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Crime

Crooks Caught on Camera Chopping Down NYC Tree to Steal a Bike

Jun. 9, 2011 6:26pm Jonathon M. Seidl

This is pretty pitiful. A security camera yesterday caught a group of crooks chopping down a NYC tree in order to steal a bike that was chained to it. It’s what one blog is calling “arborcide.”

Gothamist explains:

The poster notes the bike isn’t his, because he keeps his “strictly indoors”—he says it is “one of those mass produced “dual-suspension mountain bikes” you see so often. Probably a hapless neighbor who didn’t know any better. This is Kensington area in Brooklyn, but I can see this happening anywhere here, really.” However, the tree was planted by his father, which is what makes the incident really hurt: “My dad co-paid with the landlord for the foresters to plan[t] this specific tree. I don’t know if it’s actually his legally, but it’s definitely his in spirit…my dad really wanted that type of tree as allegedly it’s very long lived. A legacy if you will. I’ll pass your knowledge on.”

Some Reddit users posit that maybe the whole point was only to chop down the tree—maybe they never really wanted the bike. But as the original poster says, the bike was eventually grabbed: “It was taken 30 minutes later by one of the dudes, I don’t remember which.”

This is a picture supposedly showing the aftermath:

I’m not opposed to forestry or chopping down a tree on your own property. But axing a community tree so you can take a dinky bike on a joyride? Really?

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Comments (274)

NE12012
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:53pm
We can use the tree to make paper, so we can send out more memo’s that “Diversity is wonderful”.

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- jb.kibs
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 12:05am
  +Like
  
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concealled9mms
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:52pm
more obamma followers at work

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caexpat
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:51pm
All the cities run by liberals are urban cesspools!….Street monkeys good name!

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NOBALONEY
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:51pm
2 AM Thieves.

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ReviveOurNation
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:50pm
That must have made a bunch of noise and no one called the police??

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progressiveslayer
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:45pm
They’re just monkeying around,probably ran out of obama fiat currency and did what comes natural to criminals,they steal a bike.

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Brae
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:45pm
Just leave it sit there. No shade this year buddies , or next, or next. And with today’s temps. I hope you guys fry.

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Justice_Man99
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:44pm
The police should find every witness to this theft and Flog them all. Let all of the networks cover the Flogging, Primetime and in HD.

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- effenmontero
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 9:45am
  . . . maybe if we force them watch the NEW tree grow to the same height they would have a new appreciation for what little time they would have left on the planet.
  
  Report this comment
ManThong
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:43pm
If they had fur, they would look like those Ewoks from Star Wars.

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trooper
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:43pm
What do you expect from street apes, good deeds?

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Psychosis
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:42pm
hmmmm

i wonder what words of wisdom encinom and our other trolls will divest upon us to try and explain this one to us

patiently waiting , but i suspect they only stick to certain stories…………we wont see them here

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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:46pm
  Enicom is probably at a nambla meeting.
  
  Report this comment
- Bob_R_OathKeeper
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:56pm
  Yeah and Encinom is part of the “show and tell” seminar, I’m betting.
  
  Report this comment
- Bushie
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:03pm
  If they tied Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi to that tree naked over night, all three would be safe come morning.
  
  Report this comment
- let us prey
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:07pm
  @progressive
  I think you are right.
  
  Report this comment
Redistributor
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:42pm
Send the Democratic enviro green police after them. They won’t stand a chance!

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- eleemosynary
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:59pm
  Definitely an environmental hate crime here but the perps are minority members and cannot be held responsible for their actions.
  
  Report this comment
Bushie
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:42pm
Why do people move out of the city……………because of animals like the ones in the video. Somebody left the cages of the locale zoo unlocked.

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- Viet Vet
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 1:26am
  That sir is an insult to animals.
  
  Report this comment
justinfornow
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:41pm
these are some real idiots. I bet if you took them 15 blocks from home they would be lost.

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P1gunslinger
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:41pm
If these gorillas got a job chopping down trees they could buy a bike.

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- salvawhoray
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:31pm
  but what will they swing from?
  
  Report this comment
- Bob_R_OathKeeper
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:47pm
  Ropes, chains, hemp, hooks, my hands, etc.
  
  Report this comment
vennoye
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:40pm
Remember the old Kurt Russell movie, Escape from New York………….maybe art doesn’t mimic reality, maybe it proceeds or fortells it!

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Its Gonna Getcha
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:39pm
Screaming Trees.

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Smug
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:39pm
Eric Holders people…..MSSMUG

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NoIPhone
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:38pm
And it cost us $300,000 to transplant a tree in New Iberia, LA.
Many, many trees and much shade in Louisiana, few trees and little shade in NYC.
The opposite poles of ridulous!

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13th Imam
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:37pm
Firewood. I burn about 4 cords per winter. But I Ax you this. Will deforestation ruin Brooklyn?

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P1gunslinger
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:36pm
What is the common denominator with the crime in NYC?

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- Brasil2520
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 9:27pm
  The same common denominator as in Detroit, Gary Indiana, Birmingham, Jackson Mississippi, New Orleans, Flint Michigan, the answer is skin color !
  
  The cities I just listed came in on the FBI 2006 list for the most homicides.
  The same cities in a 2005 US Census, came in as the most black !
  
  Report this comment
- Mikhail Kennedy
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 5:40am
  Look people there is no need to be racist about this, after all these black people are there because they don`t know better. It is the liberal welfare system that keeps them there. The liberal school system that does not educate them. The liberal coddling that tells them that they are oppressed. We all know that given the opportunity to work and to be shown the merits of self worth that the majority will turn out to be upstanding citizens. If I was a black in NY or another major city I would walk if I had to to get away and make a better life for myself in in some small town.
  
  Report this comment
- devilhasforktongue
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 8:58am
  The RACIST have come out of their holes to spew their hate. Some stupid black men take that much time out of their life to steal a freaking bike. Now all blacks steal and kill and one of you devils are saying yes. BUT i don’t recall hearing about that white woman who killed her daughter on this website at all. White devils killing there own that happens??? A few days a go some whites robbed a bank at gun point and that wasn’t up here either. And Brasil i hope your not from Brasil because you guys have folks running around chopping heads off and that murder rate over there is always crazy! I will say all you evil devils will be judged soon and all whipped off the earth and when we take care of folks like this, then the Earth will be a better place. Have a great day!!!
  
  Report this comment
- Viet Vet
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 1:23am
  It would be easy enough to be racist, if that’s what it would actually be, but I always pause and think, there are some good blacks in this country. Many in high profile positions, like the courts, business, congress, etc. Those good blacks, in most all cases, are called republicans. Unfortunately statistics indicate they make up only about 10% of the black population.
  
  Report this comment
- Brasil2520
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 3:01am
  To Devil Has Folk Tongue und Mr. Kennedy
  
  You should have started your comment with, ( the blacks have come out of their holes to steal. )
  I’ll tell you what, have YOUR people stop the daily crime spree, and we will stop the racist comment’s.
  And yes I am from Brasil, about the high crime in Brasil, thx for pointing that out, its because us Portuguese gave YOU people your freedom 100 years before the American Civil War, so Brasil has had an extra 100 years of this ” beauty of diversity ” crap, parts of Sao Paulo and Rio make Detroit look good.
  
  Mr. Kennedy about “opportunity” I had the same in that all black school that I went to as the blacks did, but I was the one that had my stuff stolen, my mother got robbed twice by Puerto Rican’s.
  
  Lack of opportunity is one of the excuses black’s and Hispanic’s use to justify bad behavior
  
  Report this comment
Rapunzel
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:35pm
It is amazing to me that criminals work so hard at being dishonest. If only they would apply the same effort to making an honest living!

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- Wilma
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 8:32am
  Well said.
  
  Report this comment
- stogieguy7
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 10:32am
  Perhaps we should consider work camps to channel some of this “energy” – as FDR did with the CCC back in the 1930s. In other words: if you want your welfare check, you have to work for it.
  
  But Obama will NEVER allow that to happen. Making his homeys work for a living? NO, that’s for evil white people to do.
  
  Report this comment
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:35pm
Animals, Urban Animals.

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- vorpal
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:11pm
  they are just so mad because they don’t know who their daddy is…
  
  Report this comment
- loadingmyclips
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 10:12am
  wait until June 16th, probably be riots!
  
  Report this comment
- Agnes
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 3:18pm
  Maybe it would be beneficial to all in the future if the bikes are chained to electrical poles. What do you think?
  
  Report this comment
Psychosis
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:35pm
hey, will the environazis confront these hooligans? or do they only bother people who they know wont shoot their butts

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- MASTER YODA
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 10:53am
  Chained it to a steel street light pole should have. Hmmmmmm.
  
  Report this comment
Bob_R_OathKeeper
Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:29pm
NYC is a cesspool full of liberal turds.

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- cheezwhiz
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:34pm
  Now if these yoofs had been given taxpayer funded iPads ,
  they wouldn’t have been compelled to go out at nite to chop a tree to steal a bicycle.
  Its all the white man’s fault.
  And Bush, Cheney and Halliburton.
  
  Report this comment
- 13th Imam
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:38pm
  Weiners Troopers.
  
  Report this comment
- nzkiwi
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:41pm
  “Pitiful” is the right word. What a sad bunch of wastrels.
  
  Report this comment
- Dustyluv
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:43pm
  Oh no…The enviromental wackos will get them now!! Those guys are screwed!
  
  Report this comment
- Bob_R_OathKeeper
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:47pm
  Good luck to anyone trying to get out of that city once TSHTF, that city will be your tomb.
  
  Report this comment
- randy
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 6:57pm
  Gee, who would have guessed? Black kids again!
  
  Report this comment
- stogieguy7
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:20pm
  Gee, a group of young black thugs. AGAIN.
  
  I’m SHOCKED that Obama voters would do a thing like this.
  
  Report this comment
- Dakota
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:29pm
  Without even seeing the video…I could have easily guessed. And, of course…I was right. They’re black.
  
  Report this comment
- Sound The Trumpet In Zion
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:30pm
  Well that tree sure looks changed to me even if they didn’t give the tree much hope.
  
  Report this comment
- AMERICA4EVER
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:30pm
  Probably the most work they ever did in their lives.
  
  Report this comment
- Professional Infidel
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:46pm
  a shout rings out and the problem was solved, court will be held!!
  
  Report this comment
- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 7:59pm
  Where did they get the axe from? I have one, but I also have property and go to the mountains a lot. What would you do with an axe in the Urban Jungle, oh, steal bikes.
  
  Report this comment
- kindling
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:10pm
  can’t say it any truer than that
  
  Report this comment
- tower7femacamp
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:16pm
  poor tree
  
  Report this comment
- fatjack
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:19pm
  Enicom, I’m slow, would you please explain this clip to me. Rats where is Enicorn when we need him. hmmm
  
  Report this comment
- Edct
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:32pm
  Gee….black gang animals again….these disgusting creatures belong in a jungle.
  
  Report this comment
- kindling
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:34pm
  These idiots look like they might have what it takes to work in agriculture. They can take jobs that other Americans won’t do. Round them up and give them a choice, become a farm laborer or go to work planting trees.
  
  Report this comment
- ManThong
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:45pm
  “this tree that men chopped down… -this tree had lived!”
  
  So much for “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”. (Betty Smith – Ch. 56)
  
  Report this comment
- StrangernFiction
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 8:49pm
  @DARMOK
  
  That was no axe, that was an ask.
  
  Report this comment
- DirectlyUnPCman
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 9:07pm
  Haha black people…..they are soooo sneaky.
  
  Report this comment
- Brasil2520
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 9:09pm
  This video reminded me of my childhood in Jackson Heights, Queens.
  In this case I would be the kid that lost the bike.
  After graduation from H.S. I left that toilet of diversity !
  
  That was 35 years ago, to this day I still wish Europe would have won the 1945 war.
  
  Report this comment
- ManThong
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 9:48pm
  “The poster notes the bike isn’t his, because he keeps his “strictly indoors” .
  
  Uh, yeah.(!) I see why he needs the CCTV surveillance – nice neighborhood..
  
  If it was me, I’d have gun ports in the walls, too.
  
  Report this comment
- RepubliCorp
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 10:06pm
  The tree huggers must be pissed off
  
  Report this comment
- standwithIsraelstandwithGod
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 10:36pm
  Amen brother! Less oxygen produced by what trees they have to feed their jobless brains.
  
  Report this comment
- The Big Pickle
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 10:57pm
  Common people…do you really believe we are all equal? These creatures are clearly on the bottom of the human totem pole….and including them as human is being very generous. I’m sorry, but it’s getting close to the point where we have to return these animals back to their natural jungle habitat.
  
  Report this comment
- The Big Pickle
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:02pm
  How sad things have become in America. I know it’s not safe for humans to be in a black neighborhood, but I had NO idea it was even dangerous for a tree too.
  
  This is clearly God’s revenge for slavery. First they destroy our neighborhoods, then they destroy our public schools, then they destroy our social welfare programs, then they destroy our criminal justice system, they destroy our culture and our heritage, they commit hundreds of thousands of violent crimes per year against us……I mean seriously….How much more are we suppose to tolerate before we say………..
  
  “ENOUGH ALREADY!”
  
  Report this comment
- getalong
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:09pm
  Just saying….they cry all the time about being stereotyped as lazy thugs, and than you see something like this and you say…WTFrick?
  
  You can’t force people like this to be smart or upstanding no matter how much “social justice” you give them and how much free, free, free you throw their way. .
  
  Report this comment
- The Big Pickle
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:09pm
  Yesterday people were complaining that I was a TROLL, A liberal plant and a racist.
  
  How funny….every post for 5 pages is nothing but comments about apes, gorillas, savages, sent them back to the jungles etc..etc..etc…
  
  Let’s face it…..White America is finally waking up to the menace that is destroying America. Just imagine for one second how much better EVERYTHING in America would be if all the blacks just disappeared tomorrow. Nearly ALL the problems in America would disappear immediately!
  
  Let’s just give them Mississippi and be done with it. We lose one State, but save the other 49.
  
  Report this comment
- YellowFin
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:18pm
  Looked like a bunch of filthy ****-roaches scurrying about, doing their dirty business. Shameful.
  
  Report this comment
- Barry Da Fraud
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:27pm
  Feral negros being normal.
  
  Report this comment
- Brasil2520
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:44pm
  To Big Pickle
  
  Hey man your the best, a Cuban ( MIAMI ) a few days ago removed my comment about all the high rate of black and Hispanic crime.
  
  Like I wrote, to end 80% of all American crime put all the black’s and Hispanic’s on a boat and send them to Africa, half way their sink the boats, yes people its just that easy : )
  
  Report this comment
- jb.kibs
  Posted on June 9, 2011 at 11:58pm
  they must still be on that “a black man got elected president, we can do whatever the F we want” high.
  
  Report this comment
- BigSaltyCracker
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 12:04am
  White people this white people that. Everything is white people fault. Guess it’s because he the first half white President. Feel sorry for the good black Americans that get labeled bad because of guys like this. Hey Everybody every race has criminal punks like this. We as parents need to be strict on are kids. You know right from wrong . Mean while at the white house it’s party party party.Ya baby party party party.
  
  Report this comment
- IMAWAKENOW
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 5:25am
  Probably more physical work than he has done all year. Get ready, coming to a town near you.
  
  Report this comment
- ishka4me
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 7:27am
  this type of thing didn’t happen when Rddy was in charge of Gotham. petty street crimes are in fashion again. Nobody like the good old law and order days anyways.
  
  Report this comment
- smithclar3nc3
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 7:43am
  Exactly another member of the entitlement society showing how truely thoughtless,greedy,and disconnected they really are from the civil society.
  
  Report this comment
- smithclar3nc3
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 7:49am
  Dustyluv,
  The eviromental wacko won’t say a word because all those envolved will vote Obama. Eviromentalist groups much like Femenist groups are liberals socialist first and everything else second.
  
  Report this comment
- IvanK
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 8:36am
  Reminds me of those Baboons you see stealing food from people… What’s the difference what you see in the video and baboons? Seriously?
  
  Report this comment
- southerngal
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 8:45am
  did you all watch the same thing i just did? more than once the other people stopped this guy at their own peril. YOU take ax from someone. Your predjudice is astounding. They grabbed the guy, they took away the ax. they pushed him away. someone did use a cell phone. but in the end it went down. Have another sip of your latte
  
  Report this comment
- hwyphd1
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 9:34am
  I did not see 60 per cent white criminals there is this racist???
  
  Report this comment
- beatsbias
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 10:03am
  I am shocked and appalled by the amount of racist comments above. First of all, claiming that those kids voted or will vote for Obama is ridiculous, because judging by those CHILDREN’S’ behavior, they probably haven’t learned much about American politics and most likely they don’t even care. Second, I would say the major issue here is that they lack education (just like many of the racist uninformed fools who post here) and the fact that they come from low income families which tends to be a vicious cycle. Do you think Jesus would preach racism and judgement?
  
  Report this comment
- stogieguy7
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 10:27am
  @ Beatsbias: You are so naive that it’s unbelievable. There’s no talking with someone as uninformed as you are. So, in your mind it’s random that all these inner-city murders, street crimes, flash mobs, beatdowns at Dennys/McDonalds/Ihop etc. feature young blacks? And you start telling us what Jesus would do?
  
  Come back when you obtain a clue about life. Perhaps a nice evening stroll through Harlem or Compton or south Chicago or west Philly will enlighten you.
  
  Report this comment
- Ari Ben TZion
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 12:57pm
  Welcome to the Unite Banana Republics.
  
  Report this comment
- *************************
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 2:09pm
  What a sad, sad race …
  
  Report this comment
- michael48
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 3:35pm
  and of course it’s “white folks ” fault….tree huggers…what do you think these FELLOS will do with the Mercury light bulbs….properly dispose them??????? touchie , feelie this crowd, TARDS…dare ya!!!!!!
  
  Report this comment
- getalong
  Posted on June 10, 2011 at 8:14pm
  Southerngal, What you saw was a team approach to hacking down the tree and stealing the bike. Watch the clip again. And NO we are not all racist, we are just sick and tired of this mindless, violent crime that seems to have one thing in common – most of it is done by blacks and hispanics. So take off your rose colored glasses and deal with the facts. If you can provide us with some crime statistics that back up your claim of racism than bring it on.
  
  Report this comment
- Doodidle
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 9:48am
  They have to rename the book, “a tree grew in Brooklyn” lol. That’s just sad. They would have made more money uprooting the tree and selling that instead of the bike! Stupid crook!
  
  Report this comment
- banjarmon
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 1:22pm
  I wonder if the kids name was George W.???
  
  Report this comment
- RCScrolls
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 11:45pm
  Hey ever try working that hard and making your own money, you might want to try it sometime, owe thats rigt Im sorry your just another Effing Victom of racisim.
  
  Report this comment
- RCScrolls
  Posted on June 11, 2011 at 11:51pm
  Wow a whole 11 minutes, the most they have ever worked for anything, problem is they are all probably on strike from the plant again, so they do what comes naturally. They all should be ashamed but then those are feelings
  
  Report this comment
- your_poor
  Posted on June 12, 2011 at 12:55pm
  cheezwhiz your either poor or black, but statistically your probably both. only an uneducated or ignorant person would make a statement like that.
  
  Report this comment

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