The Aberdeen Police Department has arrested four white men on charges relating to a violent crime spree against over a hundred households that has stricken terror in the hearts of Aberdonians:
Two more people have been arrested in connection to more than 100 reports of property damage Wednesday.
The damage has predominantly been broken windows in pickups, cars and SUVs parked all over Aberdeen. According to a news release from the Aberdeen Police Department, officers believe most of the damage was caused by a BB gun. They also believe some damage was caused by a baseball bat used to damage vehicle mirrors. In addition to vehicles, police also believe the men arrested were targeting Christmas decorations.
Stetson John Baloun, 19, of Aberdeen and Wyatt Benjamin Hammer, 18, of Huron were arrested Thursday. Both are facing charges of felony property damage, according to a news release, which also indicates law enforcement has taken 104 reports of vehicle damage.
Police arrested Brendan Dennis Grover, 22, of Aberdeen and Dawson Glen Gahm, 19, of Hitchcock on Wednesday. Gahm has been charged with aiding and abetting felony property damage. Grover is charged with felony property damage, discharging an air rifle within city limits and 60 counts of misdemeanor property damage [Elisa Sand, “Two More Arrested in 100-Plus Reports of Vehicle Damage {paywall},” Aberdeen American News, 2019.12.19].
Automobiles? Christmas decorations? Clearly these calculating vandals targeted potent symbols of America’s core values in a coordinated effort to instill terror and undermine the security of patriotic Americans throughout the Heartland.
Forget Trump’s delayed border wall in the desert: Governor Noem needs to use her vast influence to bring the $1.4 billion in new border wall funding to Aberdeen to build a wall between our community and these marauding white thugs!
The mayor ought to declare, “No more white male individuals between the ages of 18 and 22 will be allowed to enter the city of Aberdeen until we can figure out what the h#ll is going on.” ;-)
So THIS is what the war on Christmas looks like.
These guys look like the type that always cry “liberal” and “snowflake” on Facebook.
These young adults probably will do some community service, feel remorseful about what they did, straighten themselves out, get married, have kids and do fine with the rest of their lives. The biggest problem they’ll have will be how to explain to their children that they made mistakes. Four Indian youngsters of the same age who sit down in front of a Keystone Pipeline construction crew would be considered a gang. The charges they would face would include “riot.” They’d get jail time, not community service. They won’t feel a bit shameful. They’ll feel pride in finding the strength to protest what they believe should not be built. They may have a harder time in life because of it. They will have children, too, and they will have little trouble explaining to them why they did what they did.
We all understand the point Cory wants to make, I’m not sure it’s helpful to look at things racially, but Donald wanted to push that door open so maybe you should google Native American Crime South Dakota. His wanting to glorify and honor what appears to be an imaginary scenario without then looking at the larger picture of Native American crime is completely unfair. Murders were up 90% on Pine Ridge in 2016 (first link). If reservation crime was reported along with the state figures South Dakota rates would DOUBLE attributed to drug and real gang activity (second link). Most kids from all backgrounds go through a rebellious stage. We had something similar happen in our town 40 years ago. A group of farm kids seemed to go nuts one weekend Cory’s parents might remember. And in 2016 a young man tried to burn down several buildings. He was black if you find that relevant which apparently you do. The sad fact is many kids and young people act out we should avoid using them to make political points. It is possible however they learned at home from their liberal parents that laws don’t matter, the dumb ones especially, not when you’re trying to get stuff done (and have a little fun).
https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/pine-ridge-murders-jump-percent-in-with-drugs-and-guns/article_5f2418b5-ef60-5045-9440-b1d6bd807379.html
https://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Reservation-crime-would-nearly-double-South-Dakota-stats–416659913.html
happy, I get your point; and yes, race discussions are too often blown into absurdity or hyperbole. I do think that had these young men had not been white, there would have been an accompanying discussion of the perils of “letting them” into our communities. I see that as Cory’s original point and wall reference. The “them/other” and exclusion discussions do seem to be dragged into discussions when people of color are involved in criminal activity — in a way that discussions of whites are not.
I think you can bet that if those were black or Indian faces staring out from the mug shots, happy’s response would have been a tad different. Notice how quickly he got around to pointing to crime on the reservation, and that the guy who burned down the houses was black? Yes, most kids go through a rebellious phase. Some might channel that rebellion into random acts of vandalism. Others might channel that rebellion into protest that tries to make positive changes for society. Somehow we treat the ones who commit random acts of vandalism quite a bit more leniently that those who break the law during a protest. Let’s switch the races of my hypothetical around, happy camper. Do you think that doesn’t make a difference in how the law is applied?
It doesn’t matter if the commenters on DFP mention skin color here on not, it exists and there is voluminous statistical proof that people of color are treated more harshly than people with white skin. Because Don describes it doesn’t make it so. However, he does give us a chance to be honest about how unjust our system of justice is to POC.
For 3 years I worked as a case manager for a minimum security prison in Rapid City. Part of my job was visits to family homes where inmates wanted passes. I went to a trailor house where the inmate’s wife and 3 children lived. I think the oldest was 6. The place was shabby, but clean and the family was nice. They had just moved into the rental. I asked where they were living. The 6 yo calmly said, “We were with gramma. That’s where we go whenever daddy goes to jail.”
For that little boy, normal life is that daddy goes to jail and they move in with gramma. Will he live a similar life? Statistically, he has a 50/50 chance.
You simply cannot judge people according to your experiences and culture, even if you have had struggles. You are not the gold standard for the population. I’m not talking to only HC. It’s common human response. Judging everyone from the perspective of a white male dominated culture is simply bogus.
I was pointing out race Donald only because you had to go there. In the case of the young black man who started the fires race (from what we know) was not a factor. He was so friendly and well liked there seems to be no explanation. I never heard a racial remark about him before or after his arrest. At first his sister (who didn’t live here) jumped to that conclusion – but he said no and has never given an explanation for his behavior. First he tried to burn down his own apartment building. He could have killed people! Then he went to Pizza Hut without success before gutting a large convenience store and getting caught. Those around him say it wasn’t drugs but he was very, very angry about something. Young people do strange things he is now serving a 34 sentence. It’s still shocking to see him in those prison garments he was a nice young guy. Most kids are angry about something if internalized it will come out some sort of way.
https://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Man-arrested-in-Madison-for-arson-391540361.html
This is about the relative merit of these individuals. Racism in the USA automatically assigns greater merit to people with white skin and lesser merit to those with darker skin, irrespective of any genuine merit.
Sojo has an excellent article about the fallacy of the US “meritocracy. It’s right here, not very long, and definitely worth your reading time:
is.gd/PuBhzL
Jamar A. Boys III wrote this brief article about racism in education, though it applies equally to the criminal justice system:
While white actresses bribe officials to let their children into universities, black mothers like Kelley Williams have been jailed for placing their children in a better school districts. The fact that black mothers get sent to jail for trying to give their children a fairer chance versus people who have the privilege to bribe officials is shocking.
is.gd/r1a8j7
From 538’s Significant Digits by Karen K. Ho:
1 on the Child Opportunity Index
Where a kid grows up in America can have a huge effect on their long-term prospects — good schools, neighborhood safety, access to healthy food and places to play all play an important role. New data from the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy at Brandeis University reveals how access to these opportunities breaks down along racial lines in nearly every major metropolitan area in the U.S. In the Arbor Hill neighborhood in Albany, New York, for example, 97 percent of children are black or Hispanic; the area received a 1 out of 100 on the Child Opportunity Index, one of the lowest scores possible. [National Public Radio]
Same source as the previous comment:
Up to 100 times more likely
Facial recognition technology can be incredibly unreliable despite being widely used by law enforcement in the U.S. A landmark federal study released on Thursday found that Asian and African American people “were up to 100 times more likely to be misidentified than white men, depending on the particular algorithm and type of search,” The Washington Post reports. The study also found that Native Americans had the highest false-positive rate. [Washington Post]
The statistics are that it’s unlikely men with a high school degree or less will ever marry. If they do wed; it likely will be brief. They may father a child – then to a single parent. Greatly perpetuating the problem for another generation. Such is the state of our GDP-driven economy that values money over humanity. Read, The War on Normal People”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC25cPvp4zghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC25cPvp4zg
There are many inequities Deb I’ll read your links later. A young Hispanic man was just sentenced to 16 years for burning a GLBT flag he removed from a church. In the video he is described as an habitual offender (without details) and showed no remorse quite the contrary was proud of it (toward end of video) and said he would do it again. But 16 years? The lesbian pastor and prosecutor try to justify the term. Also in Iowa a 42 year old white woman ran her car over a 14 year old hispanic girl cause she hates Hispanics. What will or should she get? Both will likely fall under the hate crimes law. Maybe we need more Federal guidelines for sentencing, but things like 3 strikes was a disaster, so then maybe state control has its place. Laws and sentencing need contstant reform. And more food for thought to the point of Cory’s post migrant smuggling has adapted and thrives. They demand more money, the trip is dangerous, but still they come.
https://news.yahoo.com/man-sentenced-16-years-prison-152403922.html
https://news.yahoo.com/police-iowa-woman-said-she-175846580.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/crackdown-migrant-smuggling-business-adapts-160305688.html
I’m just pointing out how the law is racist and classist, Happy. That’s was upsets me. You appear to be upset that I pointed it out. Some like to pretend that criminal statutes aren’t directed specifically at racial groups, but it’s documented fact. Riot boosting? Guess who that is directed at. And it doesn’t stop there. All the voter suppression laws are racially motivated. Setting voting districts in Rapid City purposely to divide up the minority vote. Oh, no, that never happened, did it, Happy?
But Donald you were just making up a story to suit your opinions. Native American crime is a lot more complicated than simply saying minorities are treated unfairly in sentencing. It does look like their numbers are way down from 2016 but some have attributed that only to the dealers and gangs working out their turf although they have greatly increased the number of officers on Pine Ridge. My first reaction to your last post on voter suppression and lets throw in gerrymandering is they are not racially motivated. They are motivated by the deep desire to win (whatever it takes) so secondhandly they look at how to split up votes along racial lines. There is a difference. I’m also concerned about inequity in sentencing (most people are) I made a post earlier on that with two specific examples but when I added a link in the edit mode it said it would be evaluated for moderation. Perhaps Cory will approve that later. It was very moderate!!! There is no consistency among the states but can we trust the federal government? That’s putting all eggs in one basket. The three strikes law seems to be the most disastrous.
At 27 years of age, 28 percent of high school dropouts were cohabiting and 27 percent were married. That’s more than half of non high school graduates in a relationship. Sorry, Jon. That parochial education needs an update.
https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2014/ted_20140328.htm
HC, did you read any of the links I provided? They’re short and directly respond to your comments.
Deb your second link is the same as the first. The thing is, mostly I ain’t buy it as a permanent restriction. Yes, I accept it exists to varying degrees, as it does for everyone who’s trying to fit into a different social, economic group and advance. You’ve got to learn the rules to succeed, in that organization, in that profession, but they aren’t insurmountable. Two groups prove this: Asians and Jews. Both climb to the top quickly. It usually takes a generation or two to make the climb, and yes, that means (as a general statement) you have to play by THEIR rules if you want to gain entry. Unless you have off the charts ability in something like sports even then Colin Kaepernick is showing there are limits to merit as there are to everything. But who’s to say you even want to be part of that group anyway. Michelle Obama was talking about fellow students who got lost in college. They were overly willing to give up all of their identity to fit in. They lost their core so obviously you can go too far. That didn’t happen to her. She was able to bridge that gap her strong family values that made that possible. In that same interview Barack tells “woke” youth to get over that quickly. The whole interview is quite interesting. It may mean to get ahead you’re gonna have to give up ebonics (I’m saying that) and accept the professional world has its own expectations. Dress appropriately, show up early, stay late, play into the power structure. Kiss your bosses A. It happens everywhere. It’s just change and adaptation. A lot of it, maybe even most of it, is ridiculous. Aspiring for status symbols, what zip code you live in, who you know and who you’re related to, but that don’t mean you have to play that game either a lot of people are successful learning a skill, having a small business and playing more by their own rules. You’re acting like other people’s determinations of success are absolute, or so important we should judge ourselves by their standards. Who cares. Most of those yuppies make me wanna barf. They’re usually fake and full of pretension. I’ll take a regular person any day.
This link has the whole interview one hour twenty minutes. It’s too bad he waited to have these types of conversations. This is what people were hoping he would have done while President.
https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/30/barack-obama-tells-woke-youth-get-over-quickly/4095362002/
Dang. Wrong link for the 2nd one. Sorry.
So you’re simply tossing out what these people who study extensively say because it doesn’t suit your personal beliefs. You love your few anecdotes you can use to to deny the truth of thousands. Facts don’t interest you because you’ve made up your mind.
Sad.
Donald’s point is solid; Loren reflects the same concern with his opening wink. On far less evidence, we demonize individuals of minority races and demand action. Heck, we separate brown children from their parents and lock them in cages for the simple act of crossing an imaginary line, an act that hurt no person or property. But four thugs of the majority race go on a violent rampage that harms the property of over a hundred households, and what punishment will they or their entire racial.ethnic group get?
It’s almost as if white punks like these think they are entitled, as members of the majority, to do whatever they want, to think they can commit crimes in the middle of the street and not have anyone do anything to them. Gee, where would they get an idea like that?
If those vandals had been Somali, they’d have rocketed right to Senator Novstrup’s bill to repeal the Governor’s admission of refugees into South Dakota… as if Governors and state legislators have any Constitutional authority To restrict the movement of individuals legally present in the United States of America.
Things must be very boring in Huron. Mr.Hammer acc. to his Facebook page is a proud member of the ND National Guard as a MP.
White thuggery has a home in the wingnut party out west….
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/12/republicans-in-nevada-and-idaho-linked-to-washington-legislator-in-domestic-terrorism-scandal-reports/
Get too many men alone and leave us alone for too long and we kind of become morons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwZ_6zIGEdA
😀😀😀 John, I saw Yang say that. I like him. Not for president, but for something important in the next admin.
Old Spec, are you telling us one of these violent criminals is a member of the well-regulated militia?
What is going on with the last two paragraphs? It’s as if the author forgot they were a journalist.
As Brandon suggests, journalists can sometimes make their point by adopting the language of others to expose the fallacy of their thinking. Thank you for getting the point.
(By the way, author is singular, so, in this case, he, not they. I’m just one guy. ;-) )