I cannot believe my eyes - Polar Bear Hunting

I am afraid my tone today is not going to be very kind or understanding. As some of you know, I work in Champaign, Illinois, and have for years. I am not necessarily a townie since I am not from here, but regardless I have a connection here.

It is disturbing to read about the recent events regarding lone men, primarily Caucasian, being attacked and beaten in Champaign-Urbana by black young men (from witness accounts.)

This is being referred to as "Polar Bear Hunting". I am not sure where this came from, but it is what it is.

We can debate for days on the reasons: Fatherless homes; The migration of people from Chicago projects farther south in Illinois; "It's the economy stupid"...ad infinitum.

But when it happens to someone you know, it brings up new issues.

I am referring to the attack on Mike Sola, a local news person in the area. I am only an acquaintance that he probably does not remember. He judged a contest my daughter was in, and he was very nice to me and my family, and by all accounts an all-around good guy.

In regards to this, and the fact that I spend a lot of time in Champaign, obviously, I am concerned about walking out of work one night and being bonked on the head or worse. I mean - what is being done about this? I read the local posts from the online newspapers and saw the usual banter and blame, as well as citizens concerns about what the police are doing about this. I am sure they are doing all they can.

It was when I did a wider search that I became stunned, even in this day and age.

I have a blog - surprise! you are reading it! - and many other people do, but I have never seen such a spate of hateful, ludicrous, ridiculous, and insane commentaries in my life from people who have NO idea what they are talking about.

You have your sites, unfortunately, that appear to be run by people that are, shall we say, not enamored of the African-American race that are using this to propagate the fact that this is what the future holds - white people better unite! On the other end, I was seeing slurring of what was printed in the newspaper, ridiculing Mike and referring to him as "a racist".

I do have a temper, and I wanted so badly to post in these blogs, but I see no point - rather I decided I would voice my concerns in my own blog.

I can't tell you how this makes me feel. I initially got online to see if this made national news out of concern to see what lawmakers and pundits were saying, to find almost nothing legitimate about this incident and the issues surrounding it.

Our geographical location is being portrayed as Stupid, USA by people who think they are elite for some reason, but I will pit my level of sophistication compared to theirs - any time any place.

I see no blogs from anyone local that knows what the issues are, or has any real idea of how or why this has reared its ugly head in this community.

Right now I am reading a Tweet from some person who thinks this issue is just so funny. Wait until someone gets a gun, and we will see who is laughing as this escalates out of control. Wait until it is in your backyard.