Black and White Protestors almost get in Big trouble in a Small town in Texas

OK, so Paris isn't exactly a small town but it isn't the big city either, with just under 26,000 residents as of the 2000 census.

I kind of like Paris and I hate to see this kind of thing going on there.

I'm divided on the "designated protest zone" thing. On one hand I think people should be free to peacefully voice their opinions but OTOH I don't want a bunch of people screaming back and forth near my house and I certainly don't think people should be protesting at funerals, weddings, etc. If two groups started a screaming match in the road in front of my house I think I'd have to break out the old deer rifle, set up a target and start practicing. I would certainly have ear protection. If the protesters didn't, well, they could go somewhere else or have their hearing damaged.

Back to the story that started this post, here are a couple of links. Link 1 and Link 2.


Here is another. From that article:

The protest was led by members of the Houston chapters of the Nation of Islam and the New Black Panther Party, which the Southern Poverty Law Center considers black separatist and hate groups.

Things grew tense early on when a member of the Panthers walked into the protest zone set up for white supremacists and stood inches away from a skinhead. The skinhead screamed at the black man to go home as the two stood inches apart.

What I get from that is that there were separate areas set up for black and white protesters, no doubt to keep them far enough apart to try and avoid trouble.


Here is a good one:

"You're allowed to have gay pride, black pride, Korean pride," she said. "Everybody is allowed to have pride but Caucasians."

The "she" in that quote is the wife of the "Grand Titan" of the East Texas Ku Klux Klan. I didn't even realize that there was still such a beast in existence.

While I agree that everyone is allowed to have a racial pride celebration in this nation except white people I don't think that is the proper place or time to bring up the issue.

From reading several stories about this I think the protests are because the prosecutor isn't sure that there is evidence of a racial motive. From this article:

According to court papers, Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley, both 27, told police they left the dry town to get beer in Oklahoma, and on the way back, the three men, all apparently drunk, argued about who was sober enough to drive. McClelland, an unmarried maintenance worker, decided to walk home, taking some beer with him, the men told police.

But Finley's estranged wife and one of his friends said they had been told by the two defendants that Finley began to bump McClelland with the front of his truck until McClelland fell, and Finley drove over him, according to court papers. Crostley and Finley then allegedly drove to a car wash to clean off the blood.

Crostley and Finley are jailed on charges of murder and evidence-tampering. Finley's attorney did not immediately return a message. There was no answer at the phone listing for Crostley's lawyer.

I don't think race should be considered in terms of crime and punishment.

Some people who believe in "hate crimes" want this classified as a hate crime so they can push an agenda. Ok, fine. I disagree with them. They are members of separatist groups and hate groups. From the articles their point seems to be that criminals may not be charged under some existing law. That is a legitimate thing to protest even though I think "hate crime" laws are wrong.

Then another group that is a supremecist group comes out to disagree but instead of disagreeing on points of law, or whether "hate crime" legislation is a good thing or not, or whether it should be applied in this case these other people bring out the nazi symbolism.

I don't see any good guys in this case. I do think we will hear more about this in the debate over federal "hate crimes" legislation.

I'm just going to drop the whole thing at this point.

There is a moral in this story:

Don't hang out with people that get drunk and argue over who is sober enough to drive.

ETA: According to this article the protests are over the fact that murder charges were dropped against the two white guys. From that article:

Prosecutors initially charged two of McClelland's white friends with murdering him. But a special prosecutor dismissed the charges last month, citing a lack of evidence, after a truck driver came forward and said he might have accidentally run over McClelland.

That does put a little different light on the subject. I would like to hear if lesser charges are brought against these guys. Maybe they bumped the guy and knocked him down and the truck driver actually killed him. Is that enough reasonable doubt on a murder charge? Doesn't seem to me that there is any way to tell for sure if the two white guys killed him with their pickup or he was run over and killed by someone else.

They are certainly guilty of gross stupidity and even if someone else actually ran over him in the road I think you could make a case that they are responsible for his death. Maybe not murder but some level of homicide.