Jessica Doty Whitaker. Social media photo.
A murder case in Indiana has gone viral due to claims that the victim said "All Lives Matter". The Heavy. 24 year old Jessica Doty Whitaker was shot and killed after a dispute between her group and another group. According to her fiance, Jose Ramirez, someone in their group said the N-word. After an argument where the other group said "Black Lives Matter" while someone in the Whitaker's group said "All Lives Matter". The dispute ended peacefully after both sides realized they were armed and they ended with a fistbump. However, an unknown assailant then opened fire on Ramirez and Whitaker, with Ramirez returning fire.
My Comment:
This story is going viral on Twitter and other social media sites today. However, I'm not 100% sure it's a great example of what people are claiming it is. First of all it's unclear if Whitaker was the one that said anything at all. Someone in her group said all lives matter, but it may not have been her. Indeed, what exactly her involvement was is unclear.
I also want to say that the left will make it a big deal that someone said the N-word. That obviously doesn't justify the shooting but for the left, who long abandoned the idea that speech is difference than violence, it might. There isn't any information as to why the word was used and I have to point out that this was a mixed race group. Obviously Ramirez is Hispanic though Whitaker was white.
This whole incident seems like two groups of very stupid people interacting. Dropping the N-word was a bad choice as even if you respect the idea of free speech. It's a fact that people get angry enough about it to kill. Doing so is a recipe for disaster, regardless of the context. It wouldn't matter if they were just quoting rap lyrics, it's a bad idea regardless.
Doing so while armed is doubly stupid. Hell, both sides were incredibly stupid for trying to have an argument while armed. I know that one of the big things in CCW culture is that you are supposed to be the most polite person in the world and avoid conflict at all costs. Neither side did this and someone died as a result. Of course we don't know who was carrying legally, if anyone was, but still, bad behavior all around.
What's frustrating about this is that it looked like cooler heads were going to prevail. After the argument and the realization that everyone was armed, they made amends and fistbumped each other. Then when the situation was over someone fired and ended up killing Whitaker. There was no reason for this.
But is this a case of Black Lives Matter killing a random white person because they said the wrong thing? Probably not. Instead it just seems like another example of pointless violence, with a bit of a racial tinge to it. And not quite white vs black either as it seemed more like black vs Hispanic with a white person getting in the way. It should also be clear that just because someone says Black Lives Matter doesn't mean they are part of the movement. This wasn't a protest, it was just two groups of people running into each other on a holiday weekend.
Plus, I'm guessing that Whitaker wasn't the main target. Ramirez was walking with her and I am guessing that he was the target. The attacker was just a bad shot and hit the wrong person so it's pretty irrelevant if Whitaker said "all lives matter" or not.
So while I do think that this was a good example of stupid violence with a racial tinge, I don't think it qualifies as a Black Lives Matter killing. We have had enough of those already so we shouldn't have to make ones up when the facts of the case don't really match up.
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