Marilyn Mosby said she is dropping all charges against the six Baltimore Police officers in the custody death of Freddie Gray. In the press conference she sounded like a petulant child who was caught out doing bad, and so blames everybody else instead. “Systemic issues,” she said. I think a voice of humility, noble humility,…
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From the Times: Two teenagers were killed and at least 18 people were wounded early Monday when attackers raked a crowd with gunfire outside a nightclub here that had been hosting a party for young people, the authorities said. Sound familiar? Yeah, because it is. But this isn’t even the main story of the day.…
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John McWhorter wrote this article about race and racial discourse. I doubt most readers here subscribe to the Chronicle of Higher Education. It’s behind a paywall, and you can’t access it back-door style through google. So though this excerpt doesn’t really do his whole argument justice, it’s better than nothing: After the horrific shootings in…
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From the New York Times: “Riding along with officers illuminated fears they confront, compassionate gestures from the public after two recent ambushes against the police, and varied responses to the Black Lives Matter movement.”
On July 22, 168 years ago, Thomas Lynch was the first police officer in America (at least best I can tell) to be fatally injured in the line of duty: Patrolman Lynch responded to 16 Dover street after receive a report of a large dispute. As he tried to mediate the dispute, he was struck…
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[Note: I wrote this back in March. It never ran. It’s no longer even relevant, since the Supreme Court ruled in June (Voisine v. United States) that you can lose your right to own a gun over a misdemeanor conviction. But I still thought I’d let it see the light of day.] On February 22,…
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The Atlantic has a fun guess-the-homicide-rate-over-timegame! Turns out I’m really good at this game. But I shouldn’t boast; I have no excuse not to do well. I show this chart literally half a dozen times in each and every class I teach. What I don’t like is how dismissive they are of the current increase…
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“As long as I got my hands up, they’re not going to shoot me. This is what I’m thinking. Wow. Was I wrong.” What the f*ck? Charles Kinsey is almost obscenely complaint. And unarmed. Does anybody have a link to a video that shows the moment he’s shot? I’d like to see it. But unless…
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My alma mater sent this out to their graduate-student mailing list. From: W. Rochelle Calhoun [rochelle.calhoun@PRINCETON.EDU] Sent: Friday, July 08, 2016 2:44 PM To: allgs@Princeton.EDU Subject: Letter from Vice President Calhoun and Deans Dolan and Kulkarni Dear Princeton Students, Within the past few days, we have been faced with the tragic deaths of Alton Sterling…
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This past week John McWhorter and I were both (separately) on Bloggingheads.tv with Glenn Loury to talk about race and all the recent shootings. McWhorter emphasized race as a factor of those shot by police and: challenged those who disagree to present a list of white people killed within the past few years under circumstances…
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