black men. No one else behaves this way. There is something dreadfully wrong with these people, as demonstrated daily by their propensity to reach for a gun as their first answer to any sort of a slight, real or perceived.

So, no, this is in no way life in America because of guns - it's life in inner city black America, because of inner city black Americans.

Agreed and memorialized.

[upsscott]

I’m not seeing color in this particular situation. I’m more concerned with bullets flying around on the freeway. This isn’t an environment I want to live in.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by upsscott

I’m not seeing color in this particular situation. I’m more concerned with bullets flying around on the freeway. This isn’t an environment I want to live in.

If you want to fix it, everything is on the table: race, gender, poverty, denigration of the family unit, the whole burrito.

Or, hope it will get better.

Best of luck....hope is not a metric.

[pmax]

Still nothing ... zilch coverage.

[upsscott]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

If you want to fix it, everything is on the table: race, gender, poverty, denigration of the family unit, the whole burrito.

Or, hope it will get better.

Best of luck....hope is not a metric.

Not much I can do to fix anything. All I can do is keep my family close, treat people around me with respect, and keep my head on a swivel.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by upsscott

I’m not seeing color in this particular situation.

And therein lies the problem with far too many people. Color is a factor in this whole "gun violence" problem and, to be brutally honest, it is statistically one of the most important factors.

Understanding and acknowledging all of the factors contributing to any problem is the very first step in solving that problem. Ignoring any contributing factors for any reason, be they religious, political, or whatever dooms any "solution" to failure. We have now suffered generations of failure in our attempts to solve this particular problem, in a large part because it is taboo in certain circles to discuss one of the most glaring contributing factors.

[upsscott]

Originally Posted by pmax

Still nothing ... zilch coverage.

Why should this be national news? People die locally due to gun violence daily. Mass shootings barely make the news anymore.

[upsscott]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

And therein lies the problem with far too many people. Color is a factor in this whole "gun violence" problem and, to be brutally honest, it is statistically one of the most important factors.

Understanding and acknowledging all of the factors contributing to any problem is the very first step in solving that problem. Ignoring any contributing factors for any reason, be they religious, political, or whatever dooms any "solution" to failure. We have now suffered generations of failure in our attempts to solve this particular problem, in a large part because it is taboo in certain circles to discuss one of the most glaring contributing factors.

My point, which you missed, was that I’m more concerned with any human shooting a gun on a busy interstate. I didn’t even know what ethnicity any of these people involved was until I stumbled upon this thread. I fully acknowledge that gun violence is a major issue in inner cities. I think that has more to do with socioeconomic issues than a particular race issue.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by upsscott

Why should this be national news? People die locally due to gun violence daily. Mass shootings barely make the news anymore.

Seems relevant to the many folks post here from across the nation outside Texas.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by upsscott

My point, which you missed, was that I’m more concerned with any human shooting a gun on a busy interstate.

No, I did not miss your "point", not in the least. And I began this little tangent by addressing the "point" that both you and Denis were attempting to make - that this is a "gun problem", that it is a problem driven by the presence of so many guns in America. My assertion is that it is not - it is a problem that is very much more pronounced in a certain demographic, the one to which our perp/"victim" belongs.

Originally Posted by upsscott

I didn’t even know what ethnicity any of these people involved was until I stumbled upon this thread. I fully acknowledge that gun violence is a major issue in inner cities. I think that has more to do with socioeconomic issues than a particular race issue.

And you would be absolutely wrong. We have poor white communities, poor Hispanic communities, poor Asian communities, and on and on - poor communities of any race and/or ethnicity you can name. None of them are as violent and murderous as our poor black communities. None. Yes, poverty does demonstrably lead to more crime - that much is undeniable. But the crime rates - particularly violent crime rates - are several fold higher in poor black communities than they are in any other poor communities. Several fold.

So, if you really want the bullets to stop flying, you need to try to understand what created one JaDerek Gray, because there are plenty more where he came from. Quit blaming guns, quit blaming law abiding gun owners. Blame the culture that created and nurtured young Mr. Gray. Find ways to address the problems that have engendered that culture. Until you can do that, another one is going to pop up right behind him, and another young life will be needlessly lost.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by upsscott

I’m not seeing color in this particular situation. I’m more concerned with bullets flying around on the freeway. This isn’t an environment I want to live in.

I wish the mainstream media didn't see color......they are the real enemy......

[john70t]

Originally Posted by upsscott

I think that has more to do with socioeconomic issues than a particular race issue.

I read somewhere that the poorest all-white county has a lower crime rate than the wealthiest all-black county.

13% of the population (actually much smaller when a specific age group of males is narrowed) commit something like 52-58% of all national murders.

There are lawmakers who actually encourage and defend mass violent 'protests' in defending the behavior of these individuals.
Media ignores the major trends and tries to portray the opposite is occurring.
Educational and social institutions consistently fail despite the funding poured into them.

Perhaps there are other factors involved?

[rusnak]

Oh my God. Someone had to throw the race card.

Christ, the dude was brandishing a firearm. What part of "Dead" do you people not understand?

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by rusnak

Oh my God. Someone had to throw the race card.

Christ, the dude was brandishing a firearm. What part of "Dead" do you people not understand?

We are trying to understand "why" this young man was brandishing a firearm. "Why" he wound up "Dead". And why so many just like him do the same thing and wind up the same way. It's a horrible tragedy that unfolds many times, each and every day with young men just like him. Perhaps we would like to see it stop?

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I don't think this has anything to do with anger management. This is a cultural issue. One that we need to address, the sooner the better. There is a very narrow demographic that has demonstrated itself to be prone to this behavior, and pretending that all of us are susceptible, or are contributing to these statistics, is not going to help us solve this problem. We need targeted action on this issue with this demographic, not anger management classes for individuals unable to control their tempers. That's a separate issue entirely. These people encourage one another to behave in this manner - like I said, it's a cultural issue within a very narrow demographic.

That's a fifteen yard penalty and loss of down. Stop with the facts.

Pics of that kid do not scream thug/murderer but he is still so very dead.

I think he listened to "These people" on YouTube.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Nowhere do i say this is "only confined to black people". I did say that the incidence rate among them is dramatically out of proportion to their population. We are discussing a young black man who pulled a gun in response to a situation wherein most of us would not have done so. I was commenting in that context.

To be fair, most black people would not have responded in the way that he did, either. Why can't he just be a young person who used extremely poor judgement, which seems to affect young white males as well? Why throw in all of the racial schit, which always seems like taking a victory lap for racists? Like, "See! Another one....goddamn..."

All of the mass shooters seem to be white. They just released the report on the Borderline Bar shooting from 2019 in the Los Angeles area, sure sounds like a white guy who can't get laid with anger management issues and lots of guns. Which of course should give anyone Deja Vu:

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-03/mass-shooting-suspect-likely-targeted-borderline-bar-on-college-night-because-of-his-hatred-of-students

[black73]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Those kids now understand that the world is a dangerous place and their dad loves them enough to protect them. If I had to stop an assailant to protect my family I would sleep much better than not being able to protect them and have nightmares as I watched them get hurt. The assailant made a bad mistake and paid for it. I hope that others will learn from his lesson.

Yes, I deeply regret that my child never had the opportunity to watch me shoot a man dead. Nothing says love like homicide on the highway.