A photo that appeared on Craigslist of a black teen that was captioned “Slave for Sale” has set off an hysterical frenzy in the town of Naperville, Ill., as the prosecutor has charged the young man who posted the photo with a hate crime.
White supremacists run amok in the suburbs of Chicago? A racist kid planning to shoot up a school? Not exactly. You see, the young man who posted the photo and the kid in the picture are friends. And what surely began as an insensitive joke has now morphed into a criminal investigation.
For racialists, there’s no such thing as a sense of humor, even though the “joke” was in extremely poor taste. But if “poor taste” was a criminal offense, think of how many liberals would be in prison right now?
The school, for once, appeared to handle the situation properly.
Prosecutors allege the white Naperville Central High School freshman also included “an offensive racial slur” in the ad that they called “beyond disturbing.” The teen’s defense attorney counters the students were friends and school authorities are handling the matter with an apology and suspension.
Authorities didn’t disclose the teen’s name because he’s a juvenile.
In my day, the dean of students would have told the two kids to hug each other, apologize, and that would have been the end of it. But what chance would that have given the race warriors to over-emote and demonstrate outrage?
Assistant State’s Attorney Lee Roupas said the teen took the photo last week while the two sat at the same lunch table. Prosecutors describe the allegations as “serious and aggravating,” and said the actions risked the safety of the victim.
“Hate crimes have no place in our society and will not be tolerated,” the county’s State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin said in a statement. “Anyone, regardless of age, accused of such disgraceful actions will be charged accordingly.”
“This was a despicable and extremely offensive post that is not at all reflective of the caring, welcoming community that our department serves and protects every day,” Naperville Police Chief Robert Marshall said in a statement quoted by CBS Chicago.
“Despicable”? Sure. “Extremely offensive”? Matter of opinion but, OK.
But is it criminal? When anything and everything having to do with race is morbidly exaggerated, it’s worse than criminal; it’s insensitive. Was the black kid’s safety at risk? There are scenarios where a frothing-at-the-mouth white nationalist saw the picture and took it seriously, and now that the cops have made a huge deal out of this, someone looking to kill someone in the news might get the idea of becoming famous himself.
But in the realm of the hyper-sensitive race warriors, those far-fetched fantasies are possible.
The reaction of authorities may have something to do with an incident that occurred at a local Buffalo Wild Wings outlet.
She was part of a group of 12 children and six adults who went to Buffalo Wild Wings in Naperville on Saturday after the children’s basketball game.
In the post, Vahl claims a Buffalo Wild Wings employee told her husband, Justin, that two diners — a man and woman who they were told regularly frequent the restaurant — didn’t want to sit next to the group of 18 ‘because he’s “racist.”‘ The group of 18 was multiracial.
The employee seated the group at two tables not far the couple. Shortly after, Mary claims another Buffalo Wild Wings employee approached the adults in the party to say a seating mistake had been made and their tables were reserved for another group. The group left soon after.
The couple was “racist” because they didn’t want to sit next to a group of 12 pre-teen kids coming back from a basketball game? Are they kidding?
Buffalo Wild Wings fired the employees involved for giving the race warriors an excuse to criticize them.
I believe in being sensitive and empathetic to everyone. But being insensitive is not criminal behavior and acting in poor taste is not a crime. Trying to make it so only makes advocates look like idiots.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member