When my friend Kieth called and asked me to come over, last Thursday night, I could tell by his voice something was very wrong. When I arrived, he looked in shock - he told me his youngest son's mother had called to say their child had shot a mail carrier in Maple Heights.
Kieth was clearly devastated by the thought of the harm his son had caused the victim, Daniel Kondas, who later died, and his family.
And, Kieth was heartbroken for his son, Randie Winston. And, for his loss of a son to prison.
Kieth loved his son and talked about him often. I believe Kieth was a good father, under hard circumstances.
Randie was raised in a broken, urban, struggling homeworld, as are so many kids in Cleveland. Randie had his father's involvement in his life, throughout early childhood, and has as much as possible all his life.
But Keith was the primary parent for Randie for only a few years, when Randie did well in life. Keith was not able to get legal custody of his son Randie, so Randie was largely not raised by Kieth, past eight, or so.
When Keith lost his battle for custody, he says he told the judge "You just killed my sons"!
Well, truer words have not been said since, as we see this failure in society led to the worst imaginable, yet entirely predicted outcomes.
Custody lost, Kieth was not allowed to help raise his children. Kieth says he often couldn't even track them down at holidays, to give them presents.
Records will show Kieth has paid his child support, and tried to stay in contact with his son, and planned to have him work with him in his painting business, as he became an adult. Kieth was determined to help his son find a good path in life, if he could.
But, I believe, other people took Randie down other paths that led to tragedy for so many. That path started taking its turn for the worst in a court, in Cuyahoga County, about 10 years ago.
I met Randie this spring, visiting with his father, and I did not see a monster in him. Randie did not seem to hate me in any way, including for being white.
Why he killed must be determined in court. My understanding is this was an armed robbery gone worst, and I am interested where Randie obtained the gun and if he was somehow pushed to do this by others.
Yet, in an opinion column today in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Hate Crimes Need Larger Definition [1]", Phillip Morris labeled this a "hate crime":
I think mail carrier Daniel Kondas, for instance, was a victim of a hate crime. As of Monday afternoon, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office had yet to file charges against the 19-year-old black male suspect, who police say shot and killed Kondas, a 23-year-veteran of the Postal Service.
But law enforcement officials say they believe that the homicide, committed in daylight, was the result of a botched robbery attempt. Nowhere, however, is it yet being suggested that the crime was motivated by hatred.
Why? Because the 53-year-old Kondas was white and his alleged teenaged killer is black. If the races of the victim and offender had been reversed, however, this crime would already loudly be dubbed a hate crime, although all of the circumstances surrounding the assault have yet to be assembled.
So what's the point? Why engage in a dangerous, hypothetical game of racial "what if"?
I'm confident Phillip Morris is not informed about anything factual regarding Randie Winston, and this case, beyond what has been released by authorities. So, Phillip, as you say... "So what's the point? Why engage in a dangerous, hypothetical game of racial "what if"?"
There is a crime to be solved here. A man was shot and someone will pay. It seems Randie was involved in shooting the man, and will pay. He now needs a fair trial. Society needs a fair trial.
What is his crime? What is the price he will pay? That is to be determined by a court of law, rather than a lynching mob led by a black "columnist" trying to sell his opinions and newspaper to a largely white audience.
At this point, Morris and the PD have so tainted the justice system and jury pool here, Randie doesn't seem to have a chance of a fair investigation or trial.... this smells of a lynching.
That is a hate crime, exactly like the white-against-black hate crimes of all times, and it was committed by the black Morris against the black Winston.
As Morris himself concludes, "the overwhelming majority of hate crimes against African-Americans are committed by other black men". I'd say Morris' column against Randie is an excellent example of that, as Morris seems motivated by hatred against blacks.
I'm so concerned about Randie receiving fair treatment in the media and under law, I contacted a crime writer at the PD, last night, before seeing Morris' column, with the following message:
Randie Winston
Norm Roulet to latassi
Sep 21 (16 hours ago)
I saw your bio on Cleveland.com and thought you may be interested in discussing the Randie Winston case with his father, who is a good friend. I've also met Randie, and believe there are many aspects to this horrible tragedy worth reporting, beyond the obvious.Let me know if of interest.
--
Norm Roulet
REALNEO - 7GEN - Star Neighborhood Development
440-220-0919Disrupt IT
Of course, I haven't heard back from latassi at the PD...
Kieth would like to talk to the media, if their intent is more honorable and legal than to commit a hate crime against him and his son to sell newspapers.
Consider the conclusion of Morris' column and ask, does it even remotely make sense?:
Kondas' violent death is no different, no more defensible, and no more explicable, than the deaths once routinely delivered by nooses. His homicide was rooted in a shocking, despicable disregard for life. It was a modern urban hate crime.
We need to start labeling these crimes for what they are. At a minimum, any robbery that ends in a murder of the victim should be considered a hate crime.
No, Phillip, those are called homocides [2]. You are not qualified nor chosen to rewrite the encyclopedia or even our urban dialect.
For the benefit of Phillip Morris, the Editors at the PD, and others who have not yet discovered Wikipedia, below is a definition of Hate Crime [3]. This is a very important category of serious crimes, that is not remotely similar to what the Maple Heights Police and witnesses have indicated is what happened with Randie Winston, and the PD owes him and his family an apology for using them in such a despicable and hateful way.
They are human, and suffering.
Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group [4], usually defined by racial group [5], religion [6], sexual orientation [7], disability [8], ethnicity [9], nationality [10], age [11], gender [12], gender identity [13], or political affiliation [14].[1] [15]
"Hate crime" generally refers to criminal acts [16] which are seen to have been motivated by hatred [17] of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters.[2] [18]
Concern about hate crimes has become increasingly prominent among policymakers in many nations and at all levels of government [19] in recent years, but the phenomenon is not new. Examples from the past include Roman [20] persecution [21] of Christians [22], the Ottoman [23] genocide [24] of Armenians [25], and the Nazi [26] "final solution [27]" for the Jews [28], and more recently, the ethnic cleansing [29] in Bosnia [30] and genocide [31] in Rwanda [32]. Hate crimes have shaped and sometimes defined world history. In the United States [33], racial and religious biases have inspired most hate crimes. As Europeans [34] began to colonize [35] the New World in the 16th and 17th centuries, Native Americans [36] increasingly became the targets of bias-motivated intimidation [37] and violence [38]. During the past two centuries, some of the more typical examples of hate crimes in the US include lynchings [39] of African Americans [40], cross burnings [41] to drive black families from predominantly white neighborhoods, assaults [42] on white people travelling predominantly black neighborhoods, assaults [42] on gay [43], lesbian [44] and transgender [45] people, and the painting of swastikas [46] on Jewish synagogues [47], as well as attacks against European Americans [48], such as the Murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom [49] and the Wichita Massacre [50]. [3] [51]
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