2
by Bisbee
To share a personal observation which reveals my own racial bias, when I read this article and in my mind decided the shooters were gang members and the victim and family are African Americans in a low income neighborhood, there is almost an acceptance that such forms of random gun violence are endemic to “those places.” Contrast this with the story of the little boy who was shot and killed, just as randomly in the backseat of his mother’s car, and the road rage shooter were a stupid young white guy and his dumb Asian girlfriend which set off a huge manhunt for a white VW Jetta. I believe the outrage of the second story directly relates to the fact that such random violence is “Unacceptable!” because it hits closer to home. Such is the workings of unconscious bias: A little black girl dying is merely sad because she existed in a different world. A little white boy dying is an outrage because he could have existed down the street.
I don’t like my biases very much when I accept gang shootings easier than random shootings. Because the two spheres of influence are not factually that different living here in Los Angeles.
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi