For Black College Students, Acting Like A College Student Can Be A Death Sentence

[KamaAina]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-college-kids-dont-get-to-be-kids_55c7aa61e4b0f1cbf1e55819

Future President George W. Bush was arrested for his shenanigans. Eventually, the disorderly conduct charges against him were dropped and his only punishment was apologizing to the store owners. Bush, years later, writes the attempted burglary off as a college prank from when he was “young and irresponsible.”

Such reflection on silly college antics is a privilege that will not be afforded to Christian Taylor.

The 19-year-old Texas college student was shot and killed by Arlington officer Brad Miller early Friday morning. Immediately after the shooting, police claim Taylor was in the middle of burglarizing the dealership when he crashed his car through the shop window. Once police arrived on the scene, "a struggle ensued" and he was fatally shot....

Some type of college-age, substance-fueled prank seems a much likelier explanation -- and far from the type of activity that ought to lead to a teenager being killed.

[Adrahil]

1. Here's the thing that really bothers me....

More and more, cops seem to be resorting to using their firearm, even when the suspect is unarmed. Now don't get me wrong. I think the kid involved here went WAY over the top, and the shooting may be justified in this instance, but it's the general pattern to report to guns first. Same thing with dogs. It almost seems like the standard way to deal with dogs is just to shoot 'em.

[MH1]

2. I never acted like that as a college student.

Most of the people I knew in college never acted like that.

That said, I do not believe Christian Taylor should have been killed, based on what I know about the incident (which may not include all pertinent details).

George W. got off light because of his family connections. Also because he was in New Haven, not Texas.

While I think it is true that a white kid would have been more likely to be alive after an incident like this, it is not at all guaranteed.

[nomorenomore08]

9. "it is not at all guaranteed." Especially in this day and age of wannabe-action-hero psycho cops. nt

[Facility Inspector]

3. Driving through dealership windows

and damaging cars?


Since when is that silly college antics?


On what planet?

[NightWatcher]

4. We just put a bottle of Dawn soap suds in the campus fountain

I guess rich kids just party harder.....and expect daddy to bail them out.

[Lee-Lee]

5. Crashing your car through the plate glass window of a car dealer

is "college antics".

Not hardly.

We have reached the point of absurdity when in an attempt to demonize the police no matter what, before facts are out, idiots actually try to dismiss an act like that as a simple college prank.

Edited to add a link to the video- nobody with any common sense can say this was just college shenanigans.

http://gawker.com/new-video-shows-moments-before-police-fatally-shot-chri-1722970504

[Bonx]

6. It's a dumb thread

These often start with a huffpo link.

[Snobblevitch]

7. I agree, this is a pointless thread.

The fraternity guys across the street did a college prank when I was a freshman. They made an 8 foot snow penis complete with boulder sized testicles....in the front yard of a sorority.

[KamaAina]

11. We did a smaller version of that on the main quad!

One wag titled it "Oblong, Yet Subtle". Alas, it disappeared by that afternoon.

[Snobblevitch]

12. The sorority girls seemed to be amused by it and left it.

The guys made it during a warm spell, then the temperature went down to about -15°F., so it lasted longer than 4 hours.

[tammywammy]

8. This person must not have watched the video

It couldn't even be played off as a drunk that accidentally drove into a building. He walked up, got on top of a Ford Mustang smashed in the windshield, got in the car, left the car, walked back to his Jeep, drove through the gates and around to the building and then through the glass.

I don't know anywhere on earth that's considered a normal college prank. A college prank is the soap in the fountain.

[nomorenomore08]

10. I think the main point is that a white kid would've more likely survived the encounter.

Blatantly destructive, reckless behavior like that should never be tolerated - but the kid should be in jail, not dead.

[tblue37]

16. I wonder if he was either on drugs or having some sort of mental

breakdown--or perhaps both. He was being weirdly calm and methodical, yet extraordinarily, bizarrely destructive. There doesn't seem to be any logical way to explain the sort of behavior the video shows. What could motivate it?

[melman]

17. They watched the video

They're just counting on the reader to have not watched it.

[Fla_Democrat]

13. Fourteen months ago, this story would have been spun as.......

'Entitled' college jock smashes through local car dealership. Information has come that a 'star' player for Angelo State in what is suspected to be a roid and testosterone fueled frenzy drove his vehicle through the plate glass window. When confronted by the public safety employees, he attacked them, forcing the tragic conclusion. "Our hearts go out to our members who had to go through this" said Union representative Gordon Johnson, "We are hoping they are able to come back to work soon."

Continued on page F24.



The comment section would have been filled with cries of banning college athletics. Complaints about the jock culture. Speculation about how the boosters have been covering up this type of stuff for years, if not decades, and now more people are dead, all for the almighty dollar......




Tell me, I am wrong.

[KamaAina]

14. Seminoles fan, eh?

[Betty Karlson]

15. That certainly would have made a proper comparison with George W. Bush in his college days.

Even so, there is a double standard when the same antics of entitled behavious get one guy into the white house, and the other ino the morgue.

[GOLGO 13]

18. He did nothing wrong!

Except for breaking & entering a sports car through the windshield feet first. He maybe couldn't wait to test drive it. Oops no keys in the care. How inconvenient for him.

Then driving his car through the dealership window. Well, to get the keys to the aforementioned sports car, you see? He's a really motivated potential buyer & couldn't wait till the dealership opened.

Completely truly, 1000% innocent! How did the cops not know this?