[upsscott]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Pure speculation on my part, meant to engender discussion. I guess many would prefer to stick to the very simplistic "road rage" explanation, and celebrate the "good guy's" so-called "victory" over him. I'm simply trying to dig deeper than that, down to why this young man made that fateful decision. What influenced him in such a way that he felt this was the answer to what just happened to him.

To me, this does not represent a single, isolated tragic incident. Not when I look at the statistics that demonstrate that young men of his race are six times more likely to die a violent death than any other race. I think we do them all a disservice if we don't take opportunities like this, as tragic as they are, to dig deeper, to do a "root cause analysis".

And, yes, Texas is an "open carry" state, but I believe one must be 21 years of age. He was 19, so I believe he was not lawfully armed. That in and of itself demonstrates a willingness to violate a fairly serious law. Does that in and of itself definitively identify him as a "gang banger"? Personally, I don't think so, but it is a pretty strong indication.

And would a white kid still be a "thug"? Underaged and armed, behaving in that manner, I would say "yes". And I would be asking what led to his choice to live the "thug life". Broken home? No father? Poor choice in role models? All of the same questions, for the most part, but with one important difference: black pop culture seems to celebrate this "thug life", where other races' pop cultures do not. I think they are valid questions regardless of race.

But, again, we get back to the notion that the black kid is six times more likely to wind up like this than the white kid. If we ever want to have an honest discussion as to just why that is, guys like you need to get a lot more comfortable with discussing this in a dispassionate manner. Right now, discussing any sort of a racial component as a contributing factor appears to just freak you out, to the point where you abandon any efforts at rational discussion. We'll never get anywhere like that.

Wait, I’m not being rational? If that is meant towards me personally I apologize. I like the discussion. I don’t agree with you that it’s a black vs everyone else thing. I think it speaks to a socioeconomic condition that is happening. Role models who glorify violence may have an effect, I don’t know. I think the younger generation has issues with instant gratification due to technology and social media. I personally believe and I have zero proof to back this up but Social Media is tearing away at our society on so many levels. I see this as a possible culprit that leads too these situations.