Now the animals (a.k.a. “students”) are taking their animalistic rivalries into subway cars

The story is reported in the September 20 Philadelphia Inquirer. Note, in the bolded phrases in my below copy of the article, the unintentionally humorous effects that obtain when a concept arising from human civilization, in this case “student,”—the original meaning of which is “a learned person, especially in the humanities; someone who by long study has gained mastery in one or more disciplines”—is applied to creatures who, it must be said, are below the level of savages. Why do I say they are below the level of savages? Savages, as wild as they are, still operate according to a tribal code. They treat members of other tribes savagely (when American Indians captured someone from another tribe, they would subject him to horrible tortures for weeks), but not members of their own tribe. But when the creatures in today’s urban America get into a fight they aim violence indiscriminately in all directions, wounding, killing, or crippling anyone who happens to be in their vicinity. This makes them lower than savages. Since the three known stages of human development are, in descending order, civilization, barbarism, and savagery, we don’t yet have an agreed-upon word for the stage of development to which today’s urban denizens belong. However, the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan came closest to articulating the problem when he famously remarked that, among certain demographic groups in contemporary America, we seem to be witnessing “speciation.”

Here is the article:

A fight among students from rival schools exploded as someone fired gunshots into a crowded subway car on the Broad Street Line in North Philadelphia, police said, injuring two teenagers and causing panic among passengers.

A 17-year-old who was hit in an arm and a 14-year-old who was shot in a leg were taken to Temple University Hospital, where they were in stable condition within hours of the shooting, police said. It was unclear whether they were the intended targets, police said.

At least one teenager was taken into custody, but police said they were still searching for the gunman. Investigators were reviewing surveillance footage and talking with witnesses.

A police source said the fight was among students from Simon Gratz High School, Samuel Fels High School, and John F. Hartranft, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school.

Courtney Collins-Shapiro, an executive with Mastery Charter Schools, … said officials had been keeping a close eye on safety at Gratz recently.

“There have been a lot of rumors and tension in the neighborhood for the last week, and we’ve been on high alert at the school,” Collins-Shapiro said. She said Gratz administrators had implemented a “Safe Corridors” program, escorting students to buses and subways.

SEPTA [Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority] Transit Police Chief Thomas Nestel said authorities believed the shooter was a high school student.

“It’s certainly the assumption we’re making, that this is high school kids, but we don’t know,” he said….

The after-school commuter rush was in full swing when mayhem began shortly before 2 p.m. near Broad and Dauphin Streets. Students crowded onto the southbound subway cars, jostling and arguing. When the train pulled into the Susquehanna-Dauphin station in North Philadelphia, a male fired a gun from the platform into the car, which was packed, mostly with teenage students.

Passengers began screaming and running for safety, police said. Officers tracked one of the teenagers running from the scene to nearby Carlisle Street and took him into custody for questioning, Nestel said.

While police were investigating underground, juveniles in gray high school uniforms were led out of the subway and into SEPTA Transit Police cars. It was unclear whether the youths were witnesses.

“This is an issue of the kids choosing to act like young adults,” Nestel said. “They’re not, and until they do, the School District and the police will be giving them lots of added attention.”

Terry Starks of Philadelphia CeaseFire, a violence-reduction program, said he would be visiting one victim at the hospital.

“I’m the first person he is going to see when he wakes up,” Starks said.

- end of initial entry -

James P. writes:

We can’t blame the press for using a concise term - “students” - instead of the longer if more accurate formulation - “drug-crazed, heavily armed, savage, animalistic, white-hating, black gang members who have no regard for human life, not even their own”!

After all, it’s not like the press is deliberately distorting the truth or anything.

Paul K. writes:

Perhaps you can make sense of the following statement by SEPTA Transit Police Chief Thomas Nestel. I have interspersed my comments.

“This is an issue of the kids choosing to act like young adults. [Does this mean that “kids” are too young to shoot up the subway, they should wait until they’re young adults?] They’re not, and until they do [do what?], the School District and the police will be giving them lots of added attention.”

Good to know we have such steel-trap minds working on the problem.

LA replies:

I don’t think the statement is as incoherent as you are suggesting. Nestel means that at present the kids are NOT acting like young adults, and that until they do act like young adults, they will have to be supervised carefully.

However, Nestel is not yet out of the woods, since his remark, as correctly translated by me, still leaves the clear implication that anyone not yet a young adult, i.e., a kid, must be expected to fire deadly weapons indiscriminately in a subway car.

Matthew H. writes:

Thank you for the reminder of why I no longer venture into my local metropolis, Philadelphia. The story reminds me of a recent episode.

Our family are members of a statewide organization which periodically holds functions at various more or less convenient locations around the state which participating families are expected to attend. It happens that the nearest venue to us is Temple University. Because of my work I can’t go. So, either my wife and kids drive there (about a half hour trip) or they take the train, which would be much more convenient because they would not have to park the car in the city. More convenient, that is, except for the fact that taking the train means taking the Broad Street Line to Temple University, smack in the middle of what is arguably the worst black urban dead zone (BUDZ) in the nation.

So instead we have decided they will attend the next closest venue, which is a three hour round trip by car. But it’s well worth it to avoid having to go to North Philly. Of course, there was never any question of their going anywhere near Temple to begin with, so that option may as well not have existed.

Now, consider the aggregate cost across the entire economy of all the similar work-arounds we are forced to do to evade black savagery, not to mention the cultural loss we have suffered by allowing our once magnificent cities to turn into no-go areas because of black crime.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 21, 2012 12:12 PM | Send