A response to the racist defending John Henry Spooner’s murder of Darius Simmons

Earlier this month I wrote a post about the murder of Darius Simmons, a 13 year old black child, by his racist next door neighbor, John Henry Spooner. I made it abundantly clear what I think of vile racist pus-monsters who slaughter young boys in front of their mothers, and what I think of cops who treat the victim and the victim’s family like they are in the wrong while mollycoddling racist goat fuckers who have just shot the victim in cold blood. My opinions have upset “Jon”, because I am so mean to the real victim, John Henry Spooner, who only “snapped” because he was forced to live by black males who did not treat him with the proper deference:

“Who wrote this garbage? In contrast the crime took place on the street corner not the suspects home. The family of this old man had every right to go through the house that was not part of the crime scene. Why is he racist? Black vs White? Let’s talk about the part that isn’t talked about… These to kids did whatever they could to this old man. Pushing and pushing him. What he did was wrong but are you telling me that you have never snapped??? Your kid does the samething over and over, should it be child abuse because you spanked the child.”

Racism, especially racism that pretends it isn’t racist, damages my calm. Thus, I am going to address Jon’s “defense” of a old white man’s decision to gun down a black kid in cold blood.

“Who wrote this garbage?”

That would be me, Betty Fokker. I am a well-educated, fat, feminist stay-at-home-mom who loves her kids and her husband with all of her heart and teaches Sunday School at an Episcopal Church. I loathe asshats in general and find child molesters, racists, and narcissist asshats particularly repellant.

“In contrast the crime took place on the street corner not the suspects home.

When you use the words “in contrast” you imply I stated otherwise. If you look carefully you can see that I link several newspaper articles about the event, and make much of the fact that John Henry Spooner went over to his neighbor’s yard to murder her son, and that the police left the child’s body on the sidewalk.  Ergo, “in contrast” doesn’t actually make sense. 

The family of this old man had every right to go through the house that was not part of the crime scene.”

Well, let’s look at some facts, shall we. I know racists have a hard time with those, but try to follow, okay? Here’s some facts from a newspaper:

Spooner had confronted Darius as he was taking out the trash and accused the kid of stealing from his home. When Ms Larry attempted to defend her son verbally against the accusation, Spooner drew a 9mm handgun. Darius, who had been in school at the time of the theft and who was, by all accounts, was a well-behaved, outgoing sixth-grader, denied any wrongdoing. Spooner, unconvinced, reportedly raised his firearm and shot Darius in the chest at close range. Though fatally wounded, Darius attempted to escape and turned to run, while Spooner continued to unload, aiming for the boy’s back. Darius collapsed on the pavement and Larry, who had watched this episode unfold in horror, ran to her child to see if he had a pulse. Darius was dead. Spooner was known by his neighbors, police, and local elected officials as a gun collector. In a recently reported burglary, Spooner claimed that four shotguns were taken. The police had already done an investigation, several days prior, to burglaries at Spooner’s residence. They had interviewed Darius Simmons’ family, and concluded that no one from his household was involved. Larry, Darius’s mother, had lived in that home for only a month. After police arrived, Darius’s body remained on the sidewalk, while his mother was questioned in a squad car for approximately two hours. During the investigation of the shooting, they searched Larry’s home again. Finding nothing relevant to the homicide, they nevertheless proceeded to arrest Darius’s older brother on account of truancy tickets. In contrast, members of Spooner’s family were reportedly allowed to re-enter their home and remove “items” – despite it being part of the crime scene.”

See, Darius Simmons was the victim. John Henry Spooner was the suspect. The police apparently confused the two, because the went into the victims home to look for proof that the child had somehow asked to be shot like a rabid dog in his own front yard, while they treated the suspects house, which would have been part of the crime scene. A crime scene “is not necessarily where the crime was committed. Indeed, there are primary, secondary and often tertiary crime scenes.” The suspects house would have been a crime scene in this case, since the suspect declared that the crime was motivated by the theft of property from within the home. So, the family did not have every right to go through the home.  

Furthermore, making exceptions and acting sympathetically toward Spooner’s family stands in stark contrast (that’s how you use the word contrast, BTW) to the way Patricia Larry, the mother of the murder victim, was treated. Basically a young kid was shot, then  the victim’s mother was held for interrogation, the victim’s home was searched, and the suspect was treated with kid gloves. If you want to tell me that a old black guy could have gone over to a young white child’s home and murdered him in front of his mother, yet still have been treated with the kindness shown to John Henry Spooner – then you wrote you comment form the public computers in an insane asylum and I’m sorry I was snippy with you. Bless your heart.

“Why is he racist? Black vs White?”

It is actually actions that define the  racist. Spooner went over to a child’s home and shot him dead in front of his mother. Yes, I think he did that horrible thing because the victim was black. I think John Henry Spooner had internalized the “criminal black man” stereotype, so when there was a theft in his home he just KNEW the black male next door was the culprit. Not even the police could convince him that there was no way the kid could have stolen Spooner’s guns. Moreover, I do not think he would have been so quick to murder a white child. I think he would have understood what he was doing WAS murder, and that someone was losing a child, and he would have had enough mercy and morals to know you don’t do that to other humans. I think he felt free to murder Darius, to put Patricia Larry thorough a searing emotional agony that will never fully abate, because he did not see them as though they were as fully human as himself. They were the Other, and therefore not really able to suffer like His Kind. Actions speak louder than words, and this is the clear message of his actions. And, just so you know, your knee-jerk defense of his actions makes you a racist, too. 

“Let’s talk about the part that isn’t talked about… These to kids did whatever they could to this old man. Pushing and pushing him. What he did was wrong but are you telling me that you have never snapped???”

By all means, let’s talk about that, shall we. Funny, not one newspaper report said that ‘these kids’, whom I assume are Darius and his older brother, had assaulted Spooner and that Spooner was in danger of his life.  The police were certain they hadn’t stolen anything off the old bastard.  So, what was left that was “pushing and pushing” him? Were they smart mouthed and cheeky? Did they not treat Spooner with the respect he thought they should? We they young black males who didn’t automatically assume Spooner was better than they were simply because he was white? Is that what they did to push him? One might be able to argue they were rude. One might be able to argue that Spooner’s racist assumptions pissed them off and they were vocal about it and taunted him with their freedom. However, no one could successfully argue in any place of civilization that it is permissible to murder a child for being impertinent. The only place that argument would fly is in the KKK where you are defending your right to have lynched a black guy because he was “uppity”. Since this incident did not take place in 1950s Mississippi, it was illegal for John Henry Spooner to gun down a black child for being uppity. No decent person thinks that murdering a child is a appropriate action. Even  if you “snapped” because he moved into your neighborhood, and the kid was uppity black boy, and the police would not punish him for you.

When I “snap” , I yell at people. I lose my temper. I don’t get a gun, hunt down a child, and murder him in front of his mother. Can you rub both your brain cells together and try to understand that there is a slight difference?

“Your kid does the samething over and over, should it be child abuse because you spanked the child.”

Darius Simmons wasn’t John Henry Spooner’s child. Spooner had no moral or legal right discipline Darius in any way. Moreover, “spanking” is different from murder. If your child does the same thing over and over, it should be considered abuse if you break his bones, cover him with contusions, and give him a concussion in the course of the “spanking”. If you kill your child it is certainly child abuse.  If you go next door and kill your neighbors child it is murder.

Anything else you need me to clarify for you? I’ll write using small words, since I know racists have been scientifically proven to be dimwitted.

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