Here's an update to my original post when I questioned Allen West's motives and picture that appeared on his Facebook page: Allen West, There's Something Wrong With Your Michael Jones Picture Here’s the photo that I discussed and which the Daily Caller, Michael Savage, Allen West, Fox & Friends, The NY Post and others used to try and whip up hate and outrage in America and turn this into a racial crime so they can feel better about the Trayvon Martin trial when it clearly was not.
The senseless, infuriating murder of AustralianChris Lane has drawn comparisons, by some media outlets, to the killing of Trayvon Martin.Fox and Friends and The Daily Caller, for example, have each posited the Lane killing as illustrating some sort of “double standard” by black leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and President Barack Obama, but in the process, each of them falsely reported that Lane was shot by “three black teens,” when one of the suspects is clearly a white male.
A Duncan, Oklahoma police source confirms, toMediaite, that 17 year-old suspect Michael Jones is, indeed, a white male. On Wednesday morning, Fox and Friends aired a segment in which they ostentatiously wondered why Revs. Sharpton and Jackson “haven’t come forward and said anything,” and even though they displayed a photo of the three suspects, which clearly showed that one of them is a white male, they quoted an Allen West tweet that said “Three black teens shoot white jogger.”The Daily Caller actually improved on Fox & Friends. Initially, they ran a photo of the wrong Michael Jones, and issued this “correction”:
This, of course, changes everything. Edwards and Luna are being charged with first-degree murder, whereas Jones is charged with “using a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a weapon and accessory after the fact of murder in the first degree.”There’s your angle, Rev. Al. The one with the lightest skin got the lightest charge. The one who looks the least like Obama will get the least punishment. Let the racebaiting begin.
A Duncan police source confirmed to Mediaite, Wednesday morning, that 17 year-old Michael Jones is not “the one with the lightest skin,” he is a white male. It is true that 15 year-old James Edwardsand 16 year-old Chancey Luna have been charged, as adults, with first-degree murder, while Jones is charged as an accessory after the fact, but Jones is also reported to have said
“I pulled the trigger”in court Tuesday:As the boys appeared in an Oklahoma courtroom, a 17-year-old blurted out, “I pulled the trigger,” then wept after a judge told him that Tuesday’s hearing wasn’t the time or place to sort out the facts of the case.
The three teens allegedly shot and killed Chris Lane “for the fun of it,” as infuriating a motive as there is, but so far, there is no indication that race played a role in the selection of the victim, and unlike the Trayvon Martin killing, the alleged perpetrators in this crime were almost immediately arrested and charged. Like other crimes that have been posited as “double standards,” there is no factual basis for comparison, and no one has explained what, exactly, they would expect Rev. Al to say.
The murder of Chris Lane is a tragedy, but this was never a racial hate crime. Even Bill O'Reilly on tonight's program said it wasn't a racially motivated crime because there were two blacks and one white.
The conservative base is always looking to racebait a story and as usual, they were wrong. Allen West should issue an apology immediately and so should Fox. The Daily Caller already commented on their mistake and it was demented:
This, of course, changes everything. Edwards and Luna are being charged with first-degree murder, whereas Jones is charged with “using a vehicle to facilitate the discharge of a weapon and accessory after the fact of murder in the first degree.”There’s your angle, Rev. Al. The one with the lightest skin got the lightest charge. The one who looks the least like Obama will get the least punishment. Let the racebaiting begin.
The right wing base should just stick to the racism that they know and not the kind they try to create.
(h/t Jamie for first seeing the discrepancy in the reporting and pictures and calling me about it.)
