November 20, 2009

The girl who cried racist

For those minorities having a difficult time understanding why the average suburban white family has problems empathizing with perceived racism: look no further than this article from CNN.com. The article outlines two versions of events that led to the arrest of Heather Ellis outside a Walmart. The first, shared by all five police officers and four people within the store, has Heather acting belligerently, cutting into a cashier line, pushing away the merchandise of a patron being checked out, screaming obscenities, threatening customers, disrupting store displays, resisting attest, threatening officers, kicking one officer in the shin, and kicking another in the face. The other version, professed only by Healther Ellis it seems, holds that she "was treated differently" and was called a number of racial epithets. Regarding her reason for arrest, it seems she pleads no contest.

Because the police force is largely white and Ms. Ellis is black, she instantly dropped the race-card and CNN ate that shit up so fast it got smeared all over its cheeks.

But what about the initial incident? What about the fact that this woman is a psycho and was a danger to everyone in that store? What about the crimes she committed? This is just another Skip Gates, Duke Lacrosse, Tawana Brawley, Jena 6-style mound of bullshit. In all these cases, minorities behaved badly or otherwise tried to blame whites for racism that simply is not there in order to distract the public.

Now, I recognize that racism exist. I believe that bigotry is a deep as it is wide-spread. I believe that no matter what, EVERYONE has prejudice. But to point to these examples as verification of that fact cheapens the real examples and turns whites off to very real cases of injustice whenever they happen. Heather Ellis, the cops who arrested you aren't keeping minorities down, YOU ARE.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous4:23 PM

    Yes, he's serious, and she just copped a plea to two misdemeanors -- the same deal she could have taken months ago. She's been treated very generously.

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