Quanell X Should Be Prosecuted

We must recognize, once and for all, that Quanell X’s grandiose street confrontation acts that stoke fear and racial tension are nothing more than a malignant contribution to the public discourse. Because now, he has become more than just the boisterous farce that Houstonians have come to know- his latest comments and actions are cause for prosecution.

To be honest, vast numbers of people are already well-aware that Quanell’s rhetoric is not to be taken seriously. There is perhaps no better example of why than his demand that Nike and Michael Jordan lower the prices of Air Jordan sneakers last Christmas. This one incident explains quite a lot. First and foremost, it shows that he lacks even a grade-schooler’s comprehension of pricing, or the supply and demand that dictates it. Secondly, his making demands to a legendary sports figure and a globally successful business shows the insane level of egotism he harbors. But most importantly, it shows that he is so blinded by the belief that the black community is the perpetual victim of society that he cannot even come close to a proper assessment of blame. It’s not the black community’s fault that its members are committing violence to attain these sneakers, as a sensible person might clearly understand it to be. No, it’s the fact that the shoes are so damn expensive. And Nike and Michael Jordan must be held accountable, despite their obvious innocence.

But for the most part, up to this point, it has just been words. Stupid, stupid words. But in the aftermath of a verdict of “not guilty” in the trial of HPD officer Andrew Blomberg, his choices and his words have a much more dangerous effect.

Mayor Annise Parker issued a stern warning to Quanell and local news outlets to not release the surveillance footage of Chad Holley being forcefully arrested by HPD officers. She, as any reasonable person might, understands that the footage is better suited to be appraised in the court of law rather than in the court of public opinion that is apt to make premature and emotional decisions. But Quanell, unequipped with reason, has chosen to release the footage, and has thereby created an environment of racial tension that is potentially explosive.

And that wasn’t enough. Quanell then sought to spark that explosion.

When asked how he would view riots or violence in the wake of this verdict, he replied, “Whatever the community response is, I believe it’s appropriate.” He is an influential public figure, and he has advocated violence as civil disobedience that he would condone. Effectively, he is calling for riots. This is a crime that compromises the safety of Houston’s citizens and businesses.

To put the nature of this comment in context, imagine that its equivalent left the mouth of local radio personality Michael Berry, who is routinely lambasted for virulent and vitriolic rhetoric. Imagine that he advocated violence against the Occupy Houston protestors that have defiled our public grounds and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Would the outcry against the use of his influence to incite violence be so deafeningly silent? Absolutely not- he would be the subject of scorn and campaigns to prosecute him.

What is the difference? Why is there an underlying cultural acceptance of calls to violence when it is believed that it can be attributed to black persecution and the subsequent rage? We witnessed this travesty in the public indifference to the violent rhetoric of the New Black Panthers in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting, and it is one that we now witness in the public indifference to the incendiary rhetoric of our very own Quanell X.

William Sullivan

Assessing the Racial Hatred at KC's East High

Selwyn Duke at American Thinker offers a startling and absolutely dreadful glimpse inside this Kansas City school where a white child was doused with gasoline and immolated last week. The two assailants were black, and were reported to have been saying, "That's what you deserve, white boy!"

Selwyn Duke reports, based upon documented interviews:

While this crime is making headlines, Coon [mother of child that was attacked] states that it was merely the horrible culmination of continual racial harassment her son had to endure at East High... I've learned that Coon's son is not alone. Other white students also report a pattern of racial harassment at the high school at the hands of their peers -- and, shockingly, their teachers.

Two of these victims were the twin 14-year-old daughters (first names withheld upon request) of Karin Wildeisen. Ever since their family relocated from Texas, they had endured racial animosity in the Kansas City school system and inappropriate behavior by staff, which included teachers laughing while boys humiliatingly manhandled the girls and a teacher slapping one of them on the backside. But there was far worse to come.

The twins started coming home and talking about the goings-on in an advanced-English class taught by a teacher Wildeisen identifies as Ms. Veda Monday. Wildeisen said that her daughters told her, "There are four white kids in the class; they are being targeted racially"[...]

One day, Monday allegedly showed an explicit film involving portrayals of whites lynching blacks and then, reports ex-Texan Wildeisen, "in front of the class attacked my daughters, telling them that 'everybody from Texas is ignorant rednecks'" and that all white people were "responsible for Jasper because [their] skin is white." This reference is to an atrocity in Jasper, TX, in which three white men murdered a black man in 1998.

This is far from the only example of the staff's propensity to instill racial hatred, and I would definitely suggest reading the whole thing, found here. But what really caught my attention was this bit:

Melissa Coon had been complaining to the school's administration about her son's harassment repeatedly -- only to be ignored and stonewalled -- repeatedly. At one point an administrator told her that her son could have a transfer only to another district school but said that Allen would have "more problems there" and that he should stay at more "racially diverse" East High (which has no more than 20 white students).

This administrator admits, and accepts wholesale, the notion that a white child will be the target of racial hate when surrounded by black students. I'm not saying he agrees that a white child should be the target of racial hate when surrounded by black students. I'm saying that the administrator is confessing that a white student being the target of racial hate when surrounded by black students is a reasonable expectation, and if the child were to become more outnumbered by blacks, he would be in greater danger.

This blows my mind. I went to school in New Caney, TX, among the "ignorant rednecks" this teacher described. We had a very small minority of black students when I attended (the exact number unknown, but less than 10 among 1600 or so students). Not once do I recall any organized racism against any one among them by either students or faculty. The irony, of course, being that we "ignorant rednecks" are far more tolerant than the "English" instructor that teaches her students hate rather than prose.

Yet we have become numb to the indifference by the media and the Department of Justice in reporting and prosecuting cases of black-on-white violence. There is something sinister in America today, and deeper than we want to believe. East High in Kansas City is the proof. There, racial hate is organized among students and faculty and is acceptable classroom material. And the administration even seems keenly aware that the ratio of black to white students is a metric used to set expectations of violence and hate, such that the more white students are outnumbered by blacks, the more likely they can expect such things.

Yet all of this had flown under the radar until two black kids poured gasoline on a white kid and set him on fire.

But sadly, this incident, too, will likely be short-lived in the public discourse. Mr. Eric Holder of the DOJ once said America's refusal to address issues of race makes us "a nation of cowards." You are right, Mr. Holder. And if you choose not to prosecute this case and investigate these incidents, count you among the most cowardly.

William Sullivan