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Jake Evans murdered his family. Let's talk about racism!
For those of you who don't know, Jake Evans is the 17-year-old who shot his mother and sister and then called the police to turn himself in. Due to the contents of the conversation he had with the 911 operator, he's gained a certain level of popularity and many people feel sorry for him.
I'm one of those people, although I make no attempt to excuse what he did. I feel compassion for him because he felt remorse and immediately went to the police, and I believe that that's a sign that there's still humanity left in him. But I'm not here to talk about that so much as the fact that a lot of people seem to be using the tragedy as an opportunity to discuss race relations.
Racism is a serious issue. Even today, black people get harsher sentences for crimes than white people, and the media tends to focus more on the problems of white people than those of black people. That said, it's wrong to assume (as several people have) that the people who empathize with Jake Evans are the same as the ones who believe Trayvon Martin was a thug who brought his death upon himself. It's wrong to assume that anyone who feels bad for him wouldn't also feel bad for a black man in his situation. And finally, as a black person myself, I firmly believe that it's insensitive and self-centered for us to take this murder and make it about us. A mother and her child are dead and yet people are acting like the real victims here are the black people who, hypothetically, might not get the same level of sympathy from the masses if they were the ones in Jake Evans' shoes.
I'm in no way denying that a double standard exists. But just as it's not racist to care when a white person goes missing (despite the prevalence of Missing White Woman Syndrome) it's also not racist to care about Jake Evans. Especially since a lot of the people who care about him also care about Trayvon Martin and other black people who have been the center of tragic events.
I had someone tell me that my argument was wrong because of how no one felt compassion for Darwin Jackson, who was black and killed his mother just like Jake did. But the difference is that Darwin hid the body in a dumpster and was only arrested when someone else called the cops. Jake stepped forward and turned himself in because he knew he was a criminal who deserved to be locked up. This alone, in my opinion, is more than enough to explain why they've been treated so differently.
I dunno why I made this thread except that I'm currently kind of angry about this and just needed somewhere to vent. Feel free to add your two cents.
Comments
I read about the double murder, although I had no idea it was the catalyst for talks about race relations. I agree with you; the crime itself and the people involved had nothing to do with race relations. It may certainly be true that a coloured person in the same scenario would be treated with less sympathy, but that's a broader discussion for another time. If there's any underlying conversation that needs to be had about this state of affairs, it's that of the recognition and treatment of psychological dysfunction. And as relevant an issue as race is in today's world, the issue of treating psychological dysfunction is more fundamental and universal; race relations have been ebbing and flowing for thousands of years in all corners of the world, and no-one knows what the next hundred might bring. But if we can use this incident as a catalyst to improve the recognition and treatment of psychological issues, that might improve the lives of thousands or millions for as long as that knowledge exists.
By heavens, you could make a bingo card out of the reaction to such a crime. A plunge into the dark world of Tumblr.
[x]"Waaahh, people only have this reaction because he's a whitecisgenderablebodiedheteroagnosticmale"
[x]People who go out of length to say how sick and disgusted they are with the people having sympathy for him
[x]People who lament the case is symptomatic of the disaffected youth of today
[x]The usual killer fangirls
[x]The jaded posers who can't into emotions whining about how people can be shocked by this
[x]The lolsoedgy peeps making shoops to fuel the flames of rage
[x]Can we stop making a petty flamewar out of this? Not because of respect for the family, but because the discussion is tiresome
[x]People fantasizing about what they would do to him if it was up to them
[x]The psych undergrads giving their 'professional' analyses
A bingo card needs 24 boxes to check off with one free space in the middle man. Can't call this a bingo game unless you think of 13 more stock answers.
Alex - hopeful, but I doubt this incident is going to cause new focus on psychological dysfunction/needs of criminals. If anything the severity of this case is probably going to send the "punishment for the sake of indignation" folks into over drive.
Well, duh, but lazy, and trudging through the material has turned up a lot of samey reactions(strangely, no what media did he consume/gun control wank as of yet).
See, you could spin that shit into like, five or six easy bingo cards. If you are going to make a joke man, commit to it. It's fucking matrimonial between you and Bingo now. You made a solemn vow to internet mocking, and you better follow through. None of this lazy shirking of your marital responsibilities to humor now, you're in it for the long haul. You chucklefucks tattooed on your rings, so no backing out of this short of some light amputation. Put on your grownup joking pants and finish that bingo card.
Alk wins the forum.
The people who treat Jake Evans as some sort of sympathetic and misunderstood creature kind of bother me, but what really bothers me are the people who treat Anders Behring Breivik as sympathetic and misunderstood.
The latter truly upsets me.