http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/19/walmart.trial/index.html
I believe the appropriate way to start this post off is with a famous quote from the Chappelle Show: “I DON’T LIKE PEOPLE PLAYING ON MY PHONE!”
With that said, I”m sure most of you by now have heard about the Heather Ellis case. Here’s the Cliffnotes version of what happened: She was in Kennett, Missouri, visiting relatives while home from college. She went to Walmart with her cousin. When they were ready to check out, her cousin got in one line. She got in another line. Ellis saw that her cousin’s line was moving faster, and walked over and cut in line with her cousin. People were mad. Words were exchanged. The police were called. Now she is facing 15 years if convicted.
Your favorite bloggers on The Conference Call decided to discuss the issue:
Wood: How about this nonsense???
C-Mac: I dunno. Which part do you think is nonsense?
Kev: Uh ohhhhhh… I see a potential blog topic brewing! LOL.
C-Mac: 1. Does racism exist? Still? Yes.
2. Are you ever going to get away with assaulting police officers? No.
3. Is line cutting at Wal-Mart some sh!t? Yes. And I’ve called people out for it. But I called them inconsiderate A-holes.
4. Can an entire group of people all tell the same wrong story? Yes.
5 Should she have plead it out for probation as opposed to facing a felony and going to jail for years? When there’s physical evidence of assault? Yes. All day, every time.
Kev: It’s her word against the townspeople and policemen. I usually give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but watch Rosewood, Mississippi Burning, or Three Little Girls… heck, just read To Kill a Mockingbird and you know a black man’s word against a white man or woman’s word is no good in smaller, racially aggressive towns. Also, if I’m in one line, and Wood is in another line, then I’m going to go over to his line all day, everyday if it’s moving faster. It happens all of the time. I think she was harassed and those doing the harassing caught her on a bad day. She was a college student visiting her relatives. I’m sure any other black person who actually lived in that town would have kept their head down, said, “Yes, sir,” and just kept it moving.
C-Mac: I don’t disagree with any of that, except the cutting. Let’s be specific. Debbie and I get in different lines. We have one set of purchases. Ok, you diversified your risk. As opposed to me and Wood, picking two lines, mine goes faster, so I let him cut, buy his stuff, then I buy mine. That’s not the same.
Other than that, I totally agree with you. She was down at Xavier and probably had a chip on her shoulder, b/c she did in fact come from a town full of racist a-holes.
YOU WILL NEVER ASSAULT THE COPS AND WIN. And if you can plea it and go on with your life far far from this backwoods place, I think you do it as opposed to going on trial for assaulting cops. It’s not a good charge to face, even for a cause, a cause that you can’t win. You can’t change people that ignorant, if they truly are ignorant enough that every single one of them if telling the same untrue story…your win is getting out, being successful, and living in harmony with non-ignorant neighbors.
Kev: We have to agree to disagree on the cutting thing. One set of purchases? Fine. If it’s two different purchases? Still fine. How? I’m letting you get in front of me. You didn’t cut in front of the person behind me. I’m letting you cut in front of me. It’s no different than me letting a nice, elderly lady go in front of me. Are the other people in line going to call the cops and Riverdance on my head for doing that?
I agree about the cops thing. Maybe that’s why she was born in this generation rather than in 1932. She wouldn’t have made it apparently. LOL.
Rice: I don’t have a problem with two sets of purchases and letting someone cut, but that does not sound like what happened here. The way I read the story Ellis, took it upon herself to join her cousin in the faster moving line and did not cut in front of them, but cut in front of the person behind the cousin and then proceeded to push another patron’s items back along the conveyor belt to make room for her purchases (very rude and uncool). Whatever happened afterward, the fact that her voice was heard at the back of the Wal-Mart before the police were called doesn’t really tell me that she handled the situation well from the off. I imagine that the officers, hearing the situation before they arrived were probably predisposed to “aggressively” handle the situation. That being said, it sounds like this town has had racial issues, and perhaps continues to, but this situation began with stoopid issues, not racial ones. It is possible that racial issues exacerbated the problem, but until we have more of the evidence I cannot make a determination that I am fully comfortable saying is 100% correct.
Wood: Again this is all Blah, Blah, Blah. She was wrong for being belligerent. The cops were wrong for overreacting. But guess whose going to lose when there are two wrongs? So she should have taken the plea and shut up. I bet she will really see it that way when she’s Big Bertha’s girlfriend for 15 years.
C-Mac: She should have taken the deal not because there were two wrongs and she is the black person. She should have taken the plea b/c she assaulted the police. People can SAY whatever they want, and they’re wrong for it a lot of the time. But you can’t hit people. You REALLY can’t hit cops. It’s a universally unwinable proposition.
Kev, you can do math…
I’m in line. I’m behind someone, and in front of someone. If you cut in front of me, you cut in front of everyone behind me. Most people wouldn’t make an ordeal out of it, but that’s what you did. There is no difference whatsoever to the person behind me if you cut in front of me or them.
And yes, nice elderly people get a pass. Young able men that are just in a big d*mn hurry, not so much. Will I let the mom wagging 4 kids around, trying to buy one bottle of children’s Tylenol? Yes. The stoner looking dude with a bag of Doritos and 14 Totino’s pizzas? Not so much.
Kev: I knew you would come with that logic. My perception is that it’s my spot and I can let anyone go in front of me if I choose to do so.
C-Mac: Ok, I’m overly logical…but I added in the compassionate part too! 
P
Your spot isn’t a possession, it’s part of a system…a larger system of commerce. There’s a social contract. Apparently we don’t all feel the same way. But that’s cool. Like I said, I’m not likely to get bent out of shape about it in most cases. But there’s the occasional person that blatantly abuses it, and that’s not cool. I’m also a lot more easy going than I used to be, probably a product of age and having real issues to deal with in life. The more big stuff you have, the easier it becomes to not sweat the small stuff.
Kev: Good breakdown. Understood. I just like to take that logic, and apply it to other situations. There’s always room for abuse and someone is always going to be mad.
Should the driver behind you with road rage, already 10 minutes late & working on his 3rd strike at work, shoot you or the person you let get in front of you?
C-Mac: No, and point taken.
On the other hand, when we let people over we’re letting them get to an exit, onto a roadway from an exit, etc… There’s 2000+ lbs of metal moving very quickly, and there’s a sense of urgency, esp. if you’re literally running out of lane.
Don’t be 10 minutes late w/ 2 strikes, or know that there are consequences…and talk your way out of them.
The consensus: We agree to disagree on cutting in line. When you catch the wrong person on the wrong day, they can get belligerent. With that said, never hit a cop… and especially if you’re black!
LATE BREAKING UPDATE!!!
Wood:
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/nov/19/man-accused-squeegee-attack-conway/
A Conway man is due in court on charges he used a gas pump squeegee to hit another man during a fight over who was first in line at a gas pump.
Twenty-one-year-old Hector Chavez is to be arraigned Friday in Faulkner County Circuit Court on a second-degree battery charge.
A Conway police report says the victim told officers that he was waiting in line at a gas pump when Chavez cut in front of him. The victim — who was not identified — said he confronted Chavez with the squeegee and swung at him before Chavez took the squeegee and began beating him with it.
A phone listing could not be found for Chavez and it wasn’t clear whether he had an attorney.
CMac: Because he successfully defended himself? I guess he could have taken it away and then threatened the guy, but seriously, dude got what he deserved…
Kev: Ironically, it starts with cutting in line. ;o)
CMac: Dude, I’m telling you, line cutting is LINE STEPPING. Don’t be a habitual line-stepper. It’s not ok. You may get arrested. Even if you’re the victim of racism, or even if you’re attacked by a dweeb with a squeegee.
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