Wall Street Journal: Chris Lane killing 'of far greater consequence' than Trayvon Martin

Under the "highly debatable" category...

The Wall Street Journal took the position Thursday that the recent slaying of a white 22-year-old college student in Ada, Okla., by a group of men (one black, one biracial and one white) is more significant to young black men than the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin.

From the paper's editorial board:

Three teenagers were charged Tuesday in the killing of a white college student in Duncan, Oklahoma, and part of the story is what didn't happen. There was no saturation cable TV coverage, no press conference featuring Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, and no statement from the Oval Office. The death of Christopher Lane, while as troubling as that of Trayvon Martin, will not become a national touchstone of racial and cultural debate or reflection.

But maybe it should. ...

[W]e wouldn't have to focus on a culture that produces teenagers for whom the prospect of shooting an innocent man in the back on a Friday evening apparently raised not a scintilla of conscience. That is the deeper tragedy, and the real scandal, of too much of American life.

That is also an issue of far greater consequence to the future of young black men than the acquittal of George Zimmerman in his awful showdown with Trayvon.

@eScarry