"A black guy did it"
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"A black guy did it"
How many times must we read this kind of baloney:
RICHARD POTTS returned to his rowhouse on Lancaster Avenue near 56th early in the morning of April 5 to find his Overbrook neighborhood on virtual lockdown.
A cop had been shot; a manhunt was on. The block was cordoned off with yellow tape. Cops and SWAT teams fanned the streets. K-9 units scoured through brush. Some businesses were forced to close for five hours.
"The cops were questioning everybody," Potts, 57, recalled.
Sgt. Robert Ralston, a 21-year veteran and father of five, said he'd been shot on patrol by a black man with "cornrows" and a "mark or tattoo under his left eye."
There's been a lot of talk about racial profiling these days, unfortunately, because of the outrageous immigration crackdown in Arizona. Well, this is your racial profiling on steroids, right here on the streets of Overbrook -- which by the way, for any out-of-towners reading this, is a predominantly black neighborhood that is comprised heavily of stable working-class people and families in well-kept homes, not some kind of urban wasteland out of "Grand Theft Auto." As the picture at top shows, the veteran cop's bogus claim -- turns out that he actually shot himself -- turned that middle-class neighborhood into a war zone. Robert Ralston didn't just shoot his own career in the shoulder, but he heaped a lot more pain on an underserving populace.
"I think it's despicable," said Tanya Ennis, 50. "Black people are targeted. All black people are not bad. I'm not on welfare. I don't take handouts. I work as a compliance specialist for a mortgage insurance company. I own my own home. I own my own car . . . The cops were stopping every man with dreadlocks. Every black man was harassed."
"A black guy did it."
How many times have we heard this from white people desperately trying to find a way out of the messes they created in their own lives -- mostly recently right here in the Philadelphia area when suburban SUV-driving mom Bonnie Sweeten, under investigation for embezzlement and theft at the time, said that she and her young daughter were kidnapped by two black men, when in reality they were at Disney World. Maybe she was inspired by Boston killer Charles Stuart, the godfather of all "a black guy did it" cases.
Now comes a police Sgt. Robert Ralston -- seeking a promotion or to be honored as a hero or God knows what -- inventing a black guy "with cornrows" and tattoos whom he falsely claiimed wounded him in a shootout. Is that because the only black guy he could think of off the top of his head was...Allen Iverson? You get the impression that Ralston didn't even know anything about the people we were paying him to protect and serve for two decades. And when you read about a case like this, it takes the whole notion of a "post-racial America" in 2010 -- and blasts it right in the shoulder.
One footnote here is that the Daily News' cover article was written by the paper's recent Pulitzer winners, Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman, who showed that they aren't resting on their laurels; it would have been easy just to cover Commissioner Ramsey's press conference and phone it in, but they worked the story right up to the deadline to make sure that they captured not just the news of the firing of Ralston -- but the impact that his reckless and racist action had on regular citizens in a Philadelphia neighborhood. In this time of media upheaval, it's one more testament to the need for this kind of shoe-leather journalism here.
As for Ralston, it's hard to believe that he will not be charged with a crime, because there's only one word to describe what he did to the people of Overbook for a day.
Terrorism.
The concept of wrongly blaming blacks is wrong, wrong. No argument here. That neighborhood is predominantly black, correct? How many white people live in the area of 56th and Lancaster? If the officer had said it was a white guy who did it his story would've been unbelievable from the beginning. Will, you're race-baiting big time! That is what is wrong with this story, you are wrongly trying to incite people of color which is as bad, possibly worse than a person falsely accusing someone......— keapitreal- Race baiter.— MBFlyerfan
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- If had shot himself in the Northeast he would have said a white guy did it. Will, you really have to grow up and stop viewing the world is such basic fashion. Crying racial injustice all the time just makes you look stupid(er).— TripleCap
- There seems to be more neighborhood outrage over the false accusation than there is over an actual cop shooting.— tomm1030
It's really not a good idea to dilute the word "terrorism" by applying it to this situation. Liberals already have a great deal of trouble identifying real terrorism as it is, we shouldn't confuse them.— jmc- Comment removed.
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- Pull his badge, throw him in the pen, keep him there for ripping apart the already-ragged ties between races in the city. This animal's done nothing for the progression of society.— cdigg1024
- Pretty amazing. Will writes a story about how racist generalizations negatively impact the black community, and a bevy of Attytood "conservatives" line up to rationalize and perpetuate racist generalizations that negatively impact the black community. Probably the same group of folks who lined up to post about "animals" in the comments section of the original story about this shooting.— Talking point sleuth
- "the outrageous immigration crackdown in Arizona" talk about biassed journalism........— Borkey
- Bunch is comparing this to the law passed in Arizona that gives the police, when they are already enforcing the law, they can ask the person they suspect of one crime or violation, if they are in this country legally if they appear to have immigrated here. I don't see any profiling. It's like when the policy stop someone for speeding and they check for outstanding warrants at the time - What's wrong with that? The law in AZ has nothing to do with what this sorry excuse for a cop did in Philly.— mikegdj
- "Will, you really have to grow up and stop viewing the world is such basic fashion." It's funny how liberals are like that. For all the deep-thinking and nuance they claim to have, they always fall back to the most basic concepts to explain everything. Disagree with Obama? Racism. Agree with Arizona? Racism. Don't like the idea gay marriage? Homophobia. Don't like the healthcare bill? You want people to die. Like capitalism? You must be a rich "fat cat". Problems with unions? Your anti-working class. Listen to Limbaugh? Your a lemming. Member of the Tea party? All of the above.— jmc
- Anyone can accidentally discharge their firearm in a careless or distracted moment - that's human. But it takes someone special to try to turn it to his advantage. This case suggests to me that the punishment and/or humiliation this officer would have had to face within the PhilIy PD compelled him to make up what he hoped would be an easy out. Guess again, I suppose. I can't wait to follow this guy's case. With any luck, they'll publish a "where are they now" story in 10 years and the guy will be cleaning out cages at the Zoo.— karma star
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