White Girl Bleed a Lot (33 page)

53) “A lot of it is about education.”

That has to be close to a world record for excuse density. I just shipped the transcript off to Guinness. I’ll let you know.

Let’s go back to the Baltimore guy:

54–55) “There are a number of issues including boredom. I think someone mentioned the excitement of the moment. And that can carry a person through.”

56) “When asked afterward, they have a considerable amount of remorse.”

57–59) “We see this in a lot of cases of soccer games and national championships, people let down their guard and do a lot of things they would not do otherwise.”

Cue the former FBI guy, Michael Tabman:

60–64) “Teenagers don’t make the best decisions. They like to take on authority and do what is not expected of them. They are contrarian. These kids are very empowered by the mob and into the highest levels of government.”

65–66) “These are kids. They are not thinking this out.”

67–72) “It might not be a violent criminal. It might just be immature to cope with boredom and look big and bold in front of their friends. So I agree we need ‘it takes a village,’ just like we need in gun control.”

Of course the HuffPo commenters are useful as well:

73) “Lack of opportunity is the root cause.”

74–75) “Violence and crime are directionally correlated to wealth and income disparity. When there is not opportunity, there will be crime.

76–77) “These are the consequences of a materialistic, corporate-driven culture … deal with it.”

78) “The flash mob is a physical manifestation of the anonymity people feel they have online.”

79–81) “If you were never a teen, and never pulled off pranks or even misdemeanors in your youth, then by all means let’s gun them down! But otherwise …”

82) “Walmart deserves to be flash robbed.”

83) “Stealing jeans in a store?? I’ll take that over an Aurora [Colorado] teen killing everyone in a theater …”

84–87) “The phenomenon of herd mentality is powerful and dangerous. And it happens everywhere, not just with teens and the Internet. It’s happening right now in our government.”

88) “Like streaking in the 70s this is a fad that will pass.”

89–90) Let’s protect our corporate culture at all costs. And Repubs not passing any job creation legislation.”

90–91) “I just think it’s so overblown. … I have more issues with assault weapons loose on our streets.”

92) “We are raising kids in a materialistic society.”

93) Talk about THEFT = $ flow of taxes.

94) Well, McDonalds only has so many openings. You know, with adults with degrees filling the positions.

95) Corporate Culture reaps what it sows. … You want teenagers in your stores? Well, here they are!!!

96) More SKATEBOARD PARKS!!!

97) Hail to the Corporate Machine that feeds the shallow ego
of our teens! More sneakers! More iPhones!

98–99) It is a risk--reward thing with teens. They like risky activity. They can do an even riskier activity for a more intense rush afterwards if they get together and do it this way.

Hip hop giant Dr. Dre did not appear on this broadcast of HuffPo Live. But his explanation is probably the most popular, because it appears on one of the best-selling hip hop recordings of all time,
The Chronic
:

100) “When niggas get together, they get mad.”

On the talk radio show my brother and I host, as well as in frequent media appearances around the country, I probably hear more excuses than most. But more and more I get the feeling that even the most ardent apologist is getting tired of offering the same old excuses for the same old behavior.

Watch the video of HuffPo live. You tell me.

Smile for the camera, thugs.

W
e have come to the “we are good kids never did anything bad like this before, but, yes, that is me on the video robbing that store” part of the book. As I mentioned in
chapter 18
, the National Retail Federation reported that 10 percent of retail stores in America were victims of flash robs in 2011, some several times. That is a lot of robbing, and I’m sure a lot of it was caught on video. Unfortunately, I only have room to give you a dozen or so examples.
¹

“Flash robs,” hordes of black people looting retail outlets that are so prevalent in the rest of the country, have taken a peculiar twist in Atlanta. Since 2008 several gangs of people have been videotaped in late night smash-and-grab robberies involving cars, jewelry, clothing, and eyeglasses.
In 2009 at one optical store, thieves made off with an estimated $50,000 in designer eyeglass frames said store owner Ghazal Sabeti Tabrizipour. “It’s the same guys every time, in a gray van parked in front of the store,” Tabrizipour said. “They come in and smash all the glass. They know exactly what to go for.”
²

In 2010 thieves “pulled off a pair of smash-and-grab burglaries…. [They] rammed a Ford Taurus through the entrance to the Focus Clothing Store downtown, ransacked the shop, and escaped with $50,000 worth of designer jeans.” Police arrested nine gang members. All were black.
³

The
Wall Street Journal
ran a story on flash robs in October 2011. In it I dutifully informed its readers that the crimes were not random, but were part of the growing trend of race violence. Some of the readers called me names. Not good ones either, in case you were wondering. Others asked the same question I did: Why is it so hard for some people to talk about this (without calling people names, that is)? The reporters who call people names deserve their own chapter. Either way, I feel it’s my responsibility to point out the obvious, so let’s take a stroll down Flash Rob Lane.
⁴

Why not start at Dunkin’ Donuts in Greenwich Village? In 2011 just after eight o’clock at night, a mob of black people terrorized the doughnut shop. They rushed in and did lots of damage. They threw chairs around, smashed a hot chocolate machine, and stole sweets out of the case. It all happened in a matter of minutes and no cash was taken from the register. The local ABC affiliate reported that
“what happened at the Dunkin’ Donuts is just the latest in a string of incidents in the Village.”
⁵

The “swarm mob” rampage was caught on video.

Down in Washington, D.C., a mob decided to have a party at G-Star Raw. Nineteen black people walked into the high-end clothing store. They searched for their sizes, grabbed the clothes, and then just left. Madison Avenue likes the gangster brands. They just don’t like it when people actually act like gangsters.

“It happened in broad daylight,” reported the local CBS affiliate. “In just a matter of minutes, thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes were stolen. … The manager of G-Star Raw, who did not want to talk on camera, said he’s heard from other store managers in Washington that flash mob robberies are becoming increasingly common.”
⁶

Over in the City of Brotherly Love back in 2011, forty blacks decided to turn a local Sears into their own personal closet. The young black people organized the event on Twitter. They all took a train to the store (because they were too young to drive), brazenly strolled right in, and started robbing the place. It was fast. They grabbed sneakers, socks, of course, and watches. In and out.
⁷

My favorite city in the world is Las Vegas. The casinos are always trying to entice you with free stuff. But I don’t think this is what they had in mind. In May 2011 twenty black people stormed a convenience store and grabbed whatever they could find. Fox News contributor Dr. Keith Ablow said, “It takes time to realize what is going on.” The manager tried to chase them out of the store, and might have succeeded if one of the hoodlums hadn’t pulled a gun. That’s when the group came back for seconds, and the manager fled the scene. Local cops issued a warning to clerks: Don’t resist.
⁸

This may have been a flash rob gone wrong. We’re not sure. In March 2011 as shoppers were browsing the store at seven o’clock in the evening, a group of black people began fighting. Maybe two girls grabbed the same shirt before they made a mad dash for the exit. We just don’t know what started it. What we do know, though, is that the teens were charged with reckless endangerment and destruction of property for, among other things, knocking the head off a mannequin wearing a “Not Violence” T-shirt.
⁹