hyper sensitive my ass

So I recently posted an article on facebook about Annie Le's murder and my friend thought I was being hyper sensitive. My problem with the article was that the entire article was about who was at that point, a potential suspect (he's now under arrest). The article humanizes him and paints this portrait--the guy next door. He could have been anyone. This is how the article starts off:

"As a high school student in the shoreline town of Branford, Conn., Raymond Clark III joined the Asian Awareness Club, which made spring rolls for a faculty lunch and organized a trip to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year. He joined the Interact Club, which focused on community problems like homelessness. And he played football and baseball, throwing long bombs as a quarterback and knuckleballs as a pitcher."

He's then addressed as "Mr. Clark" for the rest of the article. The article portrays him as your standard all-american white boy. Now, we don't know for sure whether or not "Mr. Clark" had an Asian fetish or if he was cracked out on something when he strangled Annie Le to death and shoved her into a wall, but there's a history of the media and the legal system deracializing racially motivated violence against Asian women and being sympathetic to white male perps.

This is why the article irked me. I like to think it's a pretty reasonable and legitimate reason for being pissed. My fb friend, however, thought I was being "hyper sensitive" and cautioned me about racializing the situation.

Um. I'm not hyper sensitive-- I just see it for what it is. What it could potentially be. Ok, so maybe I'm a little sensitive but it's because I'm just tired of it. I'm not being abnormally critical--I'm just freakin annoyed. So what? I HAVE THAT RIGHT.

I have that right because Michael Lohman has the right to get psychological treatment in exchange for a clean criminal record after putting his piss & jizz into Asian women's drinks and masterbating with a mitten filled with snippets of Asian hair he stole off the heads of unknowing women. I have that right because three racist pathetic white perverts in Spokane, WA kidnapped and raped two Japanese women for 7 hrs to satisfy their sexual fantasies of young Japanese girls but this wasn't considered a hate crime. I have that right because violence against women of color is usually deracialized by the legal system & the media. If they have the right to ignore the root cause of violence against women of color, I have the right to call them out.

And it's not just white men who are protected by the media and the legal system--as long as the perp has some social capital, the media makes an effort. Take a look at the media coverage of Tila Tequila charging her hot shot football playing partner of battery and false imprisonment. Regardless of what "actually" happened and regardless of what you think about Tila, if she felt violated, she felt violated. If she wants to press charges, more power to her. That's her right and the media's job is not to protect or make excuses for her potentially abusive partner. Just because Tila doesn't fit into the good girl narrative "worthy" of being protected doesn't mean she should be villified and treated as if she "deserved it." Nobody deserves it and nobody deserves to be strangled to death. not Annie, not Tila.

So, no. I don't think I'm being hyper sensitive. I'm sick of the media devaluing the lives and bodies of women of color.

peace,

XXunbound