Having perused several dictionaries for the definition of the word thug, I found that the meaning is relatively colorblind. There is no particular race attached to the word.
Merriam-Webster defines it as “a violent or brutish criminal or bully.” The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a violent person, especially a criminal.”
People can assign cultural or racial overtones, but that is a result of individual choice.
It seems that Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, has chosen to do exactly that while Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, chose quite the opposite. Yet, it is Lucas who is pointing his finger at Parson and calling him a racist. Who actually is the racist, though, when you really look at the situation?
According to Breitbart, it all began following the Wednesday shooting at the parade celebrating the Chiefs winning of the Super Bowl. Towards the end of the parade, two individuals traded rounds. One person was left dead, and over twenty were injured.
Responding to the event last Wednesday, Parson said, “We can’t let some thugs just take over and ruin what happened.”
That statement compelled Lucas to take aim at the governor. He could have simply left well enough alone, realized what Parson was trying to do, and helped. But Lucas chose otherwise. Democrats never let an opportunity go to waste.
Parson was simply encouraging people not to allow the terrible incident to sour an important moment for Kansas City and the Chiefs. With so much bleakness overshadowing just about everything all the time these days, Parson didn’t want this to happen here.
Lucas had other plans, however. Apparently, he wanted to escalate exactly what Parson was trying to prevent.
Is calling the shooters “thugs” racist?
Instead of supporting the governor and seconding his stance with his own encouraging words, Lucas decided to stir the pot and sew divisiveness. He cited Parson’s use of the word “thugs,”
as a “dog whistle.”
Lucas told KCUR’s “Up to Date” radio program, “I have respect for the governor. We get along well. I disagree strongly with how he would describe that situation. I certainly do think this was criminal activity. It was lawlessness, and I think that that’s troubling. But ‘thugs’ is a dog whistle in the most classic sense.”
Lucas continued to push the issue, noting that he’s seen conservatives use this type of rhetoric more than once. He also conveyed that conservatives also have the tendency to jump to the conclusion that the shooters’ mug shots weren’t being released because both were black. If the shooters had been white, however, the mug shots would have been released on the spot.
“I’ve seen this dog whistle time and again. There’s this kind of giant conservative theory on social media now that the reason these mug shots haven’t been shown is because the purported defendants are black, and if it were a white defendant, we would have just shown them. That is absolutely preposterous. There are protections to juveniles,” he continued.
How meritless and ignorant to jump to such a conclusion. Following that way of thinking, one could easily say that Lucas is committing reverse prejudice in a significant way.
The two juveniles at the center of the incident were accused of gun-related crimes and resisting arrest. And apparently, further charges are forthcoming according to the Associated Press.
Lucas’ offense in all of this is throwing Parson under the bus. There is no other way to color it. The Kansas City mayor didn’t just disagree with the way the governor described the shooters, he used it to further destructive racial tactics and messaging, pitting one against the other. Like our nation needs more of this.
He loaded the word “thug’” racially and then pulled the trigger to add to the Democrats’ agenda to keep this nation divided. If these two thugs weren’t able to kill the Chiefs’ and fans’ joy, Lucas certainly would try. This is how his actions certainly come across.
Democrats are not only running their own cities into the ground, they are running the morale of the United States into it, too. With 182 homicides in 2023 in Democrat-run Kansas City, according to Breitbart, electing more Democrats to political seats will certainly bury the city.
Missouri State Rep. Ashley Aune, a Democrat, insisted otherwise. She seems as blind as Lucas is.
