John Allen Muhammad: By the Numbers:

The personal "chemistry" between me and the man who was my 10th and 12th Grade Math teacher was often dysfunctional, due to our differing backgrounds, viewpoints and personal values (and, dare I say, my own less than optimal attitude). Nevertheless, I did learn much Math -- and more -- under his tutelage, and look back upon him as one of my better secondary school mentors (and almost all of the teachers I had in Junior and Senior High School were quite good). In fact, I have been known on more than one occasion to utilize some of his classroom humor in teaching my own students.

One of the stories Ms S told us dealt with the sailor sitting at the end of a bench, with a young and beautiful woman at the other end. The sailor moves to the middle of the bench, that is, half-way towards the woman. He then moves to a point three-quarters of the way down the bench, that is, half-way along the remaining space now separating him from the woman. He then moves half-way, and half of that half-way, and so on. Will the sailor ever get all the way to the woman at the other end of the bench?

The answer is not, he will never exactly reach the woman. He will, however, come close enough for all practical purposes!

The statistics now to be cited are not necessarily exact, but, for the purposes of this analysis, they are close enough for all practical purposes:

The African-American population of the United States now stands at about 45 million, or about 14% of the population. Approximately 5% of them are now incarcerated in a Federal, State or local prison.

Which brings us to John Allen Muhammad.

According to Muhammad's boy toy and collaborator, Lee Boyd Malvo, Muhammad convinced Malvo that "violence was the only way to correct perceived injustices to African-Americans."

I count 2 African-Americans among the 10 murder victims of John Allen Muhammad. That's 20%. Okay, so if the African-Americans are indeed 14% of the population, then one would expect 1 or 2 out of a sample of 10. The best that can be said is that Muhammad did no less of an injustice to African-Americans than whatever force or institution it was that he was crusading against.

As for incarceration, well now there is another Black person incarcerated. His name is Lee Boyd Malvo. He killed 10 people (including 2 African-Americans) and the cost of it was the (hopefully) permanent incarceration of another Black person.

Whatever dysfunctions the American establishment has perpetuated upon the Black people, John Allen Muhammad has, proportionally speaking, performed far worse!