Forum: Is The 'Knockout Game ' Racism Or Just Street Crime? Is It Just Media Frenzy Or A New Trend?

Every week on Monday morning , the Council and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher's Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day. the culture or daily living. This week's question: Is The  'Knockout Game '  Racism Or Just Street Crime? Is It Just Media Frenzy Or A New  Trend?

GrEaT sAtAn"S gIrLfRiEnD: Trick question - it only matters til - in a moment of literally killer irony - some one fears the approaching or following group of juvenile minorities and takes the olde "When in doubt - knock 'em out" ideology to the nth by blowing off said posse members head with a pistol or revolver in a pre emptive move.

Deeper retrospection though - certainly seems like FNC's dirty old man may have something about the break down of the home in Urbania.

 Bookworm Room:As I understand it, the knockout game has been going on for a while. The difference between today and a few weeks ago is that the media finally discovered it. This is, yet again, a reminder that the media may be a pustulent, rotting, behemoth that's expiring before our eyes, but it's not dead yet. When it turns it's rheumy eye on something, that something gets noticed. What may dismay MSM reporters, though, is that, once they decided to pay attention to this street crime phenomenon they were unable to keep people from noticing that there's a racial component to it: black kids knocking out non-black people. They're not just going after whites, they're going after anyone who's non-black, although obvious Jews seem to be an especially enticing target.

So yes, it's a street crime, but it's a racially motivated street crime. And no, it's not a new trend, and the media may be regarding its effort to create a frenzy.

 JoshuaPundit : I think what we have here is a change in society that isn't new, but is becoming more noticeable and prevalent to the point where the media is forced to report it, even though they are almost comical in their efforts not to name the race of the perpetrators.

This is partly due to the thug culture that a significant part of black America relates to, but that's only some of the story.

There used to be a certain code in our culture..that one didn't hit females, assault elderly people or attack people just for the fun of it. Yes, there were always a few deviants, but by and large that code was upheld..because young men were taught to be men by their fathers. Thanks to the radical feminists and the politicians who catered to them with skewed family laws that discriminated against fathers, Dad is simply gone in a lot of cases. And Mom is either too busy with other pursuits or simply overwhelmed when it comes to dealing with the species known as the teenager. This juxtaposed with the Big Government policies dating from the War on Poverty in the Sixties, which  especially affected American black families, where over 75% of all births are out of wedlock. One poignant example I caught was in the story of  the murder of Chris Lane, who was gunned down while jogging by three black teens in a car in Oklahoma for no reason whatever. I noted at the time that what the media described as one of the killer's 'underage pregnant girlfriend' attended his arraignment 'to give him support'...just the next link in the chain.

And it's not just the knockout game. Another popular pastime  are 'flash mob' attacks, where a large group of young black teenagers swarm a convenience store or small market, loot the shelves, punch out the clerks if they get in the way and run off. This kind of thing has become so common and the likelihood of charging anyone with more than petty theft so remote that it often isn't even prosecuted anymore. And as Rudy Giuliani showed us, failing to prosecute small crimes like vandalism or subway turnstile jumping has a direct relation to bigger, more violent crime.

Crown Heights, the Brooklyn neighborhood uneasily shared by blacks and by Orthodox Jews who refused to engage in the usual white flight is an interesting flashpoint.Crown Heights is where several 'knockout' attacks have been reported, and it was in Crown Heights back in 1991 that our old friend Al Sharpton instigated a full on pogrom by blacks against the neighborhood's Jews - whom he referred to as 'interlopers' and 'diamond merchants' - over a traffic accident where a seven-year-old black child was accidentally hit by a car driven by an Orthodox Jew, who was beaten badly when he stopped to try and help the child.

For three days, Crown Heights was a war zone as blacks rioted against the Jews without any real  restraint, and New York City's then  mayor David Dinkins and NYPD  Chief Lee P. Brown,both black,  did little to stop them. One young Jew, a yeshiva student named Yankel Rosenbaum was caught by the mob, beaten and stabbed to death by one Lemrick Nelson Jr., who was caught with the murder weapon in his hand and was identified by Rosenbaum before he died. Nelson was tried and acquitted by a mostly black jury.

Orthodox Jews are an especially easy target,because of their distinctive mode of dress and their regular schedule of three times daily prayer at local synagogues. Rick De Blasio, New York's new mayor actually served in the Dinkins administration and has proved adept at local racial politics, favors major changes in  the NYPD's crime prevention ability  and is no particular friend of the Orthodox Jewish community. It will be interesting to see how Crown Heights' Jews react, especially if the attacks continue with no action from the city. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Jewish community forms their own patrols to protect themselves. Perhaps other communities may have to do the same.

 The Right Planet: From what I've heard, the "Knockout Game" is not a new phenomenon. Dana Loesch mentioned on her radio show that the "Knockout Game" had been a recurring issue in the St. Louis area for a while now.

There seems to be a rash of reports lately about groups of youths, typically between the ages of 16-21, who have viciously attacked totally unsuspecting victims, including a 12-year-old child and a 93-year-old woman. A number of these unprovoked attacks have been carried out by groups of black youths on white victims--and Jews. Of course, this begs the question, is there a racial component in these attacks? Well, I have no doubt that there is in many of these attacks.

But is that really the most important thing to focus on? I submit that the real issue is the fact we have young people who think somehow it's "cool" to knockout a child or somebody's granny for "fun and sport"--atrocious behavior that really makes one ask, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" This sort of depraved, amoral behavior--regardless of the ethnicity of the attackers--is the real issue for me.

There's a few things these punks should remember--and make no mistake about it, they are truly punks in every sense of the word; they are not even worthy of being called "thugs"--as if that's something to aspire too in life. No, they are spiritually and morally bankrupt individuals who apparently have no idea or thought about what could befall them should they choose to engage in such "wicked folly." Remember the 93-year-old I mentioned earlier? Well after she had been thoroughly beaten up, she managed to reach in her purse and grab her gun. Let's just say the "Knockout Game" ended up being a permanent knockout for our "wannabe gangsta thug."

Oh, and there's another very real reality that our little knockout punks should ponder long and hard. Should they be arrested and thrown in jail for playing their little game, they will find that even in prison or jail there is an unwritten law ... a "moral code," if you will: "Don't mess with kids or old people ... everybody else is fair game." They will find themselves swimming in world of hurt amongst the "general population."

Our own Terresa Monroe-Hamilton tweeted a story on a recent "Knockout Game" assault. One individual angrily replied to Terresa's tweet that reporting on such attacks was only encouraging more attacks--copycats. Well, copycat crimes do occur. But, I'm sorry, that's like saying we shouldn't report on bank robberies or murders, in fear that it might encourage more. People need to be aware and vigilant; and they should take the time to learn about the "Triangle of Victimization" and steps they can take to prevent the circle from closing around them. I'm glad I know about it. But I am sickened there are people who are so willing and eager to engage in such pathetic, senseless violence. They get whatever is coming to them, as far as I'm concerned.

Rhymes With Right : The question makes the assumption that the answer has to be either/or.  I'd argue that the answer is both.

On one level, the "Knockout Game" is one more example of the street crime we are no longer surprised to see from individuals of a certain age, ethnicity, and socio-economic background.  Sadly, young black males living in poverty are among the most likely individuals in our society to commit violent crimes against strangers.  Law enforcement statistics have shown this for a very long time, and this trend has continued as the Obama economy has stripped hope from those who look like a hypothetical son of this President.

But sadly, there is a racial component to all of this, as there has been to street crime in recent years.  In some circles, the Knockout Game is known as "polar bear hunting", with the black and brown bears taking out those of a lighter hue.  It is typical of what has long happened in communities where racial resentment has been ramped up by grievance mongers -- white targets of opportunity are picked because of race.  While this iteration of the cycle of racial hate may be more explicit about its motivation, I'd argue this is the same sort of racially motivated street crime that has been going on for years -- only this time it is too obvious to be ignored by the media and the authorities.

   Well, there you have it.

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