Gibsons-bakery-sues-Oberlin-College-over-racial-profiling-accusations-Oberlin-cuts-business-ties/. 

This is a follow up to a story first reported on November 17, 2016. Here is a short summary of events. Gibson’s is a bakery, store located on what passes for the drag, adjacent to the college. On this particular evening, a black male student entered Gibson’s to pursue his inalienable right to steal two bottles of wine. Two white racist clerks observed the theft and moved to prevent the theft thus interfering with the student’s right to steal. This discussion spilled over onto the sidewalk where two female companions of the student entered the fray. They assaulted the white clerks in order to effect the rescue of their codefendant and maintain control of the stolen property. When physical force is used to maintain control of stolen property the offense rises to the level of a felony. Due to their protected status as people of color, this did not happen. All three were eventually arrested.

The college erupted in protests. After all, they had done nothing wrong, they are black and entitled to be an embarrassment to their families, race, and community. Theft is nothing more than the seeking of reparations on the installment plan.  BLM and the usual host of suspects demanded a boycott of the store, in part supported by the college administration.

On November 10, 2017 Legal Insurrection reports that all three students have subsequently pled guilty to attempted theft and trespass. This makes their supporters out as liars in support of thieves. However, the college narrative continues, students and faculty are discouraged from doing business with Gibson’s.

Gibson’s has filed a lawsuit against the college stating that the charges of racism and denial of business are part of an effort on the part of the college to close Gibson’s and allow the school to pick up the property owned for a fraction of the cost.

This incident is reported at Legal Insurrection, at the link. See if it sounds familiar: If I was shoplifting it was because I was seeking reparations for the enslavement of my people. But it is the store’s managers fault, he watched me harder than the other guy. He was profiling, going after people who deliberately concealed items under their coat. Didn’t do nuffing.

Bakery targeted by Oberlin College #BlackLivesMatter fights back

The incident itself falls into the category of, “What else is new?” A young black male is caught stealing. What else is new? When the store clerk tried to apprehend him, he fought. What else is new? The suspect was soon joined by several friends in an attempt to free him. What else is new? The police arrived and started arresting people that had actually broken the law, like shoplifting, assault, and resisting arrest. What else is new? They did not arrest people who had not broken the law, like store managers and clerks. The people who got arrested were black. What else is new?

Oh, the outrage. Forget the two bottles of wine. Forget the attempt to evade arrest. Forget the fight to get away. Forget the two bystanders who tried to aid in the offender’s escape. The real crime is that a store felt like they ought to be paid for goods and services that they offer.

There is one other thing the Oberlin protesters glossed over. A theft occurs when “a person” walks out of a store without paying for an item. A robbery occurs when, “in the course of committing theft”, “a person” uses force to maintain possession of stolen property or make his escape. Theft is a property crime and a low-level misdemeanor. Robbery is a crime against person(s) and is a felony. What started as a simple shoplifting is no longer simple.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) got involved and began picketing the store while calling for a boycott. The community responded with counter-demonstrations and business increased. BLM tried to ruin the store’s reputation by giving it bad reviews and vilifying the store online. Somebody unaffiliated with the store created a web page and effectively countered that move. BLM then denounced the webpage as racist and the webpage has been disabled.

I have some helpful suggestions to the community and supporters of Gibson’s Bakery. One of the things that BLM and their ilk have had a measure of success is in the administrative forum. Two can play that game. The holiday’s are fast approaching. I am going to make some assumptions, I may not hit 100% but I bet I hit 80%. The first assumption is the rock what follows are the hard places.

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college. It has a student code of conduct and procedures in place to address student misconduct. Here is a general statement regarding student responsibility from their catalog.

4. RESPONSIBILITY AND THE LAW

a. Oberlin students shall accept full responsibility for their own actions under federal, state, and local laws. While reserving the right to criticize government policy and even, in the name of conscience, to resist government decree, they shall recognize the rule of law and expect no special immunity on account of their student status. Within the college community, students must acknowledge the duly constituted role of trustees, and the organized entities of the administration, faculty and students in the political processes of the college. Students shall abide by college regulations and the decisions of the college’s judicial bodies.

b. When students incur penalties prescribed by civil authorities, they may also be subject to further discipline by the college judicial systems if there are distinct and clear college community interests involved. The appropriate judicial body will rule as to its jurisdiction in the case.

c. When students of the college are charged with a violation of federal, state, or local law, the college has no obligation to assist them.

Here is a statement regarding possible sanctions for student misconduct: students/policies/sanctions.

It is within the power of the college to suspend, place on probation or terminate a student. Any action that the school takes is not predicated on action taken by municipal, state or federal authorities. Since the demonstrations will represent a drain on City resources, police equipment, officers and overtime, additional assistance from outside agencies, then the city ought to have the assurance that the College is actively engaged in resolving the current controversy.

Next week, week after at the latest, City streets will be decorated with Christmas decorations.  My guess is Tappan Square will be ground zero for Christmas festivities. Tappan Square is town property. I do know who controls permits, licenses and inspections. All those lights, bet the fire department and the electrical inspectors have more than a passing interest. Just because the college always got a permit in the past doesn’t mean that will continue in the future.

With the winter coming it could be a real blow to a maintenance budget if the city were to change priorities or procedures regarding snow removal.

The point is, there is a lot of interaction between the City and the College that often the interaction is taken for granted. There is no reason for the City and its citizens to sit idly by while the college encourages this type of behavior. Or in the alternative does nothing to discourage or mitigate the behavior. BLM wants to protest they can do it, on campus. Protesters may have a right to demonstrate but they don’t necessarily have the right to chose the forum. Since the college is within the City limits, it is within the purview of the Chief of Police to issue as many permits to demonstrate as one could wish for, just outside the College President’s window.

The College, student handbook says that students have the responsibility to obey the law. A protest is entirely within everybody’s right as an American. While reserving the right to criticize government policy.(period added). Then they take it a step too far, the final two statements conflict with one another.  (A)nd even, in the name of conscience to resist government decree. I don’t know how one resists a government decree without violating the decree. Maybe it is me, but this seems to say we understand that some people may be arrested. If they are arrested they can be prosecuted at the college, municipal, state or federal level. (T)hey shall recognize the rule of law and expect no special immunity on account of their student status.

This statement gives notice to the students, faculty, college community and community at large that the college will take appropriate action, at the college level when warranted. The citizens of the city and county have a right to expect such action and a right to demand remedial action when the college does not follow through on its promise.

If the college continues to support the students or does nothing in an attempt to avoid responsibility, then the city should sever the current relationship with the college and renegotiate a new one. I bet with a little imagination the city could come up with a traffic study that results in a ban of all turns onto campus. How about a major water main revamp?

With a large student population, fraudulent identification cards (id’s) are probably common this allows the bearer to drink alcohol. I would not be surprised if, to this point, the police have either confiscated the id’s without charge or issued a citation for presenting/possessing a false identification card (Ohio Revised Code 4507.30), a misdemeanor.  Thumb through the Penal Code and look up Fraud/Forgery/Identity Theft (Ohio Revised Code 2913.31 Forgery), a fifth-degree felony. Utter means to use. No ticket here, go to jail.

The point is that the college and the students are out in la la land with no idea just how cruel the real world can be. Read the article, the College expects the community to come to them, but there is no inclination for the College to come to the Community. It is a two-way street. Perhaps they need to be reminded.

The question is are liberals capable of learning? We know that they can make beds, dig ditches, learn to recite dialog by rote even if they don’t know what the words mean but can they identify concepts and apply similar concepts to dissimilar situations?

Winter is coming does the college know that the switch the building engineer flicks so that there is light and heat can be disconnected from the mains by the City building inspector? That traffic patterns are determined by forces outside the college and for a minimum investment in paint, signs, and barricades Oberlin College could be the first College in the country totally free of vehicle traffic.