'White Girl Bleed A Lot' Quotes

“Writing about race and crime was not new territory for me. But it can be treacherous. So here are my rules: No stereotypes. No generalizations. No explanations. No apologies. Just the facts, ma’am.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“Here is your law enforcement and media question of the day: Was the TV show COPS real or BS?

It might have been real incidents, but it wasn't really all that real. They edited the episodes to make it appear as if black people were committing fewer crimes. That is what the show creator John Langley said in a 2009 interview in response to people who were unhappy his long-running reality show, COPS, was showing too many black people getting arrested.

What irritates me sometimes is critics still watch and say, 'Oh look, they misrepresent people of color.' That's absolutely not true. To the contrary, I show more white people than statistically what the truth is in terms of street crime..It's just the reverse. And I do that intentionally, because I do not want to contribute to negative stereotypes, said Langley, the show's producer, in 2009.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“Note to reporters: The sanctimony thing probably works better on someone who has never broken real stories.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“I don't do the mob mind-reading trick, so I do not speak to motivation. But I do keep my eyes open and watch what happens. It is called reporting.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“The flip side of the rising tide of black mob violence is what the prison psychologist calls "infantile omnipotence." This is the feeling that because something has not happened to you directly, you can ignore it. Like an infant who thinks it is not vulnerable to any danger, because all it has ever known is the safety of the womb or the crib.

This is what accounts for widespread willingness to ignore the violence among members of the media and some members of the public.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“Ninety-nine out of a hundred conversations in the media about race go through the same kabuki: Ignore the victims. Humanize the thugs. When it is over, congratulate each other for superior moral sensitivity.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“That brings us to the essence of this book: There are so many episodes of black mob violence, so astronomically out of proportion, so often celebrated in popular black culture, that we no longer have to do the mob mind-reading trick. Something is happening, something peculiar to black people. And no one wants to talk about it, because people don’t know how. Here’s how: No generalizations. No stereotypes. And also, no apologies. I also don’t do causes or solutions. It’s above my pay grade.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“The level of violence finally forced the local paper to do what the local police would not: Talk to the victims. Shaina Perry remembers the punch to her face, blood streaming from a cut over her eye, her backpack with her asthma inhaler, debit card, and cell phone stolen, and then the laughter. They just said “Oh, white girl bleeds a lot,” said Perry, 22, who was attacked at Kilbourn Reservoir Park over the Fourth of July weekend.2”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“What she did was like the people stirring up the riots in Egypt and Libya," said my liberal brother John Flaherty. "Just say anything without even caring if it is true. That is how riots start.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“Something happened and I confirmed it. Or I did not write it. There is no seems. I did not say the attack was anti-white. I describe the attackers as a mob of black people as part of a pattern of such attacks.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“Excuses do not have to be true, or relevant.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“The Chicago Sun-Times is a national leader in two areas: 1) Denying that racial mob violence exists, and 2) Explaining why it does. When a mob of five hundred people stormed through downtown Chicago, beating and threatening and destroying property, do you know what the excuse was?
1) Warm weather”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“When the Department of Justice came in and found the school had a long history of black-on-Asian racial violence that school officials ignored, school officials admitted they might have had a problem. So they printed up some pamphlets and gave them to the Asian students, instructing them how to avoid antagonizing their black schoolmates with their racist behavior.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“Just a few days before the attack on Burke, Parenting magazine named Wilmington the most “dangerous city in America.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“My question to readers accusing us of political correctness is: Why do you care so much about the attackers’ race? If you fear or dislike blacks, I suppose it would confirm your prejudice. But otherwise, it tells you nothing useful.20 Well, Mr. Steve Chapman, here’s one reason that we should care: when papers like the Chicago Tribune support affirmative action, racial quotas, and other race-based solutions to very difficult problems, asking for the paper to identify the assailants is one way of asking “How’s that working out for you?” On a more practical level, giving the details may help someone avoid being a victim of the next mob attack.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“Let's not forget Chicago. There have been tons of attacks on Chicago Transit Authority buses and trains. The head of the CTA said riders should be more aware of their surroundings. More blaming the victim. Maybe the riders need some pamphlets on how not to anger the rioters.”
― Colin Flaherty, White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America

“The Second City Cop is a blog for and by Chicago police officers. After a recent violent weekend featuring three attacks of black mobs in the 018 beat, the downtown area, the blog reported: And for the record, the “three” “muggings” that are being “investigated?” Add a zero to that for incidents occurring last night in 018. Crime is down and if no one reports it or the media doesn’t get a hold of it? It never happened.12 Crime is down. But the number of unreported crimes is up. Go figure.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“No one knows how often guns are used for self-defense. According to a Cato Institute white paper called Tough Targets, the number of crimes thwarted by guns every year ranges anywhere from tens of thousands to as high as two million. The work of author John Lott is the best place to go for more of this kind of information.15”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“CONFESSIONS OF A GANGSTER A former gang member talks about racial violence from way back in the eighties. “It started out innocently,” Jones, 39, tells me at a Starbucks on Chestnut Street near the group’s old stomping grounds. The posse walked to South Street seeking action. “They had a term, ‘clocking wigs,’ that meant hitting someone in the head,” he recalls with shame and disgust. “They preyed on women, whites, and Asians.” “They were selective,” driven less by hating whites than wanting to feel superior to weaker, vulnerable strangers, he explains. “If they saw anyone who could defend themselves or pose a threat, they wouldn’t do anything.”1 Any questions?”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“mob violence is what the prison psychologist calls “infantile omnipotence.” This is the feeling that because something has not happened to you directly, you can ignore it. Like an infant who thinks it is not vulnerable to any danger, because all it has ever known is the safety of the womb or the crib. This is what accounts for widespread willingness to ignore the violence among members of the media and some members of the public, he said.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“It’s time to step up and start making examples out of people. Decent citizens black and white should not have to live in fear of urban terrorists. The elderly man who marched for civil rights in the 1950s and 60s should not have to live in fear because some Robin Hoodlum doesn’t know how to honor the social contract. Young people who are trying to do the right thing, shouldn’t have to live in fear because a bunch of cast extras from a Spike Lee film don’t know how to behave.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“The mob took over South Street that warm Saturday night, the first of spring, as though popping up from nowhere, witnesses said. It seemed to be following the patterns of three similar mobs that had quickly assembled in Center City on March 3, Feb. 16, and Dec. 18. “They had smiles on their faces as they scared people at random,” Assistant District Attorney Angel Flores said in an interview with The Inquirer a week after the March 20 attacks. “They thought that assaulting others was a form of enjoyment.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“On July 29, 2011, a man in hospital scrubs was walking down the street at 2 p.m. Coming towards him were seven black students from Mastery Charter School in Philadelphia. Oprah gave the school $1 million. Not as a reward. The Oprah dollars came before the attacks so that the black children could have shiny new computers and nice uniforms, which they were wearing during the attack. As the man passed the students, they turned and pummeled him. It was all caught on tape from two surveillance cameras. Maybe we’ll see this on the Oprah Network.17”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“If you ever visit Wilmington, Delaware, you will probably hear about Tommy Burke. Or at least see his art work. He makes bird houses modeled on actual homes, and they are something of a local tradition. They are very nice to look at and very lucrative for this self-styled sixty-year-old, liberal hippy. In the summer of 2012 Tommy was returning home after a libation or two at the local watering hole when he passed through a crowd of forty black people—mostly teenagers—milling around outside of a party. Before he went fifty yards, he was surrounded by five black people from the group. They demanded money and threatened to beat him up. “They said I was just a guy who drank too much and I couldn’t fight back,” Burke said. “I took off my glasses, put my false teeth in my pocket and told them that was not going to happen.” Burke surprised the mob, and himself, when he punched one of his robbers.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“Using ShotSpotter, The New York Times reports that neighbors called police only 10 percent of the time that guns were fired in a high-crime area of San Francisco. In Oakland, 22 percent of gunshots prompted 911 calls. Chief Chris Magnus of Richmond, Calif., a community of 120,000 north of Berkeley that routinely ranks among country’s most violent cities, recalled listening to a ShotSpotter recording of a gun battle in 2010 that involved more than 100 rounds fired from four guns. “It was just mind-boggling,” he said. “This is like 11 at night on a summer night, and nobody even called it in.”2”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“Crime statistics are the first refuge of the reporters and public officials in denial about racial violence. But here is what they do not know or do not say: Violent crime is often not reported. A 2012 study from the Department of Justice says more than half the victims of violent crime do not call the police. And if they do, police often do not file crime reports. “More than half of the nation’s violent crimes, or nearly 3.4 million violent victimizations per year, went unreported to the police between 2006 and 2010,” said a Justice Department analysis.1”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“In Chicago, two days later, two black people beat and robbed a “white boy” in revenge for Trayvon. Eighteen-year-old Alton Hayes III and his fifteen-year-old accomplice walked up behind their nineteen-year-old victim and said “Empty your pockets, white boy.” They then “threw him to the ground and punched him ‘numerous times’ in the head and back before running away,” police said. After being arrested, Hayes told police he was upset by the Trayvon Martin case, and said he beat the victim up because he was white.4”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“Despite the news accounts from other reporters, despite the calls I made to police and city council members, she said none of it happened. She admitted that “the party grew to unanticipated proportions,” but she claims there “was no lawlessness. There was no mob.” And here is how she knew: “I know this even though I wasn’t there — because there were no arrests. If there had been lawlessness and violence, there would have been arrests.”6 At times like this, times of monumental … uh, innocence, a reasonable man has only one response. To quote the Godfather: Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“In Detroit in 2011 “a Detroit pizza delivery man turned the tables on three would be crooks.” The black men ambushed the driver. He killed one. Police caught the others. The delivery man had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. “The manager at the pizza shop told Action News … many of his other drivers” have permits too. Every year hundreds of delivery drivers are robbed. Over the last several years, hundreds have been killed. Most do not carry guns. That is why the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls it one of the most dangerous jobs in the country.11”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It

“What is it with Florida? In Pensacola, Jack Crawford answered his door only to get cracked on the head with a bat. “About 8:45 p.m., three teenage males knocked on the door.” As soon as Crawford opened the door, “Wham! Split my head open,” Crawford said. “So I shot him and another guy.” Of the three intruders, one was white. “Crawford said he wasn’t too rattled by the attack, and he still felt comfortable staying in the home.” Crawford is not in danger of prosecution because of Florida’s “Stand your Ground” law.9”
― Colin Flaherty, 'White Girl Bleed A Lot': The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It