Timothy Birdnow

I am afraid that there is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well, because as long as the disease holds out they have not only an easy means of making a living, but also an easy medium through which to make themselves prominent before the public.

Booker T. Washington

Ch. V: The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob

A group of black incoming freshman to Washington University in ST. Louis were wrongly stopped for a "dine and dash" incident at an International House of Burgers, er, Pancakes in the near suburb of Clayton, Mo.
The restaurant manager called Clayton police with a complaint that a large group of black people had walked out on their bill, and police found this group of ten walking along the road just two blocks away. Some produced receipts and the others volunteered to go back and speak with the restaurant manager.The manager cleared them.

The very liberal Washington University had a meltdown, with University officials calling the incident "unacceptable" and the Associaton of Black Students (ABS) refering to it as the "most dangerous form of racial profiling".

Really? There was a complaint by the restaurant manager that black people had shot the moon, and what were the police supposed to do? Arrest white or Asian people in the area? (This is a heavily Asian area.)

I smell a rat here. This area is not lilly-white, nor is it full of rednecks. This is a college town, and they are used to people of every race dining and shopping in the area. That this happened after midnight suggests to me that this was a setup designed to support Black Lives Matter assertions that black people are victims of discrimination and racism.

The fact is, had the manager reported white kids doing this the police would have arrested a group of whites walking down the street. And nobody would have said a word about it.

I suspect there was a group that planned this, that encouraged these kids to go and then leave and sent others to dine and dash to create a racial incident. That is exactly how BLM operates, and they have been operating in St. Louis for some time now. The Galleria - which is just around the corner from this IHOP - has been the site of multiple Black Lives Matter incidents. It's sort of their home turf.

The ABS issued this demand:

The foundation of our current Association of Black Students (ABS) was birthed from the Association of Black Collegians’ efforts in the late 1960s to shed light on the harassment of Black students at Washington University. Our main goal is not only to support our students as they work towards achieving a degree from Washington University, but also to provide a space where they can be Black and free of harassment, dehumanizing threats, and racial subjugation. The comments of Police Chief Murphy minimize the impact of his officers’ conduct, thus invalidating the experience of those affected. Murphy characterizes this misconduct as a mere inconvenience—this indicates that there is likely a significant failure on his part to understand the responsibility of law enforcement to ensure that civilians are treated with dignity and respect. The officers involved in this incident, a false accusation against ten Black Washington University students claiming that they left a restaurant without paying, engaged in the most dangerous form of racial profiling by relying solely on the race of the incoming students when stopping them. Such stops are illegal under the Fourth Amendment, which requires officers to have a reasonable, articulable suspicion that prompts them to engage and stop everyday citizens in a free society. The Association of Black Students (ABS) at Washington University in St. Louis demands an apology from the Clayton Police Department to our students as well as the findings of the internal report to which the Chief of Police, Kevin R. Murphy, commits himself. We also demand that the Clayton Police implement training in racial profiling and illegal stops which violate the Fourth Amendment rights of our citizens and perpetuates law enforcements’ unacceptable violation of Black people. This unnecessary and dehumanizing event is important not only to ABS and the Washington University community, but also to the larger discussion on police-community relations, for the racism that fuels our law enforcement and criminal justice systems are not only life-threatening but ultimately unconstitutional. ABS is thrilled about the arrival of this year’s incoming class and will continue to support them as they transition into what should be an exciting and rewarding experience not limited to our university, but also in Clayton and the greater city of St. Louis as well. We ask that you give our students privacy at this time.

End excerpt.

Does this suggest a hurt group, or people operating entirely in the political sphere?

The Clayton PD says there have been forty five food theft incidents at this IHOP since January. They apologized, but pointed out there really wasn't anything else they could do.

The sense of eternal grievance and the endless search for racial bias serves nobody, and especially not the black community. It's time black people stop listening to the radical race-baiting perpetually aggrieved among their ranks. But it will not stop as long as it breeds political power and money for the race hustling class.

I opened with a quote from Booker T. Washington, and will thus end in like manner:

There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

* Ch. V: The Intellectuals and the Boston Mob (pg. 118)

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:26 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1017 words, total size 7 kb.