Man arrested for hate crime, assault against 12 year old black boy in rural Louisiana gas station

[madamvlb]

On July 25, a 12-year-old African-American boy with dreadlocks went into a rural Louisiana gas station to pay for his grandmother's gas.
While standing alone at the counter, he was confronted by a 54-year-old monster of a man, Ronnie Barnes. Barnes, as seen in the video below, first attempts to pull down the boy's pants, asks him if he's a boy or a girl, then calls him a nigger, corners him up against a shelf, and then hits him in his head.

In the interview below, both the boy and his mother say, understandably, that they are now losing sleep over this assault. Doubly so because the bail amount for Ronnie Barnes' release was only $1,000. While it's important that this man be charged with a hate crime, it's outrageous that anyone who assaults a complete stranger, a 12-year-old stranger, could be released back to the public so easily.

[link:http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/30/1407294/-Man-arrested-for-hate-crime-assault-against-12-year-old-Black-boy-in-rural-Louisiana-gas-station|

https://m.

[NYCButterfinger]

1. Sick. He needs to be in jail.

Scumbag. If this is happening in America, then what nation is this.

[magical thyme]

4. a nation with a group of people (usually white men) who think they are entitled

to say anything they want to anybody -- and to touch anybody, anywhere and anyway they want.

I say this as a white woman who has had many inappropriate things said to me by total strangers and yes, been inappropriately touched on occasion by total strangers, as well.

Bail should be much higher. Creeps me out just to watch the video.

[Enthusiast]

21. +100%!

[Alfalfa]

26. I've been told by many women of color that it's not white men saying inappropriate things to them

Or inappropriately touching them in the street.

[kwassa]

33. Yeah. Sure.

Women of color talk to you all the time.

Not.

[Alfalfa]

35. Yes they do

I also frequent forums where the members are predominantly women of color.

[kwassa]

37. Do tell. And what do they tell you about white privilege?

I'm all ears.

[Alfalfa]

39. White privilege isn't something I discuss

They often complain about being harassed and intimidated in public spaces though. One woman actually had to leave her apartment because she felt so unsafe there.

[kwassa]

40. And how does this relate to the OP?

And why don't you discuss white privilege with them?)

[Alfalfa]

41. It relates to the post that I replied to which claimed that it's usually white men who display

This kind of behavior, but the women of color I speak to tell me a very different story. The people harassing and intimidating them are not white men. That's fine I guess, a lot of white women don't understand what it's like to be a woman of color or know what they experience every single day, from street harassment to physical assaults.

[kwassa]

43. Since I am married to a black woman. ..

I know you don't have a clue. This also is, IMHO, a racist diversion from the topic of the OP, the harassment of a black boy by a white man, which has nothing to do with black women, does it?

Why do you attempt to divert the topic?

[Alfalfa]

44. Forgive me for trying to correct an inaccurate broadbrush statement

[RKP5637]

2. This guy is a total scumbag asshole! n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

3. Check out that clerk!

Just standing there watching all this not making a move. If I saw that I would have lost my mind and been in jail for SERIUOS battery. Assaulting a 12-year-old. Ain't he just the badass!

[strategery blunder]

34. Likely the clerk didn't know what to do.

Training for emergencies in a job like that can be limited to what to do in a robbery. Other than that he might well have been trained not to intervene (or only to call the police) because by interfering, he'd endanger himself as well. And quite frankly, there's the question of "Is a minimum wage job worth placing myself in danger of being assaulted or worse as well?"

Lots of low-wage employers don't want to be liable when an employee sustains injury trying to be a hero. So they tell their employees to not place themselves in danger and that's that. When something like this comes up, the employee might well hesitate due to the lack of training and/or conflict between training and instinct.

Yes the clerk had a moral obligation to help the victim but he was probably very poorly equipped and trained to do so.

[reflection]

38. Well said. N/t

[Le Taz Hot]

42. And all that goes out the window when an

Last edited Mon Aug 3, 2015, 12:38 AM - Edit history (1)

ADULT is assaulting a CHILD. One is either a member of the Decent Human Being club or one isn't. It's as simple as that.

[strategery blunder]

45. So you expect any random clerk with zero training to act as law enforcement?

What part of "employers don't train minimum wage employees to handle emergencies other than robbery" don't you understand?

Perp: Not a member of Decent Human Being club. Not in dispute.
Employer: Probably not a member of Decent Human Being club. Doesn't train employees how to deal with emergencies, probably because employer is too cheap to do so.
Employee: Not enough information one way or another. It's impossible for me to know from here whether he lacked the training to "care" (which is a distinct possibility) or was simply too apathetic to care (also a possibility, but you instantly jump to that conclusion).

So, let me ask you this:

Must I, immediately and without hesitation, forfeit my job if some asshole punks a kid paying for his candy as I'm checking him out? After having been unemployed for four consecutive years? Because any course of action that I could possibly take to immediately handle the situation by the standard you're espousing would be met with my immediate termination.

Follow up question: Are you then willing to pay me for the income I would lose in such a scenario?

(Somehow I doubt I'll hold my breath waiting for the answer)

[Le Taz Hot]

47. So, you have to be paid to be a good human?

You know that pretty much disqualifies you, right?

[strategery blunder]

48. So, you expect me to lose my job/go homeless because I'm a bystander to assault.

Riiiiiiight.

If you have a problem with that, I suggest you start advocating employers be required to train all employees in how to handle emergency situations, including assault upon customers, that goes beyond "Don't intervene." That, I wholeheartedly support.

I suggest you take a step back. The clerk wasn't the one pulling the kid's pants down. Likely it was so far out of right field that he didn't even believe what he had seen (a shock reaction). That's something that better contingency training could have addressed.

[Le Taz Hot]

50. Why are you making this about "you?"

I don't really care what you do or don't do. Seriously.

[strategery blunder]

52. Because I recognize that the same thing could happen to me on my shift. n/t

[Le Taz Hot]

53. Then it seems you've got some soul searching to do.

Or not.

[strategery blunder]

54. It's a no-win situation.

Try to physically stop it as it's happening, lose my job and probably get myself injured in the process. Another little tidbit for you: I have no training in self-defense whatsoever so my intervention would likely be wholly ineffective.

Call police and summon help for the victim (i.e. what I'd do): It'd never be enough for keyboard warriors like you, whom I will never meet, who expect me to give my own livelihood and possibly life for someone I don't know, and all the while offer no evidence that they abide by the same standards they demand of strangers.

Or do nothing: I don't think anyone here is seriously advocating that.

It might be a no-win situation, but it's not a difficult choice.

[Le Taz Hot]

55. Calm down there, Sparky.

I actually HAVE stepped in physically. I'm a 5'0 tall female so you can take your "keyboard warrior" and well, you can finish the rest.

I'm done now. Buy bye.

[uponit7771]

49. was the clerk able to call the police? tia

[strategery blunder]

51. The footage was too short to tell

Most clerks would probably call the police (me for sure), but if the assault is still in progress, even that can be a provocation that threatens said clerk's safety. And as I mentioned, the employer is certain not to care.

The security footage is only a few seconds, by far too short to tell if the clerk summoned assistance for the victim (I'm guessing that since the perp is being charged, the clerk probably did).

[Skittles]

57. I know I would intervene

that man is NUTS and I would fear for the safety of the child

[Le Taz Hot]

58. I know you would too.

[malaise]

5. See - racism is dead - NOT

Another example of the assumptions of white privilege. A non-white man pulling down a 12 year old white boy's pants would be charged as a pedophile.

[sarge43]

12. Charged?

He wouldn't have made it to the jail alive.

[Enthusiast]

20. +100%!

[malaise]

23. Good point

[SusanCalvin]

14. No doubt.

Turn things around, that's all you have to do to see the truth.

That young man exhibited such restraint. (I'm sure the need had been previously impressed upon him, the current state of our society being what it is.)

If that had happened to me, I think I would have turned around swinging, but as an old white lady I would probably have been applauded.

That jerk who did such a thing is way too young to think that behavior is OK. Nobody his age should have grown up with those attitudes, but obviously he did. And people still are to this day. Sick.

[malaise]

24. I used to think this behavior was unbelievable

I was wrong - well said

[Alfalfa]

29. With all due respect

You can't be certain of that. There isn't even such a thing as "white privilege".

[kwassa]

32. I think you are a brand new troll.

[pipoman]

6. "he could face up to 6 months in prison"

No, he will face up to 6 months in county jail...county jail is not "prison"....prison is actually punishment county jail not so much...

[newfie11]

7. Good luck getting a conviction there

I'm really really getting so disgusted with my country.

Anyone not Lilly white is subject to discrimination.

I see it here with the Lakota (HELLO who's the immigrants here)!

I've seen it in the south and it doesn't seem to be going away.

I've seen it with Mexicans in Texas!
Want to talk about invasion of immigrants, who was there first!

I'm white so I'm part of the preferred color club. I'm so disgusted with this country, we are fu*king going backwards.

[Enthusiast]

19. I share your outrage. nt

[marmar]

8. I abhor violence, but......

.....if I had seen this go down, Mr. Barnes would need to have my foot removed from his ass.

[jtuck004]

9. Get a gun, learn to shoot. A cemetery is the only thing that will ever stop him. n/t

[irisblue]

10. WTF?

the guy put hands on a kid? WTF?

[lobodons]

11. Sex Crime on a minor

Should also charge him with sexual assault on a child for grabbing at his pants like that.

[demigoddess]

17. yes, he should be on a sex offender list for the rest of his life

that should teach him to keep his hands to himself!

[marble falls]

13. Three to one there's a Dixie rag tattoo on his arm or sticker on his truck or both.

[KansDem]

15. Sex crime?

Isn't attempting to pull down the pants of a 12-year-old the action of a pedophile?

[Liberal_in_LA]

36. yes

[muntrv]

16. Charge him with sexual assault. He is a sex offender and does not need to be on the streets.

[Enthusiast]

18. What an asshole!

[freshwest]

22. Sex crime, too. 54 years old man knows better than to do that. What if he tugged on a girl's pants?

Looks like the bail has been upped to $10,000. Would he like to have his own family members treated this way?

WHAT A RACIST, PROBABLY SEXIST, JERK. Where is Jindal?

[csziggy]

25. I'm impressed at the comments in the Baton Rouge newspaper

The Advocate: http://theadvocate.com/news/13033360-123/clinton-man-booked-on-hate

Most seem to agree with DUers that the guy should be charged with a sex crime for trying to pull the kid's pants down. It's pretty amazing!

[orpupilofnature57]

30. It was was not only by action but dialog , a racist pedophile .

[csziggy]

31. Yes, and I hope the prosecutor throws in a pedophile charge

Mr. Barnes would find it hard to run his lumber business if it were boycotted by not only every black in the parish but by every person that hates pedophiles!

[Vinca]

27. I wish an attorney would step up to the plate and sue this character if he's got anything.

The kid deserves damages and the fool deserves a prison cell. On edit: I just read the comments after the newspaper article and the bigot owns half a lumber company. He needs to pay up.

[hifiguy]

28. This lunatic belongs behind bars

for a hell of a lot longer than six months, but I doubt he will see the inside of any jail or prison.

[Scuba]

46. Odds are he's a ...

Trump supporter - 6:5

Perry supporter - 8

Huckabee supporter - 9

Votes Republican - Lock

[oasis]

56. Definitely a past David Duke supporter and contributor in that state.