Whole Lot Different

Right wing bloggers are in a tizzy.  Why isn’t the story of Allen Coon getting the same outcry as the Trayvon Martin case?!

It is a horrific story…two young men chased after Allen, doused him with gasoline and set his head on fire (it apparently was a fireball-thankfully not a consuming fire-that left him with second degree burns).  The two young men were black, Allen white.  According to Allen, they said they were doing it specifically because he was white.  It’s a terrible story.

But the cries about why is it not getting the coverage the Martin case is getting miss the point. 

Dan Solomon addresses it very clearly:

Because it doesmatter that Allen Coon was attacked. It matters so much that the police immediately responded. They branded it ahate crime. They conducted an investigation, and put out an APB on the attackers. They treated it exactly the way that police treat crimes that matter.

So there’s no need to hold vigils for justice in the case of Allen Coon, because justice has swiftly and readily been sought by the people tasked to seek justice.

The reason people are outraged over Trayvon Martin’s shooting is not, ultimately, because a black teenager was shot. That happens all the time, frankly. What people are outraged about is that the police didn’t seem to treat it as though a crime had occurred. They don’t feel as though justice was sought on behalf of Martin or his family, andthatis why they’re outraged. This isn’t about “no child should ever be attacked and society should not rest when it happens,” because we don’t live in a world where that would be practical. It’s about the police, and the prosecutors, in Florida who failed to seek justice in any way that the people observing the case recognize as seeking justice.

In addition, nobody, and I mean nobody, is publically trying to suggest Allen is the aggressor.  Nobody is checking his school records or twitter feeds trying to prove he was a big thug of a kid.

Much of the right wing focus on the story of Trayvon Martin seems to be more about making Al Sharpton pay for past sins.  When it comes to the two men involved, oddly, they find quoting rap lyrics more damning than assaulting a police officer.  The release of his twitter feed and school records did not leave egg on the face of those demanding justice…but it makes the people who think it added anything to the discussion look like fools.

This morning, the police video does not show any sign of injury.  And all we actually had to go on was a claim from the police (not backed up by their own video) and Zimmerman’s lawyer.  There are no medical records showing he was badly beaten.  But yeah, according to Steve Sailer, the President should be embarrassed for addressing the case.