AP (“Police: Fight sparks North Carolina mall shooting; 1 killed”):
“[The mall shooter] was [previously] charged in July 2014 with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, injury to personal property and discharging a weapon on occupied property stemming. The disposition of those charges was not immediately known.”
Facts change and new reports are filed and lies are told, but let’s assume for the moment that we have certain true facts about the December 24 mall shooting in North Carolina.
I’ll give you several news reports and then make comments.
The Daily Mail (“Christmas mall gunman identified as rapper called ‘Donkey Cartel’”):
“The armed gunman who was killed inside a crowded North Carolina mall on Christmas Eve has been identified as Daquan Antonio Westbrook, a rapper who also goes by the name Donkey Cartel.”
The Washington Times (“Rapper Donkey Cartel killed in Charlotte, N.C., mall shooting”):
“Mr. Westbrook 18, was a rapper who performed as ‘Donkey Cartel’ and released a mixtape titled ‘Convicted Felon With a Weapon,’ the cover of which shows him in a prison cell wearing an orange jumpsuit and making hand signs.”
The Charlotte Observer (“Police kill teen gunman inside Northlake Mall”):
“Christmas Eve descended into chaos Thursday when shots were fired between two groups at a north Charlotte mall and a responding off-duty police officer [reportedly working security at the mall] shot and killed one of the alleged gunmen.
“Northlake Mall was jammed with last-minute holiday shoppers when an argument broke out between two groups involved in an ongoing dispute. At least two of the people involved pulled guns and opened fire, on the mall’s lower level near Dick’s Sporting Goods, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said.
“Witnesses say hundreds of panicked bystanders screamed and shoved to get away from the area. Others dove under tables at the nearby food court.
“Police working at the mall responded. CMPD Chief Kerr Putney said witnesses told police that when off-duty officer Thomas Ferguson reached the scene, one of the gunmen turned and pointed his weapon at Ferguson.
“The officer fired his service weapon, Putney said. Daquan Antonio Westbrook, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene. At an evening news conference, Putney said police did not know if the teenager fired any shots at the officer.
“…Records indicate Westbrook had a lengthy criminal record involving guns, drugs and violence.
“…Westbrook’s short life featured a long list of criminal charges – from larceny and drugs to assaults and firearms. In 2014, he was charged with shooting a 12-year-old in northeast Charlotte. His most recent arrests took place in October, and were related to drugs, larceny and resisting arrest.”
The Washington Times (“Rapper Donkey Cartel killed in Charlotte, N.C., mall shooting”):
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said at a Thursday evening news conference that while he could not specifically say the shooting was gang-related, the altercation involved two groups with a history of feuding.
“This is not a random act of violence. This is something that happened between two parties that were beefing back and forth,” he said.
“The subjects involved all have a history of gun violence, he said.”
WSOCTV provides back story on the earlier 2013 shooting, for which Westbrook was charged (“Teen charged with shooting 12-year-old boy”):
“Charlotte Mecklenburg police charged Daquan Antonio Westbrook, 17, Friday in the 2013 shooting of a 12-year-old boy, according to a news release from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
“On July 07, 2013, officers responded to a shooting on North Pine Street where they found a 12-year-old boy who was shot in the leg. He was then taken to the hospital.
“Westbrook was charged with three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, two counts of discharging a firearm into occupied property and damage to property.
“Westbrook remains in custody.”
My comments:
Apparently, Westbrook didn’t remain in custody. Was he sentenced for any of the many prior crimes for which he’d been charged? Were there trials? Verdicts? Plea bargains? Even though he was a minor, he still could have been given stiff sentences. Does anyone see this as a problem?
Could Daquan Antonio Donkey Cartel Westbrook have been curtailed by the justice system, on legitimate grounds, before this mall shooting? On the surface, it seems so. What exactly happened?
Notice how, in commenting on the Christmas Eve mall shooting, the Charlotte police chief avoids “gang.” These were “groups.” With a “history of feuding.” And a “history of gun violence.” At the mall, were they arguing about stock options, interest rates, movie rights to a book? After years of investigating these boys/men, were the police still in doubt about what they were? Apparently there is now a political downside to definitively saying “gang.” Does a state lose a a hundred million dollars of federal money every time one of its officials utters the g-word?
Well, gangs are a problem, because they have guns and they fire them. Whenever the President discusses gun control, he seems to avoid mentioning gangs, despite the fact that they keep shooting people. I’ll take a wild guess: they shoot people more often than, say, gun-owning ranchers out west. Another guess: the body count gangs compile is larger than that of the lone mass shooters who grab all the headlines.
Highlighting the gang problem in America has uncomfortable consequences. It drags into view, by implication, all the years of federal programs to improve the quality of life in inner cities. We could be talking about $2 trillion in the vaunted War on Poverty. How would that look alongside daily media reports of gang shootings (in which “gang” is emphasized) from coast to coast? People would raise very uncomfortable questions about the federal government.
And that’s not all. In general, gangs are needed to move drugs through the country. They are contract players for the cartels. Millions of words have been written, over the years, about the collaboration of federal agencies (DEA, CIA) with the cartels. Is the government interested in having those stories resurface and gain new life?
Then there is the sociological angle. The vastly preferred narrative attributes “inner city crime” to “conditions.” No one is really individually responsible for his actions—all the way up to, and including, murder. The acceptable government-media-academic story line is set in stone. The reason? The government has to sell eternal victimhood in order to sell eternal dependency on government, and dependency is one of those agendas that must never be disturbed.
Which brings us to the racial dimension. No matter what any President says or claims, black Americans are being used as a pawn in the victim scenario. As a symbol. As a poster. To reverse course and highlight black Americans as individuals with responsibilities (in both a positive and negative sense) would crash the whole victim stage play. There are, under the surface, with no media access, many, many black Americans who DO want to offload the victim plot-line. But that’s just too bad. They must be sacrificed for the greater good of propping up government as the Omnipresent Parent who will give great gifts to the helpless populace and ensure A Brighter Day Tomorrow.
Government to the People: “We have to demean you and belittle you and eat you in order to assist you. We have to destroy the village in order to save it.”
Of course they do.
Gangs keep communities in fearful chaos. Chaos is, therefore, good. It helps sustain the manufacture of victims, so the symbolic story government wants to tell can continue to be told.
Black lives matter? From the government’s point of view, yes, but only when black lives are perceived as utterly helpless—and that must never change.
As usual, government leaders are engaged in a massive piece of con artistry. And when the propaganda and the bullets fly, who do you think is mainly scheduled to be caught in the crossfire?
We’re looking at a bait and switch, plain and simple.
To repeat: “We’ll help you as long as you need to be helped. And, by the way, we’ll make sure that need lasts. Forever.”
Extending this strategy out, compare and contrast: “We, the government, speaking now to every American, urge you to bring your humanitarian impulses front and center, at a time when many Syrian refugees, dispossessed and victimized by the terrible war, are arriving on our shores. Of course, we ramped up that war to new heights by funding and backing and arming and helping to create ISIS, but don’t think about that. We’re in the business of creating victims. It’s what we do. Ultimately, this helps you. We’ll do our best to turn you into a victim, too. And then you can depend on us to give you what you need. Do you see the ironclad logic of our plan? Do you see how this works out?”
Of course you do.
“Yes, my Lord. You dispense, I receive. May I now sit down in my living room and watch my shows?”
“You may, but also think about the Holy Doctrine, which speaks of the unbreakable chain of events, utterly beyond your control, which brought you to a dismal brink. And then think about how We Arrived, and are interceding so powerfully, and rescuing you.”
“I will earnestly contemplate that, my Lord.”
Amen.
Amen to the eternal hustle.
Jon Rappoport
The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his free OutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.
https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2015/12/26/nc-mall-shooter-killed-wasnt-already-in-jail/
“…Records indicate Westbrook had a lengthy criminal record involving guns, drugs and violence.
Rappers can’t sell records without an impressive “rap sheet”.
It’s no coincidence that “gangsta rap”, which endlessly encourages crime, became “popular” at the same time that prisons were first being privatized.
Now remember how rock-n-roll bands that promoted drug use became popular during that earlier attempt to destroy this country.
Is the music “good”? NO, it isn’t, but if you hear it enough times (if it’s all that’s on the radio) you’ll start to like it, and it will influence your behavior.