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Sept. 21, 2016 - Freedomain Radio - Stefan Molyneux
23:13
3424 The Truth About The Keith Scott Shooting and Charlotte Riots
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Hi everybody, Stefan Molyneux from Freedom Aid Radio.
Well, my friends, here we are again.
A shooting, murky circumstances, lots of innuendo and hearsay, the facts still to come out, but a giant rush to judgment on the part of way too many people in society.
Here we're going to delve into the truth about the Keith Lamont Scott shooting.
With the caveat and the understanding that the truth is not explicitly known at this point, but that doesn't mean we can't push back against some false narratives.
So, on Tuesday night, 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott was shot and killed by Charlotte Mecklenburg police officer Brentley Vinson in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
Both Scott and Officer Vincent are black, but the shooting nonetheless sparked Black Lives Matter protests and other protests which focused the eyes of the world...
On Charlotte, North Carolina.
And if you have been on YouTube and seen this, there is some truly shocking stuff going on.
Rocks being thrown at police, police's face being smashed in with rocks.
You've got rocks being thrown off bridges, overpasses onto highways, which, I don't know, seems like attempted murder to me, but what do I know?
I'm not a lawyer.
And people looting and setting fire to things and screaming in cops' faces.
A giant mess.
So, what happened?
Charlotte police originally went to the apartment complex at approximately 4 p.m.
looking for a suspect with an outstanding warrant.
Scott was not the suspect, but was observed getting out of his vehicle with a gun before re-entering the vehicle moments later.
Now, North Carolina is an open-carry state, so having a gun visible on your person is, of course, not a crime.
So officers approached the vehicle and Scott once again exited his vehicle with his weapon in his hand.
After repeated orders by police to drop his firearm, Scott was shot and killed.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department spokesman Keith Treatly said,"...officers observed the subject get back into the vehicle, at which time they began to approach the subject." The subject got back out of the vehicle, armed with a firearm, and posed an imminent, deadly threat to the officers who subsequently fired their weapon, striking the subject.
Now, I'm aware that the grammar's a little unclear, whether it's singular or plural.
My understanding is that police officer Brentley Vinson is the one who shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott.
Now, of course, they attempted to do CPR and revive him and provide medical attention, but he died fairly quickly.
Four bullets, as far as I understand it.
Scott's family and Black Lives Matter protesters claim that Scott was, quote, disabled and was killed while he was peacefully reading a book inside his vehicle.
Scott's mother, Vernito Walker, said he was a family man and he was a likable person and he loved his wife and his children.
Thank you.
Now, this is where the not-safe-a-work part comes in.
I'm sorry, I'm going to read it fairly verbatim.
This is not cleaned up at all.
Scott's unnamed brother said, I just know that all white people are fucking devils.
And white cops are fucking devils.
And white people.
He was waiting in the car for his son to get from school.
The jump out police came with no uniform to determine he was police or not.
And he just jumped out and yelled gun and shot him.
I think he shot him four times.
I'm not sure.
But he's dead.
Scott's daughter, Lyric Scott, said, the police just shot my daddy four times for being black.
Look at these bitches.
Look at these coons.
They shot my daddy three times, four times for being black.
They tased him first and then shot him.
They talk about he got a motherfucking gun.
What the fuck wrong with y'all?
In the red shirt.
You walking in a group.
You big scary ass.
You white fucker.
You a white bitch.
I don't give a fuck.
Where the little red-faced motherfucker?
Shot my motherfucking daddy for being black.
You little bitches.
Shot my daddy for being black.
He's fucking disabled.
How the fuck he gonna shoot y'all?
I think she's referring to there was a cop in a red shirt.
Scott's daughter went on to say, he don't got no motherfucking gun.
No motherfucking gun.
He shot my damn daddy.
That's what they did.
They shot my daddy, damn, four times.
She also went on to say, look, he gotta walk with some damn body because he's scared.
He know damn well my motherfucking daddy ain't have no motherfucking gun.
You bitch.
Hey, my daddy ain't have no motherfucking gun.
He'll probably be raping his motherfucking daughter.
I want to know what shit they put in our truck as my daddy don't have no motherfucking gun.
Look, plantin' shit, cause that's what the fuck y'all do, you ugly ass motherfucker.
My motherfucking daddy is definitely disabled.
What fucking gun he had.
He in the damn car reading a fucking book.
Y'all motherfuckers run up on him cause he's black.
Cause he's fucking black.
So, Scott stored a Lyric live-streamed video on Facebook, which is over an hour long, where she proceeded to taunt and threaten the police countless times, including calling a black female officer ugly and saying the officer was afraid of her masters, right, the female officer.
Police have recovered a firearm from the scene, but no books were found on site.
Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Chief Kiraputny said, quote, I can tell you we did not find a book that has been referenced to.
We did find a weapon.
The weapon was there and witnesses have corroborated it beyond just the officers.
By the way, so here, I mean, just in general, we have a black victim, a black cop shooting him, and a black police chief shooting.
But still, it's white people's fault, and white people are devils.
And wasn't there this story?
Well, first of all, there's a story about Obama was going to heal race relations.
How's that coming along?
Number two, there was, of course, this story that the way to solve the problems of the bad relations between cops and black people is to have black cops police black people.
So that happened in this situation.
I don't think it's really solved the problem in the way that was promised, unlike every other government program on the planet throughout history and into the future until we wise the hell up.
So as a standard procedure after a shooting, Officer Vincent has been placed on paid administrative leave.
According to Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, what I'm asking the community to do is remain calm and to please let our investigation continue so we can get the facts in front of the public.
Local protests quickly began and it did not take long for the peaceful protests to turn violent.
Protesters were heard chanting, Black Lives Matter, fuck the police, and hands up, don't shoot, as they walked on Interstate 85, blocking traffic in both directions.
Now, the hands up, don't shoot, we've got a whole video on this channel about Michael Brown.
The hands up, don't shoot narrative was a false narrative put forward by Michael Brown's companion, that he was shot execution-style in the back.
While he was saying hands up, don't shoot, this was all not true, but nonetheless, I think we're in facts don't matter land.
Demonstrators destroyed marked police vehicles, threw rocks at police officers, and looted a tractor-trailer truck, setting its contents on fire and terrorizing the white female driver, who later commented that she feared for her life.
This is the unnamed female tractor-trailer driver who said, I understand.
They want to make a statement, but they are hurting innocent people trying to make a living.
There was a woman who had kids in the car.
The windshield was shattered while driving on the highway.
And she said, unfortunately, these protesters, they don't see the difference.
We're people trying to get home.
We haven't done anything wrong.
I fear that if we had to stop, they probably would have done something to us.
And I'm pretty sure she's not referring to apologizing and repairing the windshield.
So, as is inevitably the case with these kinds of escalations, tear gas and riot police were used to disperse the highway protesters, but dozens of protesters moved on to a local Walmart and attempted to break into the building for looting purposes.
That crowd of protesters quickly dispersed once police and SWAT arrived on site.
Again, Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said, As always, our officers try to facilitate demonstrations and protests.
But when that behavior becomes violent, aggressive and destructive, we have to act as we did.
16 police officers were injured so far during the protests, including one who was hit in the face with a rock.
11 civilians were also injured and treated at local hospitals with a total of five arrests made due to the violence.
I think also three reporters or three media people were also injured.
I'm not going to be a good one.
North Carolina Governor Pat McRory said, I've been in conversations with the mayor and other city officials since early this morning.
We will do everything we can to support the mayor and the police chief in their efforts to keep the community calm and to get this situation resolved.
It is very important that we all work together as a team to solve a very difficult issue and to bring peace and resolution.
My prayers are with the Scott family and also our law enforcement, especially the 16 police officers who were injured last night.
As governor, I'm going to do everything I can to support the entire city leadership in their effort to resolve this situation.
So good, he's on the case and on the phone.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, These tragic incidents have once again left Americans with feelings of sorrow, anger, and uncertainty.
They have once again highlighted in the most vivid and painful terms the real divisions that still persist in this nation between law enforcement and communities of color.
Ah, always putting some more gasoline on the flames from high places.
Divisions between law enforcement and communities of color.
Black police chief.
Black officer shoots black victim.
And nonetheless, it's a black-white race issue.
What can we even say?
Oh, we'll say.
We'll just get to it a bit.
So she went on to say, protest is protected by our Constitution and is a vital instrument for raising issues and creating change.
But when it turns violent, it undermines the very justice that it seeks to achieve and I urge those demonstrating in Charlotte to remain peaceful in their expressions of protest and concern.
Charlotte, NAACP President Corrine Mack said, When will our lives truly matter?
A black father is dead.
There are children tonight who will never see their father again.
It clearly appears as if our lives don't matter.
We need to change policies.
We need to change procedure.
We need to hold police accountable.
It's a modern-day lynching.
Charlotte is not a good place right now.
We're in the throes of this problem.
Ah.
So, apparently...
She's already come to a conclusion that the cop is at fault and the black man who was shot was just an innocent victim reading a book.
So, you know, lynching, just for those who don't know, that's kind of like street justice without any burden of proof, without trial by jury, without the capacity to confront your accuser with the presumption of innocence and with a very high standard of proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
That is all bypassed when it comes to lynching.
So while the police are still looking into this matter, investigating it, they say they have video, which we'll get to later, people are coming to their conclusions and complaining that jumping to the conclusions in the criminality or the problems in a particular case, that that is a fine thing to do, and they're also complaining about lynching.
And I don't think you can really have it both ways.
The ACLU said, in the interest of transparency and accountability, and particularly in light of conflicting accounts about the shooting, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department should quickly release any and all footage it has of the events leading up to the shooting, as well as the shooting itself.
NBC News said, Vincent was in plainclothes with a police vest and was not wearing a body camera, but three other officers on scene did have them.
The footage was being reviewed along with cruiser dashcams, and there were no immediate plans to make the video public.
Now, the funny thing is, in the Mike Brown situation, when he was shown to be strong-arm robbing this convenience store, and despite what the autopsy said, that he was shot in the front and not in the back, the facts didn't really matter.
So even after the video was released of his prior criminal activity, even after it was pretty much established that he attacked the police officer and was not shot in the back and so on, the hands up, don't shoot, all of this stuff doesn't matter.
They can release the video all they want.
If people are going to steadfastly deny reality, I mean, it'll only convince some people, not everyone.
CBS News reported that, quote, a controversial bill signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory in July would prevent law enforcement agencies from releasing video footage without a court order, but the law does not take effect until October the 1st.
Back to Charlotte Mecklenburg, police chief Ken Putney, Kurt Putney, sorry, said, quote, it would have a negative impact on the case, and right now that's something we can't do.
It's time to change the narrative.
The story is a bit different than it's been portrayed so far, especially through social media.
The Charlotte Observer said,"...a public records search shows that Scott was convicted in April 2004 of a misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon charge in Mecklenburg County.
Other charges stemming from that date were dismissed, felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and misdemeanor assault on a child under 12, assault on a female, and communicating threats." In April 2015, again, this is according to the Charlotte Observer, in April 2015, in Gasson County Court, Scott was found guilty of driving while intoxicated.
Scott was married and had seven children.
So...
It is kind of grindingly repetitive, and I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel this merry-go-round is hitting the same narrative points over and over again.
So the media reports that there are conflicting stories.
But they're not interviewing eyewitnesses, right?
Just someone says, oh, he had a book, and then that races around, right?
That old reality that a lie can get twice around the world while the truth is still getting its boots on.
This is hearsay.
It's not conflicting stories, right?
The cops have video.
The cops have a process.
The cops have a procedure.
And...
They have video, so they're not going to make up stuff that the video is going to disprove, because then everybody just goes to jail, right?
I mean, they're not going to do that.
They're not going to do that.
I mean, I know the cops are not perfect, and I know there have been times where they planted evidence, and I know there have been times where they've conspired and so on, but not usually when they have video that is going to be available.
So, it's not just a matter of conflicting stories.
We really have to be responsible with this stuff, because we know that when this kind of stuff goes down, as it always seems to do in an election year...
For reasons we'll get to in a second.
When this kind of stuff goes down, what happens?
Well, people lie about stuff.
People lie all the time about what goes on.
And then the narrative takes wind, takes fire.
There are riots, lootings, thefts, injuries, attacks, assaults, attacks on cops.
Businesses flee a neighborhood.
And it's just a mess.
Because people have lied in the past about these kinds of events.
And we'll see what goes on with this.
It's not hugely complicated.
You know, it seems weird to have to even say it, but obey the cops.
You know, if the cops say, stay in your car, hey, stay in your car.
If the cops say, I need to see your hands, give them jazz hands.
If the cops say, stop moving, stop moving.
If the cops say, drop your gun, drop your weapon, it's usually a good idea to drop your weapon because they are going to escalate until you comply or you die in these kinds of situations.
And it is, you know, talk about your innocent bystanders, right?
I mean, black police chief, black police officer, a black shooting victim, still, it lands on the lap of white people in some sort of systemic halala, whatever is going on, right?
I mean, according to some of the narratives, and it's just getting, you know...
It's getting to the point where the word racism is meaningless now.
It's meaningless.
It's just become...
You know, if you ever did this when you were a kid, I used to do this one as a kid because I'm into language, but you just repeat some word over and over again until it just became nonsensical.
You can try it yourself.
Just pick some word.
Ratatouille.
And just keep repeating it until it just starts to become a jumbled mess.
Well, I think this is where the race is.
Like, if we're going to reach out from this triangle of black people to find white racism and blame...
I mean, come on.
I mean, just nonsense, right?
So why is this all going on?
Well, there is a tragedy and we'll see what happens when the police release the footage and we'll see what happens when the investigation is complete.
But if people are out there spreading stories about, you know, he was reading a book and shot for no reason and so on, just get that you're contributing to the decline and fall of Western civilization.
You may have a certain amount of, ooh, it feels good to be part of the drama, but it is contributing to the death and decline of Western civilization.
There is that minor caveat about it.
But what's going on when North Carolina is a battleground state in the Trump versus Clinton election, right?
I mean, Trump is ahead by a point according to the polls, which probably means he's ahead by 5 to 10 points.
So the Democrats are currently falling behind or losing in a battleground state.
So the media, which wants to rescue the Democrats' chances of winning in November, the media is going to try and gin up some race-baiting votes.
I mean, it's tragic, and it's sad, and it's an inexcusable use of the black population.
It's absolutely horrifying, absolutely wrong, absolutely appalling behavior, but this is how things go.
And so, even if, like, let's say...
That everything that is complained about is true.
We'll find out over time.
Let's say this disabled guy was reading a book and was shot for no reason by a white cop.
And there was a white police officer.
And let's say that some racist motivation came out over time or something like that.
Even if we accept all of the racy-baity narratives that are going on, how does it...
It's not Walmart's fault, right?
They're going in and ripping off electronics and TVs and iPads and all that from Walmart is not solving the problem.
It's not the highway's fault.
It's not the driver's fault.
It's not the fault of that anonymous white woman who was driving the tractor trailer, who's terrified out of her brain because people are pulling stuff out of her truck and setting fire to it.
It's not the fault of the woman with the kids in the car when the windshield gets smashed.
It's not their fault.
So this kind of acting out, what does it do?
Well, it drives businesses out of the neighborhood.
It drives jobs out of the neighborhood.
It's not going to solve your problems.
It's going to make them worse.
And, you know, when people see this kind of stuff going on, they have come to particular conclusions about particular communities.
And if you see it being acted out repeatedly, there are challenges and there are questions.
And if it does turn out that this narrative is false, if there is no book, if there is a gun with fingerprints matched in a database, because the guy's been printed, of course, I guess if he's been charged and all, If it turns out that it is false, if it is a false narrative, if lies were just spread in order to gin up conflict and help destroy neighborhoods already fragile and ground under by poverty and crime, then that is going to be clear to everyone as well.
And you're going to run out of any credibility.
You know, the boy who cries wolf, you're going to run out of credibility for the next time.
And there may be a time when you really do need that credibility.
Don't use it up.
Again, we'll find out over time what is true.
Obama, of course, was supposed to heal all of this, was supposed to solve problems in race relations, was supposed to bring blacks and whites in particular closer together.
And how's that working now, that government program called Heal Racial Divisions?
Well, the answer is not well, and that's important, right?
Stuff has been tried.
Black community is in general worse off now than it was in 2008 when Obama first took the helm of power.
And that's important, right?
Obama was supposed to solve all of this stuff.
And race relations in America now are worse than they have been in a long, long time.
And stuff like this doesn't help at all.
In fact, makes it worse.
So fundamentally, you know, I was looking at the hashtags last night.
And, you know, there are algorithms in Twitter that give you the news that you want to see rather than news that might oppose some of your...
Preordained viewpoints, let's say, or prejudices, perhaps.
So I was looking at a wide variety of the hashtags, and it really was like looking at two different realities.
Because, you know, there were the hashtags that says, well, let's wait till the facts come in, or we don't know what happened, and then there were other hashtags which was like, well, they shot him because he's a black guy reading a book, just like on the plantation when you were killed for reading a book.
It was like...
Two realities, two opposing realities, not even in the same place.
It's become like almost a religious conflict in America, the sort of racial narratives.
And you can't have a dialogue without agreeing to some moderation by reality.
This is why religions tend to end up in pretty significant conflict, because there's no empirical, rational process or methodology that can resolve disputes.
If physicists have a dispute about how high a ball bounces, they can just measure it.
But when people inhabit propagandized sub-realities, they don't have objective reality to mediate their disputes.
So what happens is people dig into their conflicts, they dig into their narratives.
And tensions escalate until there is a breaking point.
And I'm very concerned.
Honestly, I'm very, very concerned about the state of race relations in the West, of course, as a whole, but in America in particular.
If people are going to dig into these narratives and not wait for the facts to come out, and if they're going to gin themselves up to levels of hysteria, About racial problems, it kind of becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And these escalations of opposing narratives that can't meet in reality is going to escalate, is going to escalate, is going to escalate until...
It comes to a very, very bad place.
And let's do everything we can to work to avoid that.
This is Stefan Molyneux for Free Domain Radio.
Thank you so much for watching and listening.
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