Just in time for Christmas, major news agencies have recently acknowledged the barbaric attacks known as “knockout.”  The savage crimes are brutal assaults that have been occurring in cities across the country for a number of years. They involve unarmed, black juvenile delinquents viciously cold-cocking unsuspecting strangers who have primarily been white, Asian, or Jewish. Some of these maulings have resulted in the deaths of the victims. Most disturbing of all, these attacks occur for nothing more than the wicked excitement and thrill of the crime.

Almost immediately, the New York Times, CNN, and USA Today attempted to dismiss the vicious acts from being a widespread phenomenon to an overblown myth. But author Colin Flaherty has written a thought-provoking and controversial book entitled White Girl Bleed A Lot that chronicles a seemingly infinite number of these types of attacks, as well as other black-on-white crimes.

In light of the “knockout” stories that continue coming to light, all legally armed citizens need to take note in order to stay safe both physically and legally.

The fiendish beatings generally target victims who do not appear to pose any threat of retaliating; nevertheless, the criminals celebrate their savagery as self-glorifying triumphs. The attacks are often initiated by one individual in a group attempting to knock the victim out with a single punch, but the beatings do not always end after one punch or with just one attacker.

The national news has habitually ignored these crimes, but the ugly genie has escaped its bottle. Alternative news sources and many of the hoodlums’ own social media accounts have uncorked the chaos that the nation’s flash-mob media has covered up for years.  Meanwhile, the local press, politicians, and law enforcement have successfully written off these types of barbaric attacks as random acts of violence. The racial component of the crimes is consistently buried, thus leaving much of the unsuspecting public vulnerable.

Political correctness bears much of the blame for endangering law-abiding citizens. Every American’s safety has taken a back seat to protecting the feelings of anyone who is offended whenever irrefutable facts are addressed openly concerning protected-special-interest minority groups.

Nevertheless, the phenomenon of the “knockout” crime is irrefutably associated with black youths from urban areas. Unfortunately, too many people react like any negative fact regarding trouble makers in urban black communities is a condemnation of all black Americans. This is nonsense.

Demanding the country ignore dangerous crimes or worse discouraging law-abiding individuals from defending themselves is just insane. Furthermore, ignoring the problem  not only allows the derelicts to continue hurting people, it also invigorates them. And as long as the media turns a blind eye to the violence, good black kids are going to be viewed suspiciously by people who do not know them.

Fortunately, black Americans profile strangers just like white Americans do. Being aware of potential threats can save lives by helping to avoid bad situations in the first place.

My personal connection to teenagers and their families who live in a city that Forbes.com ranked among the top 10 most impoverished cities in America just four years ago has given me an up close perspective on this problem.

In fact, during the George Zimmerman trial, I had several conversations with some of my former wrestlers. I was talking casually with one of the young men, whom I’ll call Quez, about what was going on in his life, as well as about what seemed to be developing during the racially divisive trial. I spoke to Quez about the kind of kid Trayvon Martin appeared to be compared to the image most of America had been given. I told Quez how frustrated I was that Martin was being celebrated as the poster child for the black community. 

Though half of America cooperated with the media by simply disregarding the irrefutable fact that Martin was a violent, juvenile delinquent at the time he was killed, I could not help but to notice how much the ugly details of his life pointed to the chaotic behavior of the lost hooligans who make life harder and more dangerous for good kids like Quez.

Granted, none of us know for sure what happened between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin prior to Zimmerman shooting Martin in self-defense. However, I know too many kids with dysfunctional backgrounds a lot like Martin’s, and they are the same type of thugs committing these knockout-type crimes.

Just recently, after the national “knockout” controversy popped up, Quez reminded me of the conversation he and I had about the Zimmerman trial. He pointed out that we had talked about another kid I sort of know named CJ. Quez had told me a story about CJ going to malls in the suburbs almost an hour away. CJ and his friends would target people in the parking lot and ask them for the time or for directions. Without warning, one of the teens would sucker-punch the victim in the face, trying to knock him out. Our conversation was simply about the kids we know who we thought could potentially end up dead like Martin because of their own self-destructive behavior.

At the time, Quez did not refer to the crime as “knockout.” It seems to go by a lot of different names.

I had not thought much about that story until now. I chalked it up as just another evil crime like the murder of a homeless, sixty-seven-year-old, Cuban man by six local teens — one of whom turned out to be a student in my freshman English class. The local paper listed the attack as a robbery before the victim died. However, the only thing the boys took was a 24-ounce beer. Today, the murder seems to fit the characteristics of a “knockout” beat-down launched by a group of “unarmed” teens as young as 13 years old.

That local crime shared many characteristics of the more notorious murder of 88-year-old Delbert Benton, the World War II veteran in Spokane, Washington. Benton was also ruthlessly beaten to death by two 16 year olds. Supposedly this too was a robbery, but the similarities to a knockout-type crime are undeniable.

For armed Americans, the media’s reluctant Christmas present of honesty could be a real life saver. Not only should the news make gun carriers more vigilant, but it should also help in avoiding  trouble in the first place. Who would have guessed the media might actually save gun owners from malicious prosecutions for having to shoot unarmed juvenile delinquents by avoiding them — before they attack.

Merry Christmas, everybody. And don’t forget to thank the New York Times!