I've never been so ashamed of my hometown...

The BBQ Pit
1

Two of my close friends, who were also friends, got into a fist fight that ended in one of them being shot to death.

I don’t have a rant in me right now as I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster for the last four days.

We are from a very small town where everyone knows everyone else and their business to boot.

What REALLY has put the icing on the cake for me is the absolutely sick and backwards comments the bar owner said to our local news station reporter, who is African-American.

This is a town of 900 people and it is the only bar in town. For your edification the shooter is of mixed ethnicity, white and black; the deceased was white. Here is the link to the video of what the bar owner said.

http://www.abc17news.com/news.php?id=8377

If you can’t understand the word they bleep out listen again. It is, indeed, the n word. Now our town is divided and it looks as if more violence may follow as threats are coming from both camps. I’m trying to be neutral, but it is becoming very difficult. I had lunch with the man who was killed four weeks ago. I attended a barbecue sponsored by the shooter one week ago.

This bar owner makes me want to molotov cocktail his business, but the insurance would pay him more than he makes off of peddling his watered down, shit beer.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

P.S.

Both of them were active in the community; neither one of them were bums. One served our country and was scheduled to be deployed in May. The other is a volunteer fireman and first responder. This is such a tragedy. My facebook news feed looks like the text to a reality show with some of the horrible comments.

To see some of the more ugly comments check out the site www.komu.com and read the news from the 6th of December. The N word and threats abound. Tragic, horrible, and absolutely heart wrenching.

2

Sympathies. And…sigh. Sometimes tragedies bring out the best in people. But not always.

(I grew up in an all-white small town. Back in 1967 or so, a black family moved in. They weren’t greeted with violence. They simply weren’t greeted at all. They were ostentatiously ignored. If one of them walked in to a store…everyone else simply walked out. After a couple months, they moved out again. And the assholes in my may-God-damn-the-hellhole-forever small town talked about it as if it had been a great, wonderful, Gandhi-esque triumph of non-violent resistance against evil. Shithole of a racist small town. I suppose I can take some small consolation that they weren’t simply fire-bombed…)

Do what you can to help. Do and say the right things. Be a good person, and lead by example.

And…hell…if nothing works, the ultimate freedom is to vote with your feet. Move to a better place. (That’s what I did…)

3

My sympathies on the loss of your friend.

I guess I’m wondering what the battle lines are. I’m sure lots of people were offended by the bar owner’s words (but they are just words). Are other people rallying to his defense; is it because they agree with him or just think he has the right to say what he wants?

Not sure why the TV station included that clip in the report; it didn’t add anything informative to the story they were covering.

4

I can understand your outrage over the tragedy but the news that some redneck bar owner in a small Missouri town is a bigot should be no surprise.

5

For whatever reason, the clip will not buffer and play for me. Regardless, I think the reason it was included, if I’m following the context here, is that this is what news reporting and news casting has evolved into today. Including an inflammatory remark that does not really add any detail or fact to the reporting is kinda par for the course now. As John Stewart has coined it, it’s INFOTAINMENT now.

Real journalism is practically dead. :frowning:

6

A person was shot dead, and your greatest concern is that a bar tender made a racist remark?

7

Nitpick: Actually, Homer Simpson used that term some fifteen years ago.

It hasn’t existed on television since the days of Edward R. Murrow.

8

I read and understood the OP. Did you do either?

9

Further nitpick: David Letterman used the term when he was on NBC in the 80s (infotainment at it’s infotainingest).

10

I’m so sorry for your loss. I understand why you would be so upset about this. My best advice would be to stay away from the inflammatory stuff right now. It’s just going to piss you off and add more grief to your already substantial loss. This doesn’t have to be your fight.

11

The battle lines are being drawn mainly among those who were friends with one of the guys and not the other. Friends of the deceased have been very vocal with their threats and displeasure towards the shooter who is just as upset as anyone I know. People who are on the side of the shooter are kind of just standing in quiet solidarity as to not disrespect the dead.

As far as the bar goes, it has been packed since the incident. It is usually only occupied by 5 or 6 regulars, but now you woud think they were giving away free alcohol. His comments did not get a whole lot of attention, as most people seem to want to pretend he didn’t say it or draw anymore attention to our community. As I’ve said many times, this type of stuff just DOES NOT happen around here, ever. Granted, there is a lot of drug related crime (burglaries, theft, etc.), but almost no violent crime.

12

You’re exactly right; it isn’t a surprise. It’s just a surprise to me that he feels he can say something like that the day after an altercation ended in death that began at his place of business. It wouldn’t have killed him to say, “My bar had nothing to do with it, my heart goes out to all who are grieving.” You know what I mean? He’s just such a fucking idiot. I know him and this is out of character for him. The shooter, a mixed guy, spent a lot of time and money there and brought many friends with him. The owner and him drank together often, why all of the sudden is he a nigger?

13

Thanks for contributing; you must have missed my point. See Vinyl Turnip’s post.

14

Thank you, olives. I’ve mainly just stayed on the sidelines and watched the developments. I was too close to both of them to take a side and add my 2 cents, which would not help anything. My wife was also friends with both of them and she is also not engaging in any of the conversations on the topic.

15

I just read the comments at the KOMU site, and they make your town look relatively level-headed. Yeah, there are a couple people spouting off at the mouth, but most people seemed very reasonable.

16

Yes, Labrador. THOSE comments do make it look relatively level headed. The comments from facebook usually are as people are forced to show their identity. The comments that were ridiculous were the ones that didn’t require a facebook account. KOMU removed some of the more offensive posts, but looking back they were few and far between.

17

I watched the video but I still can’t make out what the guy is saying. Can someone spell this out for me?

18

“I’m going to sue you for recording my building.”

“Sir, we are on public property.”

“My bar had nothing to do with that nigger shootin’ that boy.”

Then he walks away and flips the camera off.

19

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Really unfortunate username/post combination. :frowning:

20

Thank you. I almost mentioned the username/post combination myself. Crime Scene is the name of my obese feline friend.