The three Muslim students that were killed in the Chapel Hill shooting yesterday. The news barely covered them, so I thought they should be commemorated somehow.

I hope that after 4 years of debating on a national level I'm competent enough to refute weird ass bullshit like this.

a. "Black people and Latino people gun each other down all the time, but when a white person does it, it's national news and the whole world weeps"

Sure, you're going to see that (specifically in black communities) that demographic is statistically more likely to commit violent crimes. However, the same study continues by throughly explainingly that this is a result and a consequence of 'structural forces directly related to historical discrimination, macroeconomic forces, and federal, state, and local policies which knowingly and even willfully segregate and disenfranchise poor blacks.'

However, white men do not have a history of dealing with the consequences of institutionalized racism, and are historically the perpetrators of such racism. When a white man kills, that has different societal implications than the implications of black on black violence. And it happens really weirdly often.

b. "It's fucking disgusting. This wasn't even a hate crime, it was over parking and the dude was insane as fuck."

Why are white men the most likely to be 'insane as fuck'? (see previously linked article) Why are they statistically the most likely to be carrying out mass shootings? Why is this unnamed, vague mental illness specifically harming white men? Again, a shooting like this should not be treated as though it exists in a vacuum. It exists within the real world, and as a result should very clearly be examined within the context of American society, which has had institutionalized racism since it's founding.

c. "but it's not like Muslims aren't doing the opposite and raping and killing white people in Europe everyday."

This is sort of where the 'wtf' came from, because it is so fucking bizarre. It's like the climax to a mountain of shit. It's honestly incredible and out of left field.

Like, feel free to cite where the hell you're getting this idea from because I honestly don't know. Until I know the basis of this argument I can't respond to it. I don't know why this justifies the death of 3 Muslims in America. I don't know why it's pertinent at all. I mean, it just feels like this oddly racist remark that's unnecessary in the face of such a tragedy.

Just imo, though.

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