'I'm an Alabama cowboy' and a black man can't cuff me, unruly passenger said

[Ichingcarpenter]

A Semmes, Alabama, man who pleaded guilty last week to charges stemming from his behavior on an international Continental Airlines flight loudly called a federal air marshal by the N-word after being handcuffed, according to testimony from a previous detention hearing.

The air marshal, Johnathan Gash, testified on Feb. 18, 2010, that Robert Wade Prince continued to be disruptive even after Gash intervened and handcuffed him on the flight from Amsterdam to Houston. Gash said Prince called Gash by the N-word.

"He come back, and he said no black man should be able to put handcuffs on a white man from Alabama, 'I'm an Alabama cowboy,'" Gash said. "Then he starts talking about, 'If anybody say that I didn't hit this marshal, I'll give you $10,000.' He said that several times."

Testimony at the detention hearing sheds new light on the case that resulted in Prince's negotiated guilty plea deal on Friday that resulted in a 6-month sentence on charges that Gash assaulted a female flight attendant and a passenger.

http://blog.al.com/live/2011/02/testimony_im_an_alabama_cowboy.html

[MyrnaLoy]

1. racism

is a sexually transmitted disease and unfortunately this guy is probably still breeding.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I was thinking of the other international passengers on the plane

Some maybe visiting the US for the first time from Holland..

'Well, that was interesting, I wonder what the rest of America is like?"

[nxylas]

4. Sorry, but that's just wrong

Lots of people who are not racist themselves have racist parents.

[MyrnaLoy]

5. where

do most young children learn racism and hatred? Sure, many break free of it but where is it first heard?

[Obamanaut]

15. If you say in this post that it is learned, then how in your earlier post

can it be sexually transmitted?

[MyrnaLoy]

33. sheesh

it's a play on words, it's not literal.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Mariana]

24. He probably first heard it at home, sure, if he grew up there.

But if he lives in Semmes, Alabama, he's getting it reinforced on a very regular basis, perhaps daily.

It isn't always caught from the parents, by the way. None of my grandparents were racist and they didn't teach any such thing to my mother and father when they were growing up in the Northeast. My parents learned racism as adults, after they moved to Mobile County, Alabama, where this jackass lives. They learned it from their neighbors, their coworkers, and their friends. It was sickening to watch it happen.

[MyrnaLoy]

39. I agree with you

many people learn racism as an adult, usually after they think they've been wronged in some way. Sort of like, "I can't believe that so and so got that promotion, bet it was a quota". In situations like that it can begin later in life.

I still lean towards the "begins at home" school of thought for the hard-core racist. Their hatred runs deep and for generations. That is why I compare it to a sexually transmitted disease, it's as if it were in the "genes".

[ProgressiveProfessor]

29. You may well be right...............eom

[AlabamaLibrul]

3. He was also bipolar, had a blood alcohol of .13 after the plane landed, presumably

because of the effects Lithium (the article does not state Lithium, but does state he takes a bipolar medication) has on alcohol absorption. The official word from the wife is that he doesn't mix alcohol with his bipolar meds (which doesn't explain a .13 6 hours after your last drink, but I digress) which is probably even more dangerous because that would mean he was raging drunk AND off his meds.

But good to know that it must be because he's an Alabama cowboy, that he acts like this.

[leftynyc]

6. I could down 20 shots of tequilla

and the n-word still wouldn't come out of my mouth. Stupid excuse that Mel Gibson already tried. Anybody know if his devil has spawn he could further infect with his digusting racism?

[AlabamaLibrul]

7. He was also bipolar and he either was drinking with his meds (very bad) or not taking them

so the situation is a far cry from Mel Gibson's reaction or your reaction to alcohol or any sort of "excuse".

[leftynyc]

10. I wasn't aware lithium made you a bigot

Any links to that study?

[piratefish08]

12. he was OFF his lithium. absence of lithium makes you a racist apparently.

[AlabamaLibrul]

16. Absence of lithium makes you act like you're bipolar and off your fucking lithium!

Jesus, what don't you people get about it? The racist remarks, I don't know how or when he uses them. But when you're bipolar, off your lithium, and have a .13 BAC, some wild shit is probably about to go down.

[leftynyc]

18. Why don't you understand this?

I've known manic depressives, on and off their medication. Makes no difference as to whether or not they are bigots. Same with boozers. You want to excuse his behavior, knock yourself out. Seems the rest of us know those excuses don't hold water.

[Ghost in the Machine]

38. Who are you calling "you people"? Are you acting bipolar??

Anyways.. that clown sounded more like an Alabama Goatfucker. They have cowboys in Alabama? I thought they were all goat-ropers...

[Populist_Prole]

37. A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts

[martymar64]

40. In Vino Veritas

He's a racist. He let his filters slip enough so it came out.

[adnoid]

8. I agree.

Same here. Disgusting.

[GoCubsGo]

23. If I downed 20 shots of tequila....

...the only thing that would be coming out of my mouth would be the contents of my stomach. ;-)

But, yeah, being drunk isn't an excuse. If it didn't occur to you to say something like that when you are sober, you aren't likely to think about saying it when your brain is addled with alcohol.

[leftynyc]

25. Oh Heavens, me too on the tequilla

I can't believe people are using medicine or lack thereof combined with booze to make excuses for a bigot.

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. He just flew in from Holland and didn't smoke what they sell

obviously..

I think he missed the whole point of Amsterdam

[backscatter712]

9. They should supermax people like this.

Let him actually interact with other people in prison, and he'll walk out at the end of his sentence sporting swastika tattoos as a member of the Aryan Brotherhood.

There is no such thing as "too harsh" for racist trash like this.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cordelia]

13. So, you hate Southerners.

What other prejudices would you like to share?

[piratefish08]

14. no I don't and stand corrected. "fucking racist piece off shit"

my apologies to southerners. racists, however, can fuck off.

[somone]

17. Piece of trash from the dry, dusty plains of Alabama

[PBS Poll-435]

19. Their names even sound like microbacteria

I wish Florida would take her friends Alabama and Mississippi with her.

[AlabamaLibrul]

20. Love you too, Murika!

[PBS Poll-435]

21. You can stay.

:)

[AlabamaLibrul]

26. I don't mean to be such a grump

this thread is about two things, one of which is location, both of which are very personal to me. I'm not saying this guy didn't do it, or isn't responsible for his actions in any way (namely the part where he either started drinking, or stopped taking his meds - which is unconfirmed at this time, whichever came first) or that he should take an appeal to the SCOTUS over it, but it's really just digging into me.

I think I'm about done with this one for now.

[RainDog]

22. What a repulsive ass n/t

[Octafish]

28. Alabama Code Talker

This may be the handy decoder:

Cowboys = White Settlers
Indians = African Americans

A good friend was a news producer in Alabama about 7 years ago. She asked different people at different times about the guys in cowboy hats and was told the hats were symbols for the "propertied class," meaning land owners and old money.

[Ichingcarpenter]

30. Gene Autry's Code of Honor for the Cowboy

Code of Honor

A cowboy never takes unfair advantage - even of an enemy.

A cowboy never betrays a trust. He never goes back on his word.

A cowboy always tells the truth.

A cowboy is kind and gentle to small children, old folks, and animals.

A cowboy is free from racial and religious intolerances.

A cowboy is always helpful when someone is in trouble.

A cowboy is always a good worker.

A cowboy respects womanhood, his parents and his nation's laws.

A cowboy is clean about his person in thought, word, and deed.

A cowboy is a Patriot.



This is what I thought a cowboy was and I grew up in the West..

Where there were real cowboys

[david13]

31. Excellent. Nice to see that there are cowboys with morality. dc

[supernova]

32. Just because you're BiPolar

doesn't mean you can't still be a racist ass.

[Liberal_in_LA]

35. why the neg regs for a news article?

[krispos42]

36. I knew how this ended before I read the article.

:rofl: