Chris Lane's Murder

[AEON]

(CNN) -- One of the Oklahoma teenagers accused of killing 23-year-old Australian Christopher Lane had previously posted images online showing himself posing with guns and wads of cash.

And three days before what police call the indiscriminate shooting, the suspect, 15-year-old James Edwards Jr., tweeted, "With my n****s when it's time to start taken life's."

Back in April, he tweeted, "90% of white ppl (people) are nasty. #HATE THEM."
Police in the town of Duncan have charged Edwards and Chancey Luna, 16, as adults with felony murder in the first degree, said Kaylee Chandler, a Stephens County court clerk.

CNN

[AEON]

It seems his murder may have been part of a gang initiation...

Duncan, Oklahoma: Chris Lane was murdered as a part of a gang initiation, according to James Johnson, the father of a boy who was also allegedly targeted by the three youths accused of killing Mr Lane.

Source:

It also seems Australia may call for a tourism boycott of the US.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by AEON

It also seems Australia may call for a tourism boycott of the US.

As terrible and senseless as the crime was, this is feeding into unsubstantiated hysteria. The Australian Prime Minister made a comment that you're 15 times more likely to be shot dead in the US than in Australia. Statistics like that are useless without actual percentages. In a given year in the US, you've got a .004% chance of being shot and killed. But that doesn't sound as sensational as "15 times more likely". The US might have a gun problem, but on the whole, it's still a safe country

[BoMac]

Be that as it may, these incidents have given pause to many people, including myself. I'm going to San Francisco next month, and even though I know the chances of getting shot and killed are very small, it's a thought that will always be in the back of my head whenever I enter the U.S.

[AEON]

Originally Posted by BoMac

Be that as it may, these incidents have given pause to many people, including myself. I'm going to San Francisco next month, and even though I know the chances of getting shot and killed are very small, it's a thought that will always be in the back of my head whenever I enter the U.S.

I can see that. It's sort of like that latest fatal shark attack in Maui - I know the odds are very much against being attacked the next time I snorkel there, but I will be thinking about it.

[AEON]

Don’t Ignore Race in Christopher Lane’s Murder

Australian Christopher Lane was killed on Monday in Oklahoma by three teens, one of whom has said they were just “bored.” The right is complaining that the media is making nothing of the fact that two of the teens were black whereas Lane was white, as opposed to the massive alarm sounded in cases such as white (or white-ish) George Zimmerman killing black Trayvon Martin. And again the cry was heard that there is more “black-on-black” or “black-on-white” crime than “white-on-black,” and that young black men are in fact more of a problem than people like Zimmerman.

The numbers don’t lie: young black men do commit about 50% of the murders in the U.S. We don’t yet know whether the attack on Lane was racially motivated, nor can we know whether the three black boys who attacked a white boy on a Florida school bus recently would not have done the same to a black kid. (Critics took Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to task for not condemning the violence.) But hardly uncommon are cases such as the two black guys who doused a white 13-year-old with gasoline and lit him on fire, saying “You get what you deserve, white boy” (Kansas City, Mo.) or 20 black kids who beat up white Matthew Owens on his porch “for Trayvon” (Mobile, Ala.).

So, it’s just fake to pretend that the association of young black men with violence comes out of thin air. Young black men murder 14 times more than young white men. If the kinds of things I just mentioned were regularly done by whites, it’d be trumpeted as justification for being scared to death of them.

Meet the author

John McWhorter is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He earned his PhD in linguistics from Stanford University in 1993 and became associate professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley after teaching at Cornell University. He was senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute from 2002 until 2010. He is the author of What Language Is (and What It Isn’t and What It Could Be), The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music in America and Why We Should, Like, Care and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: Untold Stories in the History of English, as well as Authentically Black, Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America, and All About the Beat: Why Hip Hop Can’t Save Black America. He is also contributing editor for The New Republic, columnist for The New York Daily News and has been contributing editor at TheRoot.com and City Journal.

[Irvine511]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hija3QAprg

[AEON]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

Despite the fact this almost seems like an SNL skit - I do agree that all cultures and communities should be subject to scrutiny.

[BVS]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

I'm sure ironhorse approves we've all been slaves and it's no excuse.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by AEON

I can see that. It's sort of like that latest fatal shark attack in Maui - I know the odds are very much against being attacked the next time I snorkel there, but I will be thinking about it.

But you recognize it's an irrational response. And you aren't the Prime Minister of a country urging the citizens to stay out of the water

[AEON]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

But you recognize it's an irrational response. And you aren't the Prime Minister of a country urging the citizens to stay out of the water

Yes. I'm still going snorkeling.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by AEON

Yes. I'm still going snorkeling.

Dont get ate. Wouldn't that be embarrassing for me!

[AEON]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

Dont get ate. Wouldn't that be embarrassing for me!

I'll have my wife enter a final post for me, just to make you feel terrible.

I don't want to get "ate" - but I think a shark bite scar on the forearm or shoulder would be very cool. (just a bite mark - no missing chunks or limbs)

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by AEON

I don't want to get "ate"

The poor grammar was on purpose I thought it sounded funnier than 'dont get eaten'.

[AEON]

Originally Posted by Jive Turkey

The poor grammar was on purpose I thought it sounded funnier than 'dont get eaten'.

Oh - I know it was - it was worth repeating!

[Jive Turkey]

hahaha

[cobl04]

Originally Posted by BoMac

Be that as it may, these incidents have given pause to many people, including myself. I'm going to San Francisco next month, and even though I know the chances of getting shot and killed are very small, it's a thought that will always be in the back of my head whenever I enter the U.S.

I felt the same when I was there.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by cobl04

I felt the same when I was there.

Apparently, this makes Republicans proud to be Americans, 'cause at least they know they're free

[AEON]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

Apparently, this makes Republicans proud to be Americans, 'cause at least they know they're free

It should also make Democrats proud to be American, 'cause at least those unfortunate tourists will understand they were murdered because of socio-economic oppression and lack of quality education and blah blah....'

Makes about as much sense...

[Jive Turkey]

You should be more afraid of the increase in fatalities from a traffic accident in the states