Racism or pattern recognition?

[tpeichel]

I am debating on whether or not I need to warn my children about avoiding groups of black teenagers. I would have never considered it back in my college days at an elite liberal arts institution, but it is getting hard to ignore all the reports of assaults, murders and rapes by groups of black teens.

There was a recent gang rape near me in Wilmington, DE.
http://www.delawareonline.com/articl...lmington-rapes

There was the murder of the Aussie baseball player.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1438202

Here's a white woman that was attacked by a group of black girls in Pittsburgh.
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/woman-...e-says-/nZfFy/

This one was interesting since they attacked a guy who defended himself with a knife and the attacker ended up dead.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/black-mob...the-wrong-guy/

Apparently, these groups of black teens are playing a game called "The Knockout Game", or "Polar Bear Hunting", etc where they pick a target and attack them. The WSJ had an article about the game.

http://online.wsj.com/article/APa2d6...67abf4dda.html

Knockout-- the game a group of teenagers in Syracuse allegedly played that resulted in the violent, random death of a 51-year-old man-- has been a national phenomenon for at least a decade. Reports of the game have surfaced in states, such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois. In Missouri, a special police squad and prosecutor were assigned to battle the problem. The game there has been characterized in news reports as "almost contagious," with endings that mirror the incident in Syracuse on May 23.

That night, a group of teenagers attempting to knock Michael Daniels out with a single punch wound up beating and stomping him to death, according to police. A 15-year-old and a 13-year-old have been arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter, and Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said more arrests may come.

The 15-year-old will be prosecuted in criminal court. The 13-year-old will be dealt with during closed proceedings in Onondaga County Family Court. The Associated Press is withholding the names of the accused because they are juveniles.

Fowler said his department was currently investigating at least four other instances of people being attacked in a similar manner.
While this appears to be the first "knockout game" killing in Syracuse, other reports of the "knockout game" phenomenon detail much of the same: The perpetrators are usually teens, the attacks are random, and the goal is to knock a victim unconscious with a single punch.
If one player doesn't succeed in knocking out the victim, others join in to finish the job.
An editorial in the St. Louis paper in 2011 likened the game to behavior described in "A Clockwork Orange."
In 1992, police in Cambridge, Mass., said three drunken teenagers decided to play "knockout" and randomly targeted an MIT student, according to news reports. After the student was knocked to the ground, a 16-year-old stabbed the victim to death as he tried to get up.
The defendant in that case, Shon McHugh, was sentenced as a juvenile to 20 years in prison.
In another recent case involving the "knockout game," 20-year-old Elex Murphy was sentenced to 55 years in prison for the killing of a 72-year-old man in St. Louis.
At a May 3 sentencing, Murphy's lawyer asked a judge to consider that the "knockout game" had been played for years by countless teens before the deadly instance involving Murphy's victim, according to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Another article from the St. Louis paper noted that at least half a dozen people in the city had been randomly targeted and injured by players of the game. There, the mayor happened upon a victim of the "knockout game" and called for juveniles to be tried as adults. A special police squad was assigned to investigate the crimes and a prosecutor was designated to handle the cases. The St. Louis police chief was quoted calling the crimes a "trend of sub-human behavior."
In Syracuse, Mayor Stephanie Miner echoed the sentiment. At the news conference Thursday, she said recent violence in the city had been generated by a "lack of humanity as we understand it."

Having a talk with my kids where I lay out the potential dangers with groups of black teens really sucks, but it seems negligent on my part as a parent not to impart this information. It goes against everything we are taught in the U.S. growing up and I wish things were different. Unfortunately, I cannot change what seems to be a new reality.

[ajbrinn]

Sometimes its better safe and labeled as something your not then end up labeled as dead. Personally I would be aware of any group of teens regardless, these days they have no respect for life maybe its time we start treating them like the adults they want to be and executing them for their deadly crimes.

[tpeichel]

Sometimes its better safe and labeled as something your not then end up labeled as dead. Personally I would be aware of any group of teens regardless, these days they have no respect for life maybe its time we start treating them like the adults they want to be and executing them for their deadly crimes.

Maybe, if anyone sees any stories about groups of white teens assaulting, murdering, or raping I'd be interested to see it.

[ajcorleone]

Nothing wrong with educating your children on all possible dangers.

[Rockman]

I am debating on whether or not I need to warn my children about avoiding groups of black teenagers. I would have never considered it back in my college days at an elite liberal arts institution, but it is getting hard to ignore all the reports of assaults, murders and rapes by groups of black teens.

There was a recent gang rape near me in Wilmington, DE.
http://www.delawareonline.com/articl...lmington-rapes

There was the murder of the Aussie baseball player.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1438202

Here's a white woman that was attacked by a group of black girls in Pittsburgh.
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/woman-...e-says-/nZfFy/

This one was interesting since they attacked a guy who defended himself with a knife and the attacker ended up dead.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/black-mob...the-wrong-guy/

Apparently, these groups of black teens are playing a game called "The Knockout Game", or "Polar Bear Hunting", etc where they pick a target and attack them. The WSJ had an article about the game.

http://online.wsj.com/article/APa2d6...67abf4dda.html

Knockout-- the game a group of teenagers in Syracuse allegedly played that resulted in the violent, random death of a 51-year-old man-- has been a national phenomenon for at least a decade. Reports of the game have surfaced in states, such as Massachusetts, New Jersey and Illinois. In Missouri, a special police squad and prosecutor were assigned to battle the problem. The game there has been characterized in news reports as "almost contagious," with endings that mirror the incident in Syracuse on May 23.

That night, a group of teenagers attempting to knock Michael Daniels out with a single punch wound up beating and stomping him to death, according to police. A 15-year-old and a 13-year-old have been arrested and charged with first-degree manslaughter, and Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler said more arrests may come.

The 15-year-old will be prosecuted in criminal court. The 13-year-old will be dealt with during closed proceedings in Onondaga County Family Court. The Associated Press is withholding the names of the accused because they are juveniles.

Fowler said his department was currently investigating at least four other instances of people being attacked in a similar manner.
While this appears to be the first "knockout game" killing in Syracuse, other reports of the "knockout game" phenomenon detail much of the same: The perpetrators are usually teens, the attacks are random, and the goal is to knock a victim unconscious with a single punch.
If one player doesn't succeed in knocking out the victim, others join in to finish the job.
An editorial in the St. Louis paper in 2011 likened the game to behavior described in "A Clockwork Orange."
In 1992, police in Cambridge, Mass., said three drunken teenagers decided to play "knockout" and randomly targeted an MIT student, according to news reports. After the student was knocked to the ground, a 16-year-old stabbed the victim to death as he tried to get up.
The defendant in that case, Shon McHugh, was sentenced as a juvenile to 20 years in prison.
In another recent case involving the "knockout game," 20-year-old Elex Murphy was sentenced to 55 years in prison for the killing of a 72-year-old man in St. Louis.
At a May 3 sentencing, Murphy's lawyer asked a judge to consider that the "knockout game" had been played for years by countless teens before the deadly instance involving Murphy's victim, according to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Another article from the St. Louis paper noted that at least half a dozen people in the city had been randomly targeted and injured by players of the game. There, the mayor happened upon a victim of the "knockout game" and called for juveniles to be tried as adults. A special police squad was assigned to investigate the crimes and a prosecutor was designated to handle the cases. The St. Louis police chief was quoted calling the crimes a "trend of sub-human behavior."
In Syracuse, Mayor Stephanie Miner echoed the sentiment. At the news conference Thursday, she said recent violence in the city had been generated by a "lack of humanity as we understand it."

Having a talk with my kids where I lay out the potential dangers with groups of black teens really sucks, but it seems negligent on my part as a parent not to impart this information. It goes against everything we are taught in the U.S. growing up and I wish things were different. Unfortunately, I cannot change what seems to be a new reality.

This post is so beyond offensive it's sad. Look no further than the fact that in one of the articles you cited (The Aussie baseball player) one of the teens is a white male, but lets just ignore that. You can find countless tales of gangs of young and white males (or any race/ethnicity for that matter) raping or murdering someone.

Instead of making a post about the youth of the country/adolescent crimes or even looking at how the socioeconomic upbringing of these kids, or the home-life, or a number of other factor's, you reduce it to only race.

Bravo sirs. You have all supported one of the most ignorant posts ever posted on this forum.

[habsheaven]

Rockman - exactly what I was thinking. It isn't about race as much as it is about poverty. If you want to warn your kids about the dangers of society that is fine, but you are doing them a disservice if you do not provide them with the proper information.

[MadMan1978]

I dont like the direction of this thread
Closing this