Suspects' race shocks black community

Richmond Times Dispatch ^ | Oct 26, 2002 | NICOLE JOHNSON AND MICHAEL MARTZ

[putupon]

First, Vanessa Harris was happy.

Then, she was shocked.

Turning on the morning news, she was relieved to see an arrest in the sniper shootings. But the first words that came out of her mouth were, "Is he black?"

Like Harris, many blacks in the Richmond area were surprised by the details of the alleged snipers' race.

[putupon]

People shocked muslim jihadist will murder someone of the same race? Must have never heard of Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan....

[Crispy]

"It hit so close to home," she said. "It's really distressing, because blacks are already treated stereotypically, and now this is one more thing against us."

No, its one more thing against muslims.

[The Red Zone]

"It's a shock. You typically expect a serial killer to be a middle-age, Caucasian with glasses," said Kerry Williams, a state employee. "You wouldn't anticipate that level of dysfunction in the black community."

They ever heard of Black Panthers

[Skywalk]

LOL. That level of dysfunction in the black community?! LOL This sniper is no worse than the guy that firebombed the family in Baltimore or the Carr brothers in Wichita or the Zebra killers or the Yahweh-ben-Y. cult killers or any of the endless stream of black rapists and murderers. There are also a number of black serial killers, which Muhammad was not really a part of(this is not a serial killing in the most traditional sense, too distant)

(I'm biracial, so please no insinuations about my post)

[Pharmboy]

"I'm not eliminating the possibility, but I'm just surprised that this kind of thing goes on in a black person's mind," said Trina Traver, owner of the shop. "And the fact that he was randomly killing other black people made me think he wasn't black."

And that's just why he shot them...

[giotto]

The fear that stereotyping may follow the arrests has many blacks contemplating what backlash they can expect from other races.

It makes me sad that so many black people think that whites are just waiting for a chance to stereotype and cast them in a negative light. To me, the only relevant thing about Mohammed is that he is a cold blooded killer. No race has a monopoly on evil.

[itsinthebag]

This murder spree was not about race . . . it's about the "religion of peace", Islam.

[goose1]

never heard of OJ either I guess

[mywholebodyisaweapon]

"It hit so close to home," she said. "It's really distressing, because blacks are already treated stereotypically, and now this is one more thing against us."

Yep. The stereotype is of Steppin Fetchit, the idiot with a heart of gold that can do no wrong. The reason why so many African-Americans cannot believe that a black person did these things is because they have been conditioned to believe that all black people are wonderful. Where else would the image of a 'middle-aged caucausian with glasses' as a sniper come from (talk about negative stereotyping)?

Maybe this episode will help drive home the truth that people are people are people ...

But I doubt it will.

[The Red Zone]

It was about a warped desperado. (Why don't we see that word in the news? Seems to fit this guy to a T)

[SubMareener]

The truth, Fox said yesterday, is that 43 percent of sniper killers and one-third of mass murderers are black.

Since people with black skin make up less than 20% of the population, this means that people with black skin are more likely to be sniper killers or mass murderers than people with white skin.

People with white skin have apparently ignored this fact in order to avoid stereotyping people with black skin.

[Tripleplay]

"You wouldn't anticipate that level of dysfunction in the black community."

Perhaps he missed the Cincinnati, Watts, Detroit riots, etc.

[RLK]

The truth, Fox said yesterday, is that 43 percent of sniper killers and one-third of mass murderers are black.

------------------------------

Has anyone listened to the content of rap music lately? Is there wonder at these statistics?

[tm22721]

I find it incredulous that after 9/11, the people in this story mirror the refusal of the mainstream press to at least pose the question - could radical Islam be involved ?

BUMP

[The Red Zone]

Wonder how long it will take for some rapper to pen a ditty about the sniping spree.

[FLAUSA]

This article says a lot about how black people and their white liberal enablers have sterotyped white males in this country. Blacks and liberal whites assumed that the sniper was a white male, which probably hindered the investigation and resulted in more victims. Then when the sniper was finally caught, the race of the sniper and assumed white sterotyping of blacks in general becomes the focus of attention.

Just for the record, I view this as a Muslim sniper who happens to be black. If there is any group that I would now view a little differently, it is black muslims, not blacks in general.

[AppyPappy]

Amazing. Racism on display. Imagine if the shooter had been white and people said "I expected him to be black because they kill more people".

[karlamayne]

In the same vein, clearly it's equally incredulous that they wouldn't have found someone named Mohammod.

[Tripleplay]

"You wouldn't anticipate that level of dysfunction in the black community."

Apparently the fact that 70% of black children have no father at home does not qualify as "dysfunctional"