Thursday, August 22, 2013

Double standard seen in white man’s killing: Critics point to Trayvon Martin case

The Washington Times ^ | August 21, 2013 | Ben Wolfgang

Five days after an Australian college student was gunned down by a trio of “bored” Oklahoma teens, the political and social reverberations continue to build across the nation and abroad.
While there’s been disgust and disbelief at the senseless death of Christopher Lane — who was studying in the U.S. on a baseball scholarship and visiting his girlfriend in Duncan, Okla., when he was shot while jogging on Friday — some former lawmakers and pundits say there’s a clear double standard in how President Obama and other political leaders, leading civil rights activists and the media have reacted to the case.
The shooting has sparked a different controversy in Mr. Lane’s native Australia, where much of the outrage has focused on what critics say is the American gun-friendly culture that made the killing possible.
The two teens facing murder charges in connection with the incident, James Francis Edwards Jr., 15, and Chancey Allen Luna, 16, are black. A third teen, 17-year-old Michael Dewayne Jones, who is white, has been charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact.
Contrasts have been drawn with reaction to the February 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, and the subsequent acquittal of former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.
“Three black teens shoot white jogger. Who will [Mr. Obama] identify with this time?”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...

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