"A black guy did it"
"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.
Any time Will brings up the point that racial issues still divide the country, conservative posters make racial comments. Are you all so self-important that you justify your own racial biases? I'm not accusing you of everything, because your comments speak for themselves, but I really would like to know if you think so much of yourselves that you are ok with excusing anybody who uses race to judge people.— HandNik- "A black guy did it"................That's because they usually do— killadelphia
- I guess your recent posts about Drudge, Gore, Obama, McCain/immigration, global warming and the Phils weren't red meat enough to drive up the number of hits on your blog. But the tried and true racism angle works every time, doesn't it Will. Now, if you could only figure out a way to tie Sarah Palin to racism you'd be golden. Good job.— legatus
- ---}}} But the tried and true racism angle works every time, doesn't it Will. {{{--- Good point, leggy. Obviously Will knows that he can count on scores of racist posts from Attytood "conservatives," but one wonders how Will got that cop to shoot himself and blame a black man.— Talking point sleuth
- "that you are ok with excusing anybody who uses race to judge people." What, should we give them a stern look and a finger wag? OMG, people might use their personal biases when forming an opinion, what a shock!— RG
- Inciciting race riots: page 56 of the liberal playbook.— bobbyd24
- And speaking of Palin.... --snip--Sarah Palin was on the O’Reilly Factor last night talking about the National Day of Prayer, but she went a bit further than her usual party line of calling America a Christian nation. “I think we should keep this clean, keep it simple, go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant,” she said. “They’re quite clear that we would create law based on the God of the Bible and the 10 commandments, it’s pretty simple.” --snip-- Sarah makes a good point. The founding fathers could certainly had made life much easier had they simply gone with the Bible rather than wasting all that time on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, etc.— Talking point sleuth
Comment removed.
What Ralston did was wrong and indefensible and he will lose a 21 year career over it. If he had taken time to think he would have realized accidentally shooting himself while also irresponsible wouldn't cost him his job. I just don't understand how it would be less wrong if he said a white guy shot him.— bird11
We are subjected to the rantings of Sacaree Rhoades, community activist and full time blamer of White people for the house of slavery horrors aka Independence Mall National Park's archeology site of the first White House. This in the state that entered the Union by outlawing slavery. The rumors of White cops shooting black kids, women, young men etc. goes on in every Black neighborhood, some of these ridiculous rumors have actually been reported and debunked by your own reporters on this site. There will always be a plausible excuse for using the Black and the White antagonists, in these fabrications. People buy into the storyline, because it is consistent with what actually may go on in the neighborhood and feeds into people's racial bigotry, White and Black. In 1964, the rioting in N Philadelphia, was ignited by the rumor that a pregnant Black woman was beaten to death in the street by White cops. The 2 days of looting and burning and injuries, arrests, was out of proportion to what actually happened, but no one cared, the tensions were too great and the ridiculous story was believed to be gospel truth. Today, the harm in blaming an anonymous Black man is not likely to involved a 2 day rampage but damage can be done by filing a false police report. Actual criminals were running around the city elsewhere, while a non existent crime was being intensely pursued. The citizens of Philadelphia in that Black community were harassed, based on a lie. It is important to not overemphasize the problem that White people supposedly have, as being worse for whatever reason White guilt may arouse. The denial of criminality in the S Philly HS anti Asian riots shows the force of racism is a human dilemma, not always an White systemic hegemony of racial subjugation. Sometimes, a crook is just a crook, and not part of any institutional police mindset. And this cop, is obviously, just a crook. We all need to stopped being played by the race hustle.- ---}}} How does bunch look himself in the mirror when his only way of generating a living is the exploitation of black people through race-baiting? {{{--- Classic. Will is "exploiting black people" by writing a blog post about the negative impact of stereotyping on the black community. Next, batboy will write a post about how Democrats exploit black people by fooling them into voting against their own best interests. Batboy's concern about the exploitation of black people is so obviously heart-felt.— Talking point sleuth
Why are White liberals feel so much guilt? Alaways there to help the "black Man"- it's ridiculous. "I am great because I always cry racism and I am white." Manny, where did you go to school? I mean, typos are one thing and everybody makes them, but that post is not only idiotic, but looks like it was written by an 8 year old.— one_eyed_jack
Does anybody remember race hustler Al Sharpton and Twana Brawley?. There is an incident where somebody DIED! This cop whould be hung out to dry, but a very successful race baiting post. Not surprised. Very successful tactic by the left. When do you have to return the race card?— georgel- Comment removed.
- What does the Arizona immigration law have to do with this story , Will????? Police were following leads (wrong as it was) from a shot officer, identifying the shooter as black!!!!— Dadair1
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