John J. Owens is absolutely sure race had nothing to do with the reason why 30 black people punched, kicked and spit at five white people, including a mom and a baby.
The attack took place during a rare snowy day in Macon in February 2014.
The alleged assailants and victims could have been any race. “Color doesn’t matter, only the “idiot factor” matters,” opined Mr. Owens. That means the rest is random.504
Anyone who ever took — and passed — a course in elementary statistics might wonder how Mr. Owens can so easily dismiss the non-random nature of the race of the victims and predators.
Let’s do a little math: The odds of 30 black people randomly attacking five white people are about the same as the odds of a fully loaded jet liner crashing on your front lawn. Twice. On the same day. With your mom in the first plane. And your long lost brother in the second, who looks just like you. And accidentally married your sister.
That is not to say it is impossible. Just not likely. About as likely as ... OK, you get it.
The ‘fight that was not a fight’ started out with 30 black people at the Warner Robins High School throwing snowballs at some white families. The Telegraph in Macon breaks it down, beginning with the woman who confronted the black people:
“At that point someone hit her with a snowball, and part of the snowball landed on the baby. The woman’s husband then approached, asked the group to stop and was attacked,” he said. He and two other men in the sledding group who came to his aid were assaulted.
“The victim said three of them, including himself, suffered concussions, and one had two cracked ribs. Members of the sledding group were white, and those involved in the snowball fight were black. He said the attackers yelled racial comments at them during the assault.”
Of course there was laughing. And pictures: A group of black people kicking some white guy on the ground. Others standing around smiling. WGAX TV news called it “a fight.”505
Which is a peculiar way to describe a mob assault.
The pictures made their way to Facebook and Twitter, with the alleged assailants bragging and having a good old time recounting their snowy victory.
Since we have pictures, it is not really alleged anymore, is it?
That is how the police cracked the case and arrested Shymalik Raekwon Mitchell and Terrell Antonio Boyd. Both 17-years old. They were charged with a variety of crimes including assault.
The victims are asking their names be withheld because they fear retaliation for themselves and their children, who still attend the school.
As police search for others in the photos who are kicking, stomping, punching and beating the five white people, some of the residents want to let us know what the real problem and real solutions are.
“People get jumped everyday,” said Jon’Shea JS Jenkins on his Facebook page. “The fact that there white means nothing. It could’ve been a black guy an it would have been the same outcome some people need to get out of there feelings and mind there business this attack happened because somebody wasn’t minding there business if the police ask me to stop doing something guess what I do.”
“But if Tom Dick or Harry ask me I’m gonna look at him like he smoking rocks. It wasn’t right what they did at all but you gotta learn to mind ya business sometimes!!”
And to all the white people in Macon who said were a racially motivated case of black mob violence, Rogue Carlos R Leader has a reminder and a rejoinder: “The biggest group of terrorist on this planet is white people.”506
It was then I realized two huge mistakes I had made in writing White Girl Bleed a Lot. Both having to do with statistics. If only I had known then what I know -- and what you know from a previous chapter -- now: “Statistics are like bikinis: They reveal a lot, but cover up the most interesting parts.”