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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFirst Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman related hate crime reported in Chicago
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tea-party-report/2012/apr/22/first-trayvon-martin-related-hate-crime-reported-c/
CHICAGO, April 22, 2012 The first Trayvon Martin-related hate crime has just been reported. Is the politically heated rhetoric surrounding the Sanford, Florida case to blame?
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But now there is a real-life casualty of the heated - some would say politically-motivated - rhetoric: a 19-year-old white hate crime victim from Chicago.
Alton Hayes, 18, of Oak Park, Illinois and a 15 year-old accomplice threatened the victim with a large tree branch and said, Empty your pockets, white boy. After pinning the victims arms to his sides, Hayes allegedly threw the 19-year-old to the ground, robbed him, and repeatedly punched him in the head and back.
Hayes told authorities he was so upset about the Trayvon Martin case he beat up the man because he was white. He has been charged with attempted robbery, aggravated battery, and a hate crime.
The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)Lord knows I always go to 'Tea Party Report' in the Moonie Times for insight into suburban Chicago police news....
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)The local paper ran a straightforward news account, of a local crime. It was headed with a picture of the adult offender.
The 'Tea Party Report' was ornamented with a picture of the offender grafted to a rally seeking the arrest of Zimmerman, who has been arrested for murder. It began with a lengthy attack on leading civil rights figures, accusing people who priotesteed that Zimmerman had not been arrested of stirring racial tensions, when of course, it was the killing of a black youth by a neighborhood bully and vigilante which has highlighted existing racial trensions. Here is a sample:
"The first Trayvon Martin-related hate crime has just been reported. Is the politically heated rhetoric surrounding the Sanford, Florida case to blame?
For weeks, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and other prominent political figures have been ratcheting up the rhetoric in the case of Trayvon Martin. Martin is the 17-year-old black teenager who was shot by volunteer neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is of white and Peruvian descent.
Critics have charged that Jackson and Sharpton have been using the Trayvon Martin case to fan the flames of U.S. racial discord and have intentionally focused their venom on the racial divisions between the white and black communities Zimmermans mixed racial heritage notwithstanding.
Last month, Jackson launched what he termed the Trayvon Martin-voter registration movement with a goal of registering 1 million voters in Florida."
Indeed, it is six paragraphs before anything about the incident headlined is disclosed.
So the problem is that a source dedicated to rightist and racist propaganda was cited, and given wider circulation. The O.P. could have looked about a bit, and found the local story, if his interest was simply in reporting the incident.
No one doubts the attack occurred, or that the idiot in question claimed the motivation he did. The idea this crime of opportunity owes to the national agitation to see Zimmerman brought to the bar of justice is open to serious question, to put it mildly.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)I guess that's the end of it.
That you know he would surely have robbed someone makes me wonder... do you know Tuesday's Mega-Millions numbers? If you do, send them to me and I promise we'll split the pie.
The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)"The chief use of reason is support of prejudice."
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)So then, you can speak to what would have happened, but not to what's going to happen?
I'm disappointed.
The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)"I should like to take you seriously, but doing so would affront your intelligence."
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)I figure about 13% of this story is true.
WillowTree
(5,325 posts)'Cause it's been all over the news in the Chicago area.
The Magistrate
(95,247 posts)That 'Tea Party Report' feature linked to is garbage.
The incident itself is simply a stupid fuck doing something stupid, and saying something even stupider when interrogated....
frazzled
(18,402 posts)I live in Chicago, and I hadn't heard of this (not to say I watch the local news that carefully everyday). But google "Alton Hayes Oak Park" and you get almost nothing in the Chicago press. You find two Fox TV news and one ABC local news, and one Oak Park Leaf (a branch of the Sun-Times) article. That's about it. Just local TV news fodder. No Tribune or mainstream Sun-Times articles even.
We have dozens of serious incidents every day, and especially every weekend here in Chicago: murders and mayhem galore. A kid waving a stick at someone and robbing them is hardly news here.
Lasher
(27,597 posts)It was published two days ago.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)kind of thing. This is a small-time story, barely noticed, with no follow-up (except by certain right-wing outlets).
Lasher
(27,597 posts)But I think it's highly unlikely that everybody there is talking about it.
The Magistrate said upthread that something from the CBS, ABC and the Chicago Trib and Sun Times would be better. I furnished a link to a Chicago Sun-Times article about the incident, noting that it was published two days ago. I implied nothing more.
You said there were no "...mainstream Sun-Times articles...". You were wrong on that point.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Arrests and charging will defuse a lot of bitterness on all sides of this. We need to stop having sides and realize that we're all on the same side of stopping brutality.
karnac
(564 posts)But not the first. Its already happened several times From LA to NYC.
Just that this idiot wanted it it to be blatantly obvious.
Somebody always want to be the first in a 'JUST' racial war.
WillowTree
(5,325 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,840 posts)Wonder if the article writers have an agenda?
Ecumenist
(6,086 posts)Ecumenist
(6,086 posts)thrown under the jail. This is one time that is that poor 19 year old had a pocket cannon, had he popped a cap in his ass, I would understand.
IndyJones
(1,068 posts)Quixote1818
(28,946 posts)And it's all Al Sharpton's fault.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)but this guy *claimed* it was for that reason. The reporters didn't make that part up.
IndyJones
(1,068 posts)way. The title could say that's what the idiot said, but it states it like it's fact...as if they really are somehow related. They aren't.
But I think we probably both agree to that.
4th law of robotics
(6,801 posts)in a sane persons opinion the Zimmerman case in no way permits racial violence.
But this guy thinks it does.
Just like the jews aren't really trying to bring down the white race, but a skin head may very well cite that as a reason for committing a hate crime against them. I don't think it's dishonest to report the criminals stated motivation for the crime.
surrealAmerican
(11,361 posts)... (and I have my doubts), then he's a stupid thug making excuses for his inexcusable actions.
Whether this is racially motivated or not, he's been caught, and charged. He's no longer a problem.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)Who's lying; the police or the Cook County State's Attorney's office? Or both?
vaberella
(24,634 posts)Regardless of his words, no one who supports Trayvon Martin supports these actions by this criminal. He attacked someone unwarranted and from what I can see he used Trayvon as an excuse for his actions---he just really wanted to rob and hurt the victim. I get the feeling if Trayvon's case was not national this fool would have done the same. At least he's been caught and will hopefully spend a long time behind bards.
surrealAmerican
(11,361 posts)... and it is The Washington Times. I suspect the author of the story is distorting or fabricating something.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)attributed to a specific person at a specific agency.
This information doesn't come from the Washington Times.
And by the way, the person at the Cook County State's Attorney's office who this is attributed to is Tandra Simonton.
http://oakpark.suntimes.com/news/12035395-418/prosecutors-trayvon-martin-case-led-to-racial-beating-in-oak-park.html
vaberella
(24,634 posts)ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Quixote1818
(28,946 posts)No mention of it being blacks they were killing in the headline at all. Interesting.
This was the only Washington Times article I could even find:
Title: 2 suspects in Oklahoma shooting rampage appear in court
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/9/2-charged-murder-tulsa-shooting-rampage/?page=all