Stephen Kokx
The content of our character
By Stephen Kokx
A young American male was killed last week. And I'm not talking about Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was gunned down by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman.
I'm referring to the tragic death of 22 year old Timothy Scott. According to the Chicago Tribune, Scott was at a liquor store on the city's South Side around 8:45pm on March 24th when a still unknown assailant fired three shots at him and his cousin, one of which struck Scott in the chest.
He is but one of the many preventable casualties caused by mounting violence in the city over the past month.
Chances are you aren't aware of it though. Why? Because the mainstream media and activists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have chosen to highlight Martin's murder instead because it fits their political agenda.
Derek Hunter has a fantastic column up at Townhall.com explaining how the left and their colleagues in the media operate when it comes to race and violence. In reference to the Martin tragedy, Hunter writes, "that news outlets can't talk about this case without mentioning Trayvon's race is a testament to how successful progressives have been in instilling a segregationist mindset in the media." Adding that, "the only thing more disgusting than exploiting the death of a 17-year-old for political purposes is knowing of the other deaths and murders they willingly ignore because the victims, the perpetrators or both have the incorrect skin pigment to advance their agenda."
Scott and Martin's deaths are a tragedy — and both deserve to be investigated objectively and as scrupulously as possible. But instead of seeking solutions to the problem, the left, as it always does, politicized the issue by blaming conservatives. It truly is a sad reflection of where we are as a country. But it shouldn't be surprising. Last year the media attributed the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and the Tea Party without any evidence whatsoever, just as they did with the shooting in Norway.
The fact of the matter is that no one knows why Zimmerman, a Hispanic American, used lethal force against Martin. Zimmerman could hold prejudiced viewed against African Americans and they could have come into play, but judging by the comments made by Zimmerman's African American friends and relatives, it doesn't seem likely.
But that didn't stop the Black Panthers from placing a $10,000 bounty on Zimmerman, someone who is legally presumed innocent until proven guilty. Nor did it stop an entire swath of Sharpton supporters to conclude this is but one of the many examples of racism in America. It could be, but no one knows for sure. And to assume it is without all the facts is intellectually dishonest and could lead to even more deaths.
If black leaders really wanted to take a stand against violence in the African American community, they should focus on the discriminatory practices of the abortion industry. Statistics show that African American women are 5 times more likely to have an abortion than a white woman and that approximately 1,800 black babies are aborted every day (roughly 13 million since 1973) in the United States.
To be sure, racism does exist. But people like Sharpton and Jackson, with their inflammatory rhetoric and selective moral outrage, have only prolonged the day when Americans will be judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin.
© Stephen Kokx
March 27, 2012
A young American male was killed last week. And I'm not talking about Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was gunned down by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman.
I'm referring to the tragic death of 22 year old Timothy Scott. According to the Chicago Tribune, Scott was at a liquor store on the city's South Side around 8:45pm on March 24th when a still unknown assailant fired three shots at him and his cousin, one of which struck Scott in the chest.
He is but one of the many preventable casualties caused by mounting violence in the city over the past month.
Chances are you aren't aware of it though. Why? Because the mainstream media and activists like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have chosen to highlight Martin's murder instead because it fits their political agenda.
Derek Hunter has a fantastic column up at Townhall.com explaining how the left and their colleagues in the media operate when it comes to race and violence. In reference to the Martin tragedy, Hunter writes, "that news outlets can't talk about this case without mentioning Trayvon's race is a testament to how successful progressives have been in instilling a segregationist mindset in the media." Adding that, "the only thing more disgusting than exploiting the death of a 17-year-old for political purposes is knowing of the other deaths and murders they willingly ignore because the victims, the perpetrators or both have the incorrect skin pigment to advance their agenda."
Scott and Martin's deaths are a tragedy — and both deserve to be investigated objectively and as scrupulously as possible. But instead of seeking solutions to the problem, the left, as it always does, politicized the issue by blaming conservatives. It truly is a sad reflection of where we are as a country. But it shouldn't be surprising. Last year the media attributed the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and the Tea Party without any evidence whatsoever, just as they did with the shooting in Norway.
The fact of the matter is that no one knows why Zimmerman, a Hispanic American, used lethal force against Martin. Zimmerman could hold prejudiced viewed against African Americans and they could have come into play, but judging by the comments made by Zimmerman's African American friends and relatives, it doesn't seem likely.
But that didn't stop the Black Panthers from placing a $10,000 bounty on Zimmerman, someone who is legally presumed innocent until proven guilty. Nor did it stop an entire swath of Sharpton supporters to conclude this is but one of the many examples of racism in America. It could be, but no one knows for sure. And to assume it is without all the facts is intellectually dishonest and could lead to even more deaths.
If black leaders really wanted to take a stand against violence in the African American community, they should focus on the discriminatory practices of the abortion industry. Statistics show that African American women are 5 times more likely to have an abortion than a white woman and that approximately 1,800 black babies are aborted every day (roughly 13 million since 1973) in the United States.
To be sure, racism does exist. But people like Sharpton and Jackson, with their inflammatory rhetoric and selective moral outrage, have only prolonged the day when Americans will be judged by the content of their character, and not by the color of their skin.
© Stephen Kokx
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
