The Student Voice of Chardon High School

The Hilltop Echo

The Student Voice of Chardon High School

The Hilltop Echo

The Student Voice of Chardon High School

The Hilltop Echo

Opposition groups stand across the street from the restaurant. (Bob Rich)
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Is It Racist?

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The shooting of Michael Brown has sparked riots in five major cities. After reviewing the overwhelming evidence, the grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson. Within days of this uproar, twelve year old Tamir Rice was shot by the Cleveland Police and later died in the hospital. About two days later, a Bosnian man, Zemir Begic, was beaten to death with hammers just minutes away from Ferguson. The two teens involved in Begic’s death were both black residents of St. Louis. You are probably surprised to hear this considering this tragic story never grazed more than minutes on national news. On the other hand, the deaths of two not-so-innocent black males was broadcasted all over the news and riots broke out for both deaths, whereas the death of a caucasian male was seemingly unheard of. So one major question arises from these unfortunate incidents. Is there an unfair racial war in today’s society? Is it racist for whites to kill criminal blacks but not racist for blacks to kill innocent whites?

The last stats available from the FBI state there were about 12 million arrests in the U.S.A per year. This means there are approximately 34,000 arrests per day. In 99.9% of those cases, the perpetrator was not killed by the police. In fact, just over 400 fatal police shootings occur per year. Also take into effect the number of perpetrators armed and firing their weapon into public masses. Take into effect the number of perpetrators high on drugs and unable to be controlled. Take into effect the number of perpetrators trying to kill the police officer arresting them. This leaves an extremely small number for accidental police shootings. Is there a war on black kids though? Well according to the facts, 91% of black homicides are at the hands of other blacks. NO, there is definitely not a war on blacks!

The death of Michael Brown has sparked very destructive riots mostly in Ferguson, MO but also in other major cities. About half of the rioters for Michael Brown WEREN’T EVEN FROM FERGUSON! It has become very clear how many people are taking advantage of an unfortunate situation by looting stores and vandalising buildings. Flash forward to the death of Zemir Begic. The Bosnian community peacefully protested about Begic’s death for a couple hours and immediately agreed to disperse after the police warned them. Once again, this whole Begic story barely reached national news.

According to the the 2010 U.S. census, African Americans make up just 18.4% of the population. Contrary to this low number, African Americans lead America in homicides with 52.5% of homicides. It’s no secret that most crimes in this country are committed by African Americans. So why is it racist when a violent African American punk is shot down by the police? The facts show that Michael Brown tried breaking into Officer Wilson’s car and stealing his gun. Wilson gunned Brown down in self defense yet uproars spark based off of people’s ignorance. I am willing to bet that over 25% percent of the people rioting against the police force are living off of food provided by the government. The residents of Ferguson are biting off the hand that feeds them.