IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I discovered I shared the given and surname with the alleged shooter on Interstate 580 this past Sunday; we even have the same initials: BCW.
I received multiple calls and e-mails from friends across the country. Some wondered how I managed to make bail so quickly.
Even my loyal boxer, Zeus, has been somewhat apprehensive around me since the shooting.
This was certainly not the way one would want to enhance name identification. But here it is.
Byron Williams, a 45-year-old parolee, who was described by his mother as angry at "left-wing politicians," opened fire on the California Highway Patrol while wearing body armor. He was hit by return fire.
Beyond our names, we share very little in common. He's white; I'm black. He's 45; I qualify for AARP benefits. Moreover, I am unabashedly liberal, tempered by pragmatism. As for the other Mr. Williams, let us describe him as slightly out of touch with the reality of the human condition.
That is perhaps the kindest way to describe an individual who in June 2002 was arrested for bank robbery after robbing the California Federal Branch in Chowchilla. It was reported Williams had initially planned to rob a Bank of America branch but altered the plan because of the long line and that customers and tellers were laughing at the suit and blond wig he was wearing.
It also was reported that Williams was frustrated no one would hire him because of his felony background. Somehow, that is not exactly surprising.
Williams has a long history of committing violent crimes that has extended through Republican and Democratic administrations. He was been in prison when Republicans controlled Congress as well as Democrats.
But his anger was allegedly toward "left-wing politicians."
How ironic that many who languish on America's economic margins have their anger cajoled, inveigled and prodded by a misguided populism, such as that of right-wing talk show host Glenn Beck, who reportedly made $32 million last year.
Williams represents the lower echelon of a coalition that is almost unique to America. It is one where those who are already economically stimulated work in tandem with those on the margins under the guise of populism, but, in reality, it is to protect the interest of a few on the top.
This extreme populism arms its followers almost exclusively with shibboleths and emotion. This is how you have published reports of Williams shouting about "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."
"Left-wing agenda items" was merely Williams' pathetic rationale to justify why his life turned out the way it did. A life, by all indication, that could not benefit from the tax cuts offered by the Republicans or the unemployment extension put forth by Democrats.
He was comforted only by his irrational anger. Williams was unable or unwilling to take responsibility for his actions. With a life sentence very likely, his last hurrah was a midnight shootout with CHP on I-580.
What a shame. And he had such a great name going for him.
http://www.mercurynews.com/columns/ci_15568483
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