But how do his masters feel after West's stunning smear?

Actually, it seems West is probably too ignorant to know what a Communist is. He added that the "Communist Party" was called the "Congressional Progressive Caucus." There is such a group.

Calling them Communists is sort of like saying Tea Party Republicans are members of the Nazi Party. But the really shocking thing was that, as far as I can tell, nobody in Congress denounced West. At the very least, decent members of both parties should be demanding his censure, maybe even his expulsion.

Evidently everyone is so brutalized these days that such a smear goes virtually unnoticed, or nobody wants to stoop to dignify a gutter clown like West. There were people who thought Adolf Hitler was a joke too. Edmund Burke knew better. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," he said.

If we have any leaders left, they ought to do something. 

Point to ponder: Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Trayvon Martin case is that everybody seems to have an opinion about what actually happened — and nobody really knows a thing.

Yes, we know an unarmed black teenager was shot to death by a gun-toting "neighborhood watch" captain, and we know a political firestorm has now unfolded in this nation.

But beyond that, dear reader, you and I know as much about how the actual events unfolded as we do any other local crime committed more than a thousand miles away: not a damn thing.

People's theories about the case are interesting, however, in this sense. What somebody thinks about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman tells you absolutely nothing about the killing itself — but tells you volumes about the person voicing the opinion, especially regarding their racial attitudes.

Having said that, here's something to consider. Imagine that I, a middle-aged white guy in a suit, decide to take an evening stroll through some tough neighborhood on the east side of Detroit. 

Further imagine that I am unarmed. Suppose some black guy with a gun started chasing me and then blew me away.

Do you really think it would take a month and a half and a national media campaign before the cops arrested him?

Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Write to letters@metrotimes.com.

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