Today was a damn fine day for a man named Dwayne Carter, being released from Rikers Island Correctional Complex after being held for eight months. He was convicted of "Attempted Weapons Possession" for a .40S&W-caliber handgun found on his tour bus after it was searched by police in New York City.
The thing that really bugs me about this case, even more so than the fact that he was ever in jail to begin with, is the public backlash against him by the majority of "white conservative" America. If you look at the newspaper articles about his arrest, his conviction, his being sent to solitary confinement for the last month of his confinement for possession of "contraband" (an MP3 player that wasn't one sold by the prison commissary), or his release from prison, it would seem that all you'll find are thinly-veiled racist remarks coming from both white and black when you look in the comments sections of these papers.
Being a white conservative male, I'm not going to focus on what the "other side" is saying, but rather I'll go ahead and condemn what my fellow white male conservatives are saying.
Before I get there, let's look at a few things about the rap musician known as "Lil Wayne", shall we?
1) Dwayne Carter had a lawfully-purchased, loaded handgun on his tour bus.
2) At the time of his arrest in New York City, Dwayne Carter did not have a felony record.
Now, don't get me wrong...the man was known to smoke copious amounts of marijuana, as well as engaging in the use of other recreational drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy (MDMA). He sang very vulgar profanity-laced rap songs. He has tattoos on his face. His pants are usually three sizes too large, and hang half-way off his ass. In short, he's the guy most middle-aged conservative white male suburbanites would lock their doors and roll their windows on, if he were to walk up and ask for directions while they were stopped at a red light.
That kinda makes me wonder about something, though. Suppose it was an aging hillbilly wearing a cowboy hat that was singing songs about getting wasted on cocaine and booze, committing acts of misogyny, and having issues with the police. You know, someone like Johnny Cash!
Can you imagine that? In this day and age? Bill O'Reilly would be screaming to have those cops drawn and quartered for even thinking about pulling over the tour bus! The NRA and GOA would be blowing up our emails, demanding that we all call the mayor of NYC to demand that their draconian gun laws be repealed...and that after immediately having Mr. Cash released from jail with all charges dismissed, they give him the key to the city!
But no, we can't have that, because Lil Wayne promotes the "ghetto lifestyle" of drugs, misogyny, and refusal to submit to common mores of society! Oh yeah, and he's black.
I guess there's not a whole lot that's changed in America during the past hundred years, huh?
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