Boy’s Killing, Labeled a Hate Crime, Stuns a Town

[Infinite Grey]

This old news the USA I'm sure, but there was an article in the local news paper over here (Sweden); Soooo I tried to search MW for a thread on it, but the search engine is being dicky with me :bangyourh so everyone will just have to read about it again :hehehehe:

Boy’s Killing, Labeled a Hate Crime, Stuns a Town ~ The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/23/us/23oxnard.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1209816901-lFZ6VOEaahojA/rA+EaoFA)

In recent weeks, the victim, Lawrence King, 15, had said publicly that he was gay, classmates said, enduring harassment from a group of schoolmates, including the 14-year-old boy charged in his death.

...

On the morning of Feb. 12, Lawrence was in the school’s computer lab with 24 other students, said Mr. Keith, the police spokesman. Brandon walked into the room with a gun and shot Lawrence in the head, the police said, then ran from the building. Police officers caught him a few blocks away.


Link to a blog the Links to a video of Ellen talking about it (http://titration.blogspot.com/2008/02/boy-killed-for-asking-someone-to-be-his.html)

Apparently Larry asked the other boy to be his Valentine, and the boy freaked out and shot Larry in the back of the head.

[bellamandu]

wow. they just keep getting younger and younger. makes you wonder what the hell parents are teaching their kids.

[AmericanMe]

Apparently, the shooter is a victim too. Who knew?

[Lunacie]

Ironic - and scary - I was just having a convo in another forum about how middle school is harder for kids with neurologic disorders in part because they have trouble understanding social cues and social interaction... but the bottom line is they have trouble because they are different.

Kids are not accepted if they are seen as being different. In middle school kids are going through a stage where they stop seeing big differences like "adults and kids", and they start seeing a whole world of other differences, and some of them apparently have a hard time with that idea that all of us are different in some way.

If they were living in another place they might be the ones who are so different that they get bullied and made fun of - and even killed. That's what we need to be telling our kids, long before they get to middle school. That we are all different in some way and that those differences make each of us very special in our own way.

[Ourobori]

Ironic - and scary - I was just having a convo in another forum about how middle school is harder for kids with neurologic disorders in part because they have trouble understanding social cues and social interaction... but the bottom line is they have trouble because they are different.



Very much this. I'm schizophrenic and at times have found it almost crippling with regards to education. It's something of a self perpetuating issue unfortunately. You cannot blame anyone or anything entirely. It cannot *just* be the parents fault because to outright kill someone in cold blood is something innately against the nature of humans, whose first instinct is preservation unless you have somehow implanted into that childs head that certain things will pose a threat to this (cue racism, homophobia etc). You cannot entirely blame the child themselves because of how many confounding factors there are usually surrounding these things and the victim can rarely be blamed.

Unfortunately it is usually a brutal combination of everything.

The killer gets frustrated through a lack of understanding etc, which is usually perpetuated by other children consequently not understanding and thus essentially outcasting them. In turn, because ultimately it is impossible to understand a certain perspective or frame of mind without having personally experienced it, it's intrinsically difficult for parents/doctors etc to offer any *real* understanding to the child, thus furthering their mental issues.

Thus the child snaps and is demonised for doing so, adding a stigma to such a mindset thus disencouraging other children from speaking up when they notice something about themselves that may be considered to be different or out of/against the norm.

Subsequently it's a cyclic process that perpetuates itself through repetition.

Child is misunderstood because they cannot portray themselves accurately.

Child snaps and something unfortunate happens.

Media/parents/teachers etc get a hold of it and blow it out of proportion adding a stigma to the mindset, and thus the child refuses to let it be known.

Repeat ad infinitum.

[Sequoia]

What possessed the other boy to do this to the poor kid?

[Dragon Moon]

I hadn't heard about this. It's very sad that you can be killed for being gay. I just can't believe in this day and age that it's still happening. It's also sad the shooter felt that was the right thing to do. He didn't have to shoot Larry he could have declined the offer, no violence involved. I feel for the families their lives are forever changed.

[AmericanMe]

You know what offends me? The idea that teenagers killing one another is so much worse because the victim is gay. Why does it matter if he was killed for being gay or killed for wearing the wrong colors or just for the hell of it? He's just as dead.

Hate crime laws are stupid and contrary to the whole "equality" meme.

[Infinite Grey]

You know what offends me? The idea that teenagers killing one another is so much worse because the victim is gay. Why does it matter if he was killed for being gay or killed for wearing the wrong colors or just for the hell of it? He's just as dead.

Hate crime laws are stupid and contrary to the whole "equality" meme.

I agree, hate-crimes are stupid. I guess they're designed with the intention of prevention, an attempt to force people to be attempting; mixed with the whole white guilt thing. The minorities (as I've yet to see a real case of hate crimes being applied to minority offenders) will generally hold onto the laws as it allows for greater revenge; humans in general tend to cling to things that benefit them in the short term (how ever morbidly or obscurely). Equality is a nice little comfort blanket, a concept that is about is substantial as a summer blanket in Arctic conditions.

[Fluoxetine]

It defies me as to why it was done. A person is dead, regardless of his life choice. It does not seem right for someone to be that cold blooded and to do that.