COMMENTARY
Rod Watson: Appallingly, silence follows brutal crime
Two weeks after Brian Milligan, a white teen, reported being brutally beaten by black youths after being warned to stay away from his African-American girlfriend, there have been no protest marches.
Civil rights group have not demanded a Justice Department probe.
Al Sharpton has not visited. More to the point: Police still have little to go on in probing a “possible” hate crime, even though it’s hard to imagine that no one in the neighborhood saw or has heard anything.
Milligan is home from the hospital, his father said, his jaw wired shut, his sense of smell destroyed, his brain still swollen after being hit in the head with a chunk of concrete.
And no one knows anything.
There have been “very few calls” to the Police Department’s confidential TIP-CALL line, said spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge. That’s 847-2255, for those with a pang of conscience.
DeGeorge said the lack of calls could be because few people witnessed the assault.
But even if that much is true, it’s hard to believe that a bunch of young males—who typically like to brag— mounted such a public attack and then kept so quiet that no one else knows anything.
The Rev. Darius Pridgen appealed for information from the pulpit of his True Bethel Baptist Church, but all he hears is that it was “neighborhood kids.” Part of the silence stems from fear, he said.
But there’s more to it.
“To be honest with you, it’s because it’s a Caucasian young man who’s seen as the victim,” Pridgen said.
It doesn’t take much imagination to envision the reaction if a black young man with a white girlfriend reported being beaten by whites. Not only would we condemn the attack, we would condemn the silence.
We’d question the morals, character and upbringing not only of the thugs, but of the residents in the community that sheltered them. We’d demand that the good people in the neighborhood step up to stamp out bigotry.
With no evidence of any hoax, we can demand no less of African-Americans. Anything less, and blacks forfeit the moral high ground that is any minority group’s most potent weapon.
Distrust of the criminal-justice system is a reason for reform, not an excuse for harboring those who should be in it.
But almost as disturbing as the attack itself is the reason Milligan’s family thinks spurred the beating: He was dating a young lady who is black.
Census data shows that blacks or whites in interracial marriages made up only 0.4 percent of married couples in 1960. By 2007, the number was nearly 3.8 percent. Yet despite that slow but steady growth, love across racial lines still brings out the worst in some people.
If blacks in Buffalo in 2009 are acting like whites in Selma in 1959, this society has big problems, despite electing a president who is himself the product of an interracial union.
Milligan, 18, had just walked his girlfriend home when he was jumped in the Genesee Street-Floss Avenue area at about 10:30 p. m. Aug. 18, according to police reports.
Milligan was pursuing his GED and learning a trade through BOCES, said his father, Brian Sr., who said the couple had been taunted with slurs and harassed about the relationship. He has no doubts about the motive for the attack.
“We’re all hoping for the best,” he said of his son’s prognosis. He asked anyone who wants to help with mounting medical bills to contribute in care of Leslie Ann Milligan at any Bank of America branch.
A bigger contribution would be providing information that helps break the case. It’s a simple matter of right and wrong that should be as clear as black and white.
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments