<p>Punks come in all colors. The word, itself, is not racist. I love in mafiaville and punk is almost universally used to describe men who are connected. If anything, I would view it as a slur against Italian Americans, but I don’t because it is not the n word or the w word.</p>
<p>The situation Oklahoma is the stuff of horror movies and different people will react in different ways. Anger isn’t really an unusual emotion.</p>
<p>jonri, you can’t get your head around the fact that there is evil in the world and that there are bad people in small towns???</p>
<p>zoosermom, Punks, Mafiaville? What in the blazes are you talking about?</p>
<p>Is this the twighlight zone here?</p>
<p>Staten Island. Home of Mob Wives.</p>
<p>I guess I’m missing the connection between Mafiaville and this thread.</p>
<p>The word punks was used to ascribe racist motives to George Zimmerman. I was pointing out that that word isn’t traditionally used to refer to a particular race. </p>
<p>Not everything is racism. I don’t think the Oklahoma case will end up being a racist act, either.</p>
<p>The word “punk” has a racist connotation? That’s news to me. And what does this have to do the “Mafiaville”.</p>
<p>On what basis do you say that this “I don’t think the Oklahoma case will end up being a racist act”? You read the tweet, right?</p>
<p>Riporin, feel free not to read my posts. I was responding to something written by Sally. Read the thread.</p>
<p>I have Sally on ignore so I don’t know what you are talking about.</p>
<p>Still curious to know what “Mafiaville” has to do with this.</p>
<p>I was explaining, in response to sally’s post saying that Zimmerman calling Martin a punk was evidence of racism, that the word punk is not a word that is universally understood to refer to black men. Not every tragedy is based in racism, and not every crime is motivated by racism.</p>
<p>Haha…I love it.</p>
<p>riprorin, if it makes you feel better I tried putting you on “ignore” too but it was too hard to follow entire threads with posts missing. So I see everything you put up for the world to see. :)</p>
<p>Okay, I agree with that.</p>
<p>Wondering what Mafiaville and Zimmerman have to do with this incident.</p>
<p>There is absolutely nothing racist about the word “punk”.</p>
<p>Definition of PUNK</p>
<p>1
archaic : prostitute
2
[probably partly from 3punk] : nonsense, foolishness
3
a : a young inexperienced person : beginner, novice; especially : a young man
b : a usually petty gangster, hoodlum, or ruffian
c slang : a young man used as a homosexual partner especially in a prison
4
a : punk rock
b : a punk rock musician
c : one who affects punk styles</p>
<p>sally wrote:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Okay, but if you are going to rely on this line of reasoning, then you must accept that it works both ways.</p>
<p>The idea that someone on this site is asking us to try “a little empathy” for the killers makes me want to puke.</p>
<p>I wonder whether it was a black neighborhood. </p>
<p>3 black teens killing a white teen for fun … could it be a hate crime?</p>
<p>Is it true, that it took more than 7 minutes for ambulance to come? What kind of neighborhood is this?</p>
<p>No empathy for the killers here. I don’t care how they viewed white people or what white people did to them (as in, it is no excuse, not that I’m excusing any racism they may have faced). This was someone random on the street. There is NO justification for a random killing.</p>
<p>I don’t think this was racially motivated. I think they just have no regard for human life regardless of flesh tone.</p>
<p>Bay, try a little comprehension. I didn’t say “have a little empathy” for the killing," I said “have a little empathy for why a black youth in OK might not be very fond of white people (and tweet about it).” Big difference. I have ZERO empathy for the killing. Please.</p>
<p>californiaaa, it was not “three black youth.” It was a group of three young men who, together, were apparently 50% black. It was also said to be an affluent neighborhood–meaning, likely more white than not.</p>
<p>Ok sally, I feel marginally better. But it is not a “big difference.” The tweets that were referred to, were specifically made by one of the killers, not some random black kid in OK. I suggest you be more precise if you don’t want to be misinterpreted.</p>
<p>Again, californiaaa, one of the 3 kids was white. Some conservative commentators have been claiming that all 3 were black. That is partly because early newspaper accounts actually posted 3 pictures of the defendants without noting that 2 of the 3 photos were of Evans, taken from his facebook page. Other newspaper accounts showed 3 photos, one of whom was of a black man who has nothing to do with this case. [Christopher</a> Lane Killing Becomes Race Issue For Conservative Pundits](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Christopher Lane Killing Becomes Race Issue For Conservative Pundits | HuffPost Voices)</p>
<p>The neighborhood is affluent. </p>
<p>It took 7 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. If you want to know why, listen to the tape of the 911 call–you can google as well as I can. IMO, the 911 operator was less than competent. She talked for 3 minutes before she asked for an ambulance. When she FINALLY did, she told the dispatcher that some guy “claims he has been shot.” At that point, the exasperated caller tells her that the guy isn’t talking at all–which she had told the operator at least twice before.</p>
<p>You get the impression that drive by shootings aren’t exactly common in Duncan and the 911 operator didn’t believe the caller, who gets increasingly upset.</p>
<p>Thanks, Bay. I will work on it.</p>
<p>Do you ever read internet comment sections (other than on this site)? Look at the link that riprorin posted. There is crazy, awful racism out there. A lot of it seems to have come out after we elected our first biracial (“black”) president. If the kid in the OK shooting hadn’t done what he did last week no one would be making much of what he posted on Twitter several months ago. There is no evidence that his random comments were prescient in any way.</p>