Coalition to Stop Gun Violence loves to see racism where there is none, so I was quite skeptical when I noticed them tweet about pro-gun activists fantasizing about killing young black men. While do believe this mischaracterizes the nature of the link I followed, I’m hard pressed to argue that the article by Gabe Suarez, passed along in an informational e-mail by VCDL, isn’t racist, or is at the least injecting race into a situation where it does not need to be injected:
Nor where everyone gets along. You may in fact be totally color-blind in a socio-ethnic sort of way, but not everyone is. So even if your liberal sociology professor thinks it is a cool thing to take a stroll at midnight through a ethnically homogenous part of town (different ethnicity that you), it is still a stupid idea.
The problem here is that many of the flash mobs in Philadelphia are not taking place in “ethnically homogenous” parts of town. Some of them have taken place in parts of the City I would not ordinarily be afraid to walk. This not only injects race into an equation where it is not relevant, it detracts from the quality of the advice.
Avoid if you can. If you are standing around and see a group of twenty young urban thugs about two blocks away yelling, “kill whitey”, and lookin at your reflection in the store window, realize that you have not been in the sun in a while, here is my advice – “RUN”. If it looks like trouble, it probably is. The gang is not there to debate the effects of american corporate expansion on the development of the urban neighborhoods with you.
And who, exactly, would be yelling “kill whitey?” I seem to recall a number of victims of these flash mobs have been African American. These mobs aren’t going out and targeting whites. They are groups of feral teenagers targeting anyone who happens to look like a good targets for beating or robbing.
Suarez also suggests breaking the law if need be. While I don’t have any particular problem with Suarez offering this advice, I don’t think it’s wise for a high-profile group that’s as well-respected as VCDL forwarding on such advice to members. Whether a law is immoral enough to offer no consideration by a citizen is, in my view, a personal matter, as only an individual is capable of weighing the consequences of breaking the law versus that of obeying it. I believe gun rights groups should be wary of treading on this ground in areas where our opponents, the media, and lawmakers are watching.
And that’s really my issue with this. Suarez is certainly free to write racially laced and colorful narratives on how to deal with flash mobs. His choice of language and flashy style aside, I’m not sure there’s all that much fundamentally wrong with the advice. But I believe VCDL should have known better than to send this out to members. It’s certainly not out of line to speak of advice on how to deal with violent flash mobs, but in the entire world of self-defense training, I have a hard time believing this was the best anyone could come up with.
Like a stopped clock that’s right twice a day, CSGV is correct that Suarez’s article is racially charged, and VCDL never should have sent this out to members.
P.S. – If anyone can tell me what a “panga swinging killer” is, I’d be grateful. A Panga seems to be a fish, and urban dictionary was no help if it’s slang.
Panga is an East African tree!
http://www.african-hardwoods.com/panga/
A panga is an african weapon similar to a machete, and used for the same purposes.
Ah… an african weapon. One more racial implication.
I wonder what Suarez would think of me making some inferences about the roots of his attitudes based on his last name. Of course I’m not going to do that, because not all of us in Virginia — really, not most of us — think that way. But now more people will think we do.
Panga is also a boat manufacturer. But their name comes from the fact that it is a long skinny boat with a tall bow, making it look kinda like a machete.
IIRC some members of a recent “flash mob” in, I think, Peoria, were reported to have yelled “Kill Whitey”. Pretty sure that’s the only one, though.
So somebody might be overgeneralizing just a bit. Or as you say, just writing in the manner of an irate and ill-considered blog post. Which is not appropriate to send out in an email on behalf of your organization.
In fact, though, these “flash mobs” do seem to be happening outside “the hood” (as you mentioned) and there have been very few black victims reported. Unless the reports I’ve read are seriously wrong (and when was a news story ever NOT wrong, in part?), it does sound like “let’s go to the other people’s area and beat somebody up”. That’s not identical to yelling “kill whitey” (P.S. the mob in Peoria did not literally try to kill anybody), but it’s the same spirit of hostility toward an ethnic Other.
But all races have members who do that, or have done it in living memory. Anybody using these events to justify racism is ignoring an awful lot of history.
I think he could have worded things a lot better and it isn’t helpful that some of the things he said are borderline racist, but the fact is that the criminal flash mobs (at least in Philly – and everywhere else I’ve seen them reported) have been made up of blacks. Exclusively. This seems to be a new thing that’s going to be with us for a while, not something isolated that will fade away. It’s one of the reasons (besides taxes and general crime) that I moved out of Philly.
So yeah, he chose his words poorly. But it’s about time we stop pretending that this isn’t a black thing. Possibly a poor black thing, but definitely a black thing. Maybe we’ll hear from Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton one of these days. Or maybe not.
If the individuals comprising these ‘flash mobs’ were all wearing white sheets and hoods, I doubt you’d hear many people calling the article racist.
A panga is an African machete. It looks like this. It differs from the usual machete in having an upswept tip. Much of the violence done in Africa is inflicted with pangas.
” It’s certainly not out of line to speak of advice on how to deal with violent flash mobs, but in the entire world of self-defense training, I have a hard time believing this was the best anyone could come up with…”
Actually, it’s pretty good advice and not dissimilar to what I’ve suggested in the past. If situational awareness and avoidance fail you, you’re left with a Hobson’s choice…and, arguably, one of the worst case situations an armed civilian might ever face.
One of our failures in the self-defense community is to default to the easy scenarios — Mr. Bad Guy (or 2) assaults us in a perfectly clear-cut good guy/bad guy scenario. Unfortunately, the Real World is seldom so accommodating. Quite frankly the issue of mob violence is real, and not just in your state. There have been deaths in the case of people who responded the wrong way (ex, from a couple of years ago the man who got out of his car — a great big Major Power Factor steel box — to try and calm the crowd down).
The lethality of a crowd is in its disparity of numbers, and it is my believe that in such a situation ALL members of the mob are equally culpable. I will respond accordingly. The critical issue in a mob, BTW, is NOT ending up on the ground…if you fall or are pushed to the ground, you are far more likely to end up dead…kicked to death or trampled, you’re still ‘way dead.
That said, I don’t much care about the racial, sexual or species make-up of the mob…they could be Ewoks for all I care…all that matters is extracting me and mine with all of us unharmed.
I spent a lot of time as a journalist in riots…I covered some of the big urban riots, and I know first-hand how deadly an out-of-control crowd can be. I’ve also spent time with LEOs and military Special Forces guys with more time than me in riots, and they tend to agree with my conclusions.
BTW BTW, I’ve decided that THE BEST DEFENSE will feature a “flash mob” scenario in Season 4 2012…let’s set up the scenario and see how it runs!
Michael Bane
Gabe Suarez was never known to be a politically correct individual.
Unfortunately I really don’t think he’ll turn that reputation around any time soon. When you’re trying to distinguish yourself from the rest of the field (I don’t think I’ve seen courses like his anywhere else)…well…what can you do? It certainly toes the line though and makes him a perfect target for the collectivists.
If only he was a little softer in demeanor like Chris Costa or Travis Haley…
I greatly prefer Suarez’s advice–to fight back–to that of Glenn Beck, who says not to respond to violence. Because, you know, it’s better to let the Democrats rape your wife and molest your children than for the GOP to lose the “media cycle,” whatever the Hell that is.
Sebastian, I guess you missed the bit in the Suarez quote about the group shouting “this is a black world” as they attacked a family? While I agree Suarez is wildly overgeneralizing the flash mob phenomena here, but in that case, it’s not exactly injecting race into an irrelevant equation.
Professional commentators put a foot in their mouths often enough on race; it’s a subject best left alone by amateurs.
It seems that those foolish enough to make inappropriate statements know that they’re being stupid, since they tend to preface their foolish remarks with an apology, like the head of the Chicago PD did recently. If one feels the need to apologize in advance, that’s a clue that shouldn’t be ignored. Find a way to say it that doesn’t require an apology.
It’s very unprofessional to bring up race, or sex, politics or religion, if it’s not necessary. (I define “professionalism” as doing one’s job in such a way as to keep it.)
VCDL should take a look at who they have posting their comments. Those that I read at their site were unprofessional.
Are you thinking you’ll achieve some moral high ground if you throw Gabe Suarez under the bus in public?
My plan is to survive first, and then worry about global harmony.
I seem to recall a number of victims of these flash mobs have been African American.
Oh really? I have yet to see any African American victims of flash mobs anywhere in the USA, and I have been following this trend for over a year now.
These mobs aren’t going out and targeting whites.
These mobs certainly have not targeting other blacks though. This flash mob trend began more than a year ago, and based upon every photo and video which I have seen so far in the media, the mobs themselves seem to be entirely comprised of black youths.
I saw in one Youtube video, which was culled from a WPVI ABC 6 Action News report, that the boyfriend of the young white woman whose leg was broken in a flash mob attack about two weeks ago near Broad and Green streets in Philadelphia, appears to be of Indian ancestry. Here is the link for this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6w10B5p3jg
The young woman whose leg was broken by the flash mob is Emily Guendelsberger. She’s a potty-mouth libtard type who edits for the Onion, a satirical news outfit. She’s apparently the type who would likely have nothing nice to say about those of us who support the Second Amendment. Here is Ms. Guendelsberger’s Twitter page:
http://twitter.com/#!/emilygee
Although she had to be hospitalized as a result, Ms. Guendelsberger has been feverishly writing much as of late to downplay the racial angle of the vicious assault which she fell victim to, since admitting as such would completely undermine her liberal sensibilities.
@Michael Bane – that would be awesome. TBD is one of the few DVD sets I own.
“panga swinging killer†???
Definiton been said already, but try bing “panja swahili”, “panga war”, “panga kenya”
Last one, first hit, “KENYA: Panga War” (Time, 1952),
…
Striking from the great morose forests of the Aberdare Range, Mau Mau terrorists last week hacked an elderly Briton to pieces as he sat in his evening tub. A quick chop of the pangas and all his fingers were gone. In the port of Mombasa, supposedly awed by the guns of a British cruiser, a British marine was stabbed.
…
Arriving in Kenya last week to make a big-game movie, U.S. Cinemactor Clark Gable boldly announced that he wasn’t going to worry about Mau Mau terrorism. But Kenya’s 30,000 whites, who have been around a little longer, are frankly worried. They are slowly beginning to realize that the Kenya of the movies, of pink gins and polo and unchallenged white supremacy, is gone for good.
…
CLEARLY RACIST
I’d always ignored/laughed at Suarez as a huckster. Having a hard time getting worked up over him being a dumbass in public again. [shrug]
Pssst:
Obama’s Dad Dad was Mau Mau
The Department of Peace expresses in the most doublepluss terms how doublebad some statements are. Truefacts must not be stated in Oldspeak. Further infractions will be brought to the attention of the Department of Love for mandatory Reeducation.
I didn’t know what a panga was. Searching for ‘panga’ came back with boats and fish, but searching for ‘panga knife’ has lots of hits. Strange how search engines work.
I don’t have a problem with anything Gabe had to say. These flash mobs are in fact exclusively black, and they are for the most part out to terrorize white people. It’s so obviously true that you have to go through painful mental contortions to pretend otherwise.
And let’s be honest: it’s also true that many gun owners wouldn’t mind exploiting the opportunity to shoot a few zombies.
I was having dinner on South street a year or two ago when one of these flash mobs broke out. Luckily, I was able to walk down a side street to avoid the mob. It’s easy to thump your chest over the internet about what you would do in that situation, but I can tell you that it never even occured to me to reach for my pistol.
Druid Said,
“Pssst:
Obama’s Dad Dad was Mau Mau”
Obama’s supposed dad.
Since there is no known proof his mother and Obama Sr. were ever legally married, or actually lived together even, we are not sure of that ‘fact’.
It could also be the reason he has yet to release a real birth certificate, it might name someone other than his purported ‘father’!
After all, several of the cases demanding to see Obama’s BC were dismissed with judges citing “It would cause embarrassment to the president” if they were to proceed.
Public disclosure that your “father” is not really your father would be pretty embarrassing would it not?
AGNTSA……
These flash mobs are in fact exclusively black, and they are for the most part out to terrorize white people.
Thank you! Somebody here besides me is willing to speak this ugly truth.
If 100’s of white teenagers and white twenty-somethings had been terrorizing blacks and/or latinos in the streets and at public gatherings, such as state fairs, over these last two years all across these United States, Eric “my people” Holder would have set up federal task forces and indicted scores of people on federal civil rights and “hate crimes” charges already, and the MSM would have been editorializing and pontificating on this issue ad nauseum non-stop. But, since this disturbing crime trend involves just blacks as the perpetrators, and mostly just whites as the victims, too many of us on the sidelines want to pretend that there is nothing to even discuss on this issue. It’s like a real life version of that “Emperor’s New Clothes” fable for kids, but only weirder. (And scarier.)
Check this out:
http://violentflashmobs.com/
I should have known a site like this one would get made eventually.
I didn’t know what SWPLish meant, so I had to look it up, but I’ll take it as a compliment, thanks. I am certainly not the kind of person who would use or accept the term “Jewrab“