When the Victims are not White

Last week Omar Thornton murdered eight people at his place of employment near Hartford, CT. He also killed himself. His simple reasoning, racism. As you have already witnessed, it was immediately national news. You obviously know, Omar was a black man and all of his victims were white. What you probably have not heard about, and is most likely news to you is the fact that since May of this year, more than 15 people have been stabbed in or around Flint, MI by a knife wielding, muscular built, young white male assailant. Five of these victims have died. All of the victims have been black males.

Officials in Flint are not assigning any racial motive in spite of a clear pattern. The attacker apparently feigns distress or asks for directions before launching his assault on the unsuspecting victims, police said. There is a serial killer on the loose and the officials are unwilling to ascribe racism as a likely motive. Really?

From murders to abducted children, when the victims are not white, there is an incredible pattern of foot dragging that goes on. Loss of life due to senseless violence is tragic regardless of the race of the perpetrator or the victim. You would not know this from the longstanding tradition of not fairly covering the tragedies that plague black victims in comparison to the coverage that takes place when the victims are white.

What you see depends on where you sit. Many black people (not all), heard the story about Omar and his justification for his rampage and quietly related to their mind’s eye, the man finally snapped. At the same time, many whites (not all), immediately related to their mind’s eye, that since the union officials and multiple employees countered the racism claim levied by Mr. Thornton, that the company was always fair and just in dealing with minority employees and never could have discriminated against him.

When the victims are not white, their stories still deserve to be heard. Their cases still deserve to be solved. It’s sad commentary that when crimes perpetrated upon ethnic minorities occur, there is an unspoken assumption that the case will go unsolved and the cases rarely make the news. Why is it we still don’t know who shot Tupac and Biggie? There is a serial killer active in Flint, MI who is white and all of his victims have been black. Why haven’t you heard about it?

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Technorati Tags: African American, Justice, Media Matters, Race, Racism