Racist violence on the DC Metro

"On a Sunday evening this month, I was reading a book while waiting for the train at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station when I was attacked. My teenage assailants did not try to rob me, and we had no interaction before they began hitting me. While some of these youths were beating me, others hovered close with their cellphones, taking pictures and video. Sure enough, video of this attack, apparently made by a bystander, is circulating on the Internet."  Allen Haywood

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Watch the video.  These Black girls attacked this man for no apparent reason. There does not seem to been a provocation other than his race.  He does not seem to have put up much of a fight.  He was probably too shocked to do so.  People in the District of Columbia are still prevented by DC law from arming themselves in self defense.  A lot of you like that.  As Criag Ferguson says "I look forward to your cards and letters."

In the nasty, backward region called Virginia, even in northern Virginia across the river from L'Enfant Plaza, such acts of violence are less frequent.  There, these girls would have run the risk of encountering an elderly primitive packing heat for self defense, perhaps a Kel-Tec .32 cal. automatic pistol with 5 rounds of Hydrashock in the magazine.  Would lethal violence have been justified?  Self-defense is self-defense.

Just a thought.  pl

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/local-opinions/2011/01/why_my_metro_assault_is_a_prob.html

Comments

[walrus]

Col. Lang,

Thank you for prompting me.

It's Monday and there are no competitions at the range today, probably just a few people practising, zeroing or perhaps shooting in something new. So I think I'll go down there this morning. The rain we just had will lay the dust and keep the flies away.

[Cal]

This is not as usual as it may seem and not confined to metropolitan areas.
In my town of 50 thousand we have had instances of what I guess would be called black militancy...acting out against whites with no apparent other motive like robbery.
The speculation is that my area, because it was a historical slave trading port and has a 60% black population, is a good agitation center for some radical outside black groups.
Most of these instances aren't violent and seem to be staged as they take place in public places like stores where a confrontation is provoked. And twice large retailers here have been sued for discrimination but in the end lost their case.
But several years ago we also had a episode of a gang of black girls who were running thru neighborhoods at night going up to houses and trying the door knobs and then threatening a home owner who came out and ask what they were doing. And another one that made the news when a gang of black girls in a Trade Mart store attacked and beat a white girl for no apparent reason.
I do not know how to explain it but it rarely involves black males here and seems confined to black females for whatever reason.

[Patrick Lang]

walrus

We are now, once again, making some nice pistols. I recommend to you the Kel-tec company in Florida. The PMR-30 is my next acquisition objective. pl

[Lysander]

What firearm is most appropriate for home defense for someone with no experience with guns?

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Nice carry, folks in Florida doing a quality job.

So are Gun Owners of America in defending Second Amendment Rights.
http://gunowners.org/

As European-Americans ("whites") head into minority status in the US over the next couple decades, it may be that we will arm up. Kel-tec etal should do a good business in the coming years. Seems to me concealed weapons permits are in an upward trend.

I like pistols but have a limited budget. SIG P232s (380) are a nice carry. For some target, the old Haemmerli Olympic rapid fires (22 short) are classic though rare.

[Patrick Lang]

IMO

A Mossberg 500 .20 gauge pump gun. pl

[Fred]

" But during the attack no one tried to help me, called for help or intervened in any way."

That's just disgraceful. Had the attackers been wearing headscarves I'm sure we'd be calling it terrorism.

[Sidney O. Smith III]

The greatest victims of racial violence in the US during the last 75 years, if not much longer, were the Korean Americans in LA during the Rodney King riots. I saw what happened to that community first hand. Total devastation.

Not much talk about that in the American dialogue, including among LA progressives and academicians.

The silence reveals much about the underside of the American pathos -- the genesis of which arose out of a cataclysmic conflict during “mid 19th century history”. The WBS left an enormously deep wound for everyone. It helped no one nor was it intended to.

Mythologized by all, the WBS has given us what Kagan calls “a dangerous nation” in the 21st century. He uses this aspect of the American pathos to justify a disastrous foreign policy based, in turn, on distorted notions of “exceptionalism” of a people who have convinced themselves they are wholly superior.

But it is just as likely that a dangerous nation is one that has sowed the seeds of its own demise at home if the American people do not become more aware of its past.

Here’s hoping…

[Jake]

"A Mossberg 500 .20 gauge pump gun."

With flechettes....:-)

But I prefer a 45 ACP. 750ft/sec full of stopping power...

[Highlander]

Ah! The tribes are restless indeed thsese days.

And Clifford, what are you some kind of closet "Viking"?

Who would have ever supposed such a erudite fellow as you, would be packing heat. A 380 SIG indeed!

[Cal]

As stated before I am not a hunter or too much into weapons. I keep an unloaded shotgun in a storage closet in the bedroom and my German Shepard, Rex, travels around with me a lot of the time.
Do I need more?..yet.LOL

[DanM]

I caught a far worse beating on Boat Quay in Singapore on a Saturday night in 2000. Catching up with my former boss (a diminuitive Indian woman) for drinks. I drank too much (4 or 5). Walking down the quay to get a cab a guy half-shoulder charged me. Didn't think much of it, carried on. Got shoved in the back about a half-second later. Turned around, seeing red, and saw a scrawny teenage chinese kid with oversize raver (that is, entirely for absurd cosmetic effect) glasses leering at me. He said something nasty to me in Hokkien. I'm no tough guy, but this kid was no obvious threat. I reached for him (alcohol clouding my situational awareness and logic -- why is a 15-year old picking a fight with a grown man?) and immediately took a bar stool across the head from the side. Got beat on for about 2 minutes by a gang of five of them (it seemed like longer). Was lucky -- just 3 caps/bondings on my teeth, a mild concussion, and a broken hand. Easily 300 people watched this go down and did nothing (Boat Quay on a Saturday night is lined with busy outdoor restaurants and bars).

It was a gang initiation. Race was a factor that time too.

I the DC instance, in the US context, the guy was lucky he didn't have a gun. Remember Bernie Goetz? The real question is what gets done with those kids.

[Patrick Lang]

DanM

No. You see it in the Yankee US context. pl

[Patrick Lang]

Highlander

No Claymore in your closet? pl

[DanM]

Col.,

I believe that this man's life would have been severely disrupted (if not ruined) by the justice system if he had shot these kids in most states in the Union, certainly in Virginia.

Am I wrong?

[Sidney O. Smith III]

Fred

In reference to another thread, one reason I am a believer in a traditional code of civility is that it helps in race relations, day in and day out, year in and year out.

It is, I believe, one reason that Atlanta has had better race relations than the rest of the nation but I make no predictions and, besides, we are seeing more drive by shooting and other senseless violence, probably as part of gang initiations. And citizens are starting to shoot back, even in “gentrified” neighborhoods.

Quick anecdotal history and my experience is not unique by any stretch. But in Atlanta and elsewhere, anyone can experience times in which things get tense and racial epithets are tossed around and misunderstandings start to spiral out of control. (in my opinion, it is part of the guilt-empowerment dynamic that Shelby Steele describes and people are not buying into that dynamic anymore).

But time and time again, when one experiences such, if you keep your eyes open, you encounter someone of the opposite race who is so polite, it keeps you going. More times than not, it can be just the smile of a bank teller or some guy at a gas station. But I have found that a person had to keep his eyes open.

It works both ways and is an undercurrent of Southern culture, not that well known. Blacks and whites talk.

When I read about this incident in DC, I immediately thought about a chat with a black woman at a grocery store yesterday. A few days ago, as I was leaving a convenience store in a somewhat bad hood, I left the door open, probably for a hooker but not sure. But she said, “have a blessed day. It keeps a person going. Plus I though about a few black secretaries I have worked with.

All of this is based upon a code of civility. But it is not part of the political class. It is exists mainly among people struggling like hell to make it though life. I have found that a lot of the blacks who are this way listen to gospel music, usually old school, but not always.

Also, in Atlanta, much of the leadership is black and, increasingly they are sick of the violence as well, although I don’t want to sugar coat the Atlanta political scene. A lot of prosecutors are black, etc.

Not sure how DC will handle this incident. Their response will reveal much.

But problems loom, problems loom, including most certainly in Atlanta. Plus this code of civility is dying out.

Somebody here at SST left some reference to an academic article that, I believe, disparaged a code of civility. My thought was that the article was just that…academic, very, and isolated too. Probably based upon economic determinism.

Anyway, that is why I prefer the code of civility.

[Highlander]

Colonel,

If I told you what"rainy day" stores, I have on hand. It would confirm your worse conclusions about me.(We are all crazy as hell, up in these hills).

You would be happy to note however, I haven't assisted the Zionist armaments industry by wharehouseing Uzis or Galils.

[J]

Colonel,

This realworld incident appears to mimic Hollywood, an episode of CSI Las Vegas had a bunch of teens beating up and killing just for kicks. The teens in the CSI episode video'd their actions so they could post it on the web as they thought that was 'cool'.

So now we have life in D.C, mimicking Hollywood scripts. Sad, very sad. Season 7, Episode 4: Fannysmackin'

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0847779/

and will air again Feb 3 on SPIKETV.

[The Twisted Genius]

"What firearm is most appropriate for home defense for someone with no experience with guns?"

May I suggest an M1 carbine? Less seriously, a canteen cover full of V40 minigrenades might also be useful in a night encounter... the bad guys won't know where to shoot back.

[steve]

Glad I left the big city. It would've been only a matter of time . . . . .

[walrus]

DanM, a lot of teenage gangs use the same "bait' method.

A scrawny Fifteen year old says something rude to you about your girlfriend. When you react, Six or more bigger guys come out of nowhere.

[Clifford Kiracofe]

Highlander,

"closet Viking" ???

This is friendly blog man, we are in virtual-land...you know, cyberspace. chill some. getting a little too edgy for you, even hiding behind that handle?

I do teach at a military school and we do like our weapons.

I did not say I owned a SIG P232 in 380, just that it's a nice compact carry. If I happened to own one, I would prefer it chrome with the custom wood grips...loaded with some Speer Gold Dots.

Then I suppose I would spend some time now and then on the range with some of those bottle style law enforcement targets at 5 yards. Guess I would practice a single hand hold intuitive/natural point. Close range defensive work.

It would make sense to shoot an equal number of rounds right hand and then left hand. Maybe develop a cadence like: one to the head, two to the abdomen. Work on sight alignment, breath control, stance, all that...but the goal to end up at intuitive and on the aim point.

Of course to sharpen eye and reflexes up, a nice cadence on multiple sequential aim points (horizontal), might be helpful and fun. I guess I would practice that with an old style 22 short (Fiocchi target round) Olympic rapid fire pistol. No safety on those old Haemmerlis, of course, so you have to properly respect the weapon. Handsome adjustable anatomical wood grips and long weighted barrel, Swiss workmanship...nice to think about anyways. Not saying I own one or even have ever seen one.

[Patrick Lang]

Highlander

No. I think of you as a brother. pl

[Patrick Lang]

DanM

"Disrupted?" Temporarily. pl

[Fred]

Steve,

I know just what you mean. I spent my formative years in Virginia, civility is part of the culture there and in most of the South. It was present in the parts of Connecticut I was stationed in as well. You can even find it Detroit. A friend of mine is a bass player in a band, took a couple of us to a jazz club on the wrong side of town late on a Saturday night a while back. Best music and friendliest people (about 90% black) I've met in Michigan. Definitely an eye (and ear) opening experience.

Like you I think civility is dying out as well. The political atmosphere certainly doesn't help any. Few of our leaders, or radio and TV's talking heads, are setting much of an example for civility. (trite as it sounds but I think they still influence behavior in a subtle way - and they've had a decade or more to get under the skin, so to speak).