A vehicle is passing by an apartment complex to drop its passenger off at work. It is around 9pm. In the area is an an estimated crowed of 2,000 to 3,000 people. The vehicle accidentally hits a young child, 3 to 4 years old. The driver gets out to check on the girl when a group of about 20 men begin beating him. The passenger of the car gets out to help the driver when the group turns on him. The passenger collapses under the assault and is left lying in the parking lot. The driver escapes on foot. The passenger dies from his injuries, the cause of death is "Blunt Force Trauma." (That is to say, he was beaten to death.) The child was taken to the hospital and treated for non life-threatening injuries.

There is some information missing from the article...

Cars Smashed, Drivers Attacked After Milwaukee's Juneteenth Celebration

In Milwaukee, following the city's annual Juneteenth celebration, some of the departing crowd surrounded a vehicle stuck in traffic. A couple of teens jumped on top of the car and kicked out the rear windshield. The driver stayed in the car and was unhurt, but hit the car in front him trying to get away from the attackers.

In a separate incident, another teen jumped on the back of a woman's car. She got out of the car to yell at the teen, and hit the car in front of her as she tried to drive away.

In yet ANOTHER incident, a crowd surrounded a third car and began pounding on the hood and trunk and breaking out the windows. The driver got out of the vehicle and was assaulted by being kicked in the head.

In a fourth incident, a woman assaulted a police officer as he tried to break up a fight. The officer was wearing riot gear, and the blow shattered his face shield. He was cut in the face and required stitches to repair his wound. Milwaukee's Juneteenth celebration was marred by violence last year, as well.

There is some information missing from the article...

What is Juneteenth?

Juneteenth commemorates the date June 19, 1865 when Union General Gordon Granger and around 2,000 troops landed in Galveston to take possession of Texas and emancipate that state's slave population. Reportedly, the former slaves rejoiced in the streets with much jubilation, and "Juneteenth" celebrations have been held since. The celebration spread and become an official holiday in 14 states.

Juneteenth is a primarily black holiday. That is to say, the vast majority of people who celebrate Juneteenth are black. The "participants," "members of the crowd," "assailants," whatever you want to call them, mentioned in the articles above were black. The "gathered crowds" were black. The attackers were all BLACK. But you wouldn't know that to read the articles. You can infer from the victim's name in the first article, Morales, that he is hispanic. In the one video I can find of the Milwaukee attacks, the victim appeared to be white. But you wouldn't know that, because the articles don't tell you. Why is it not mentioned? Why don't these articles tell you that the attackers were all black and that the victims were not? Why did I not hear about these incidents on the news last night? (I watched our local news at 5, 6, and 10, and the National news at 5:30.) I didn't even HEAR about these incidents until I heard them on the morning radio show I listen to (which, incidentally, is based out of Houston.)

Maybe the race of those involved in these incidents is important, maybe it isn't. But what if the opposite were true? What if it was a large group of 20 white guys that had beaten a passing black motorist to death? Would the races of those involved have been mentioned then? What if the passing motorists in Milwaukee had been black, and the group that assaulted one driver and vandalized the cars had been white, or Asian. Would the races of the perpetrators and victims have been mentioned then?

Of course it would have been, and we ALL know it.

What is this indicative of? Is our media scared of relating this information to us because they'd be branded as "racist" (a word which, in America, has been bandied about so casually as to have lost ANY coherent meaning. Oppose illegal immigration? RACIST! Want to investigate that black congressman for bribery? RACIST! Opposed to Affirmative Action and minority quotas/set asides? RACIST!) Are we so worried about the Wrath of God coming down in the form of Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition or Al Sharpton's...well, whatever the fuck the name is of the group that Al Sharpton runs is...that we are remiss in reporting THE WHOLE FUCKING STORY?

Of course, we do nothing but validate this kind of bullshit by giving in. America is NEVER going to be a land where everyone is treated EQUALLY when we're scared to discuss race. Remember the Don Imus incident? Don Imus made what was an off-handed comment and a lame attempt at humor, and had the whole Wrath of God (the aforementioned Jackson and Sharpton ass-squad) come down on him. It's national news for what seems like months. Its the lead story on the nightly newscasts of the national networks. The 24 hour news channels dedicate entire story segments to talking about it. He's forced to apologize and he eventually loses his job over it.

Fast-forward to the recent NBA finals broadcast on TNT. During a commercial break the TNT runs an advertisement for their NASCAR coverage. The ad features a bevy of scantily-clad young women extolling the virtues of their favorite NASCAR driver, with "Born to Be Wild" playing in the background. The network resumes coverage, and TNT basketball commentator Charles Barkley tells us that the NASCAR commercial was "False advertising. Those women had their own teeth, and they were clean. They had nice hair. They don't have those type of women at NASCAR."

Did you hear about this? Did Katie Couric appear breathless as she relayed to you THIS LATEST OUTRAGE in racial relations in America? Did Geraldo go in depth into the possible racist beliefs of Mr. Barkley? NO! TNT defended Barkley's comments as "just a joke."

I did a Google News search on "'Charles Barkley' NASCAR" for the last month. I got 15 results, only one of which actually dealt with the story at hand, and this came from a blog. Doing a search on "'Don Imus' Rutgers" for the last month gives me 635 hits, and that shit happened almost three months ago.

Just to recap...

White guy makes an off-hand comment about a group of women, some white, some black. Wrath of God descends upon him, he is branded a racist, forced to issue an apology and is fired.

Black guy makes an off-hand comment about a group of women, ALL WHITE....

What? Oh that? Oh...that was just a "joke." What's the matter, cracker, can't you take a joke?