Friday, November 26, 2010

U.S. man arrested, accused of threatening to kill Obama

A 78 year-old American man, Michael Bowden, was arrested for threatening to kill the U.S. President, Barrack Obama, and is expected to show up to the county jail on November 26th. Federal authority stated that the suspicion began when he told a nurse that he was thinking of killing the U.S. president Barack Obama because Obama is "not doing enough to help African-Americans" during the Veterans Affairs clinic. Immediately after the telling, the nurse has reported Bowden to the police and the case was eventually reported to federal security. After the search of this man's property, the suspicion and threat has gradually increased due to the fact that this man owned dozens of rifles.

After being arrested by the federal agents, Bowden admitted to his statement and gave a written sworn which wrote "If I had opportunity to put Obama against the wall and shoot him, I would". After several investigations, Bowden turned out to have several mental problems. According to the records, Bowden had suicide tendencies during a screening in April. United States' Magistrate Judge, Kevin McDonald, ordered Bowden to be held in bond until a mental evaluation had been completed.

In my perspective, whether Bowden was really planning to commit a murder or he was just saying it out loud to express his dissatisfaction towards the president, it was equitable to arrest Bowden in order to prevent any possible threat. President, a leader of a country voted by the citizens, should be protected in every way and every single threat towards the president should be eliminated or quarantined immediately. It is clear to me that Bowden had palpable mental problems and insecurity according to the investigation results. From suicide tendencies to murderous statement towards the president is psychophatic. I believe that the best way to resolve this problem is to give mild penalty and help him recover from his mental problems rather than condemning Bowden severely as he still is a citizen of the country.

Moreover, according to Bowden statement "not doing enough to help African-Americans" suggests that racism was one of the biggest factors towards creating this incident. Racism, even over 65 years after the official United Nations Charter promising equal rights towards every human race was signed in 1945, it still is one of the world's biggest issues which should be dealt with. Incidents like this can happen not just in United States but in every nation around the world. It is every individuals job to step up and make changes to eliminate prejudice and racism around the world to promote fairness, equality, mutual respect and finally, to prevent any further horrifying incidents like this.

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