Current Events Posting #3
Title: USC Students Killed: Carjacking Attempt gone Wrong
Author: Greg Risling
Date: April 12th, 2012
Summary Both victims had traveled from Beijing last spring like many international students
had before them, eager to earn their master's degree in electrical
engineering at the University of Southern California yet somewhat wary
of what life in Los Angeles would provide. Investigators said the attack on Wednesday might have been part of a
robbery or attempted carjacking, but other possibilities have not been
discounted.
No arrests have been made, and police were looking at video
surveillance tapes taken from cameras in the neighborhood to see whether
the footage contains any new evidence. Police have not yet released a
description of the gunman who fled on foot.
A press conference has been set for Friday when authorities plan to
announce a $125,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the shooter.
The shooting garnered attention half a world away as China's state
television repeatedly played a report from Los Angeles with one of its
reporters examining the crime scene. Speculation swirled on China's
social media sites, saying the two students were from affluent families
because of the BMW that some media outlets reported as being newly
purchased.
I heard about this from my father, who happened to be in Beijing this week. He says that many of his friends don't feel very sympathetic to the students because they believe that they were showing off their affluence by driving a brand new BMW. In a society that believes in modesty and humbleness, I can see where the view is coming from, but nevertheless these are still two deaths and the murderer needs to be apprehended.
Conclusion: I am surprised that no one has even heard about it. Just because the victims were Asian doesn't mean that they deserve any less attention than a white girl. This directly correlates with the learning exercise we did today, and further goes to show the prejudice that publishers have in displaying certain types of press.
Even though it is seen that the two Chinese students were showing affluence by driving a brand new BMW, it still does not justify their wrongful murders. Cars are to be bought and used as a quicker and easier way of transportation, is that such a crime? It is unfortunate that this case does not seem to be of much importance and that the killer might just have slipped through officers' grasp. It is alarming how publishers have shaped the public's view of USC and made this case a question about how safe one is based on one's ethnicity and presentation. Many disregard the fact that USC's campus is just not in the safest location. According to OnCenteral, a local radio station in Souther California, there have been 196 violent crimes in the past 6 months alone; 10,000 people ranked USC as top 15 out of 209 neighborhoods for violent crimes. Before jumping to conclusions, people should consider the other factors rather than reasoning and pinning the murders on race and affluence.
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