Follow-up on Carter Strange beating: prosecutor says it was robbery, not a racially motivated hate crime

David B. writes:

Here is the most detailed account of the Carter Strange beating. Strange is back home with very severe injuries.

The story has the usual talking points by law enforcement. “This was a robbery,” said 5th Judicial District Solicitor Dan Johnson. “People have made an assumption of hate crime because the victim is white and the suspects are African-American. But there is no evidence we have seen that race played a part in this.”

Surprisingly, a crew from the NBC “Today” show is due in Columbia this morning (Tuesday) to interview the Strange family.

LA replies:

It passes belief that the prosecutor would say that this was nothing more than a robbery. Obviously the extreme beating went way, way beyond a robbery. There is no limit to the lies officials and media in liberal society will tell to avoid facts that violate liberal dogma.

—end of initial entry—

Mark Jaws writes:

You make good points, Don Lorenzo, and that is, if the intent of the feral thugs were simply to rob Carter Strange, why not take his wallet and head down to the liquor store for some Colt 45? Then again, we could use the prevailing liberal “logic” and proclam that Emmet Till was not killed because he was black. He simply had the misfortune of whistling at a white woman who had a very jealous husband. Unless we can prove it, we must conclude race had nothing to do with Till’s murder.

James P. writes:

David B. wrote:

The story has the usual talking points by law enforcement. “This was a robbery,” said 5th Judicial District Solicitor Dan Johnson. “People have made an assumption of hate crime because the victim is white and the suspects are African-American. But there is no evidence we have seen that race played a part in this.”

Dan Johnson does not believe in black-on-white hate crimes? Gee, what could explain his curious blindness?

Dan Johnson

In the Matthew Shepard case, which prompted additional hate-crime legislation, the killers took Shepard’s wallet. Yet somehow the authorities never mistook this as merely a “robbery gone wrong” instead of a hate crime, even though the killers insisted they were just after money and drugs, not trying to bash a gay guy.

Hannon writes:

Your mention of the severity of the beating in the Strange case, by way of indication that this event was not merely a robbery, reminded me of something a friend told me years ago. She said that in Nairobi robbers will not simply accept an offer of a wallet or purse, but generally will beat up the victim no matter how the victim responds. Peachy, huh?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 28, 2011 11:10 AM | Send