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The wrong explanation for Clayton's tragedy

Once again, some see race as the reason

239 comments

The wrong explanation for Clayton's tragedy

POSTED: Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 8:19 AM

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As if the killing of Autumn Pasquale isn't horrible enough, some anonymous postings on this and other news sites insist that race is the reason for the 12-year-old Clayton, NJ girl's death.

Autumn was white. The two suspects are black. And for some people, this explains why she was strangled.

It's as foolish to judge public opinion by reading comments on websites as it is to judge people by race. So I won't go there.

I will say that in small-town Clayton on Tuesday, I saw blacks and whites united in their grief about the death of a fellow human being. This truth speaks more eloquently than handfuls of hateful words ever could.

Kevin Riordan @ 8:19 AM Permalink | 239 comments

239 comments

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Comments (247)

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:40 AM, 10/24/2012

This tragedy does not have the components of a hate crime. I can't believe that you clowns are belittling this tragedy. This young girl's family is grieving in a way that I cannot imagine. You clowns preach compassion for them, yet are more concerned with spouting out the next bigoted statement. Thank God the perpetrators were caught. Spook, you are an ignorant clod. The Trayvon Martin case has many components that are consistent with a hate crime:

1. Racial profiling by "neighborhood watch" person George Zimmerman
2. Evidenced tape with Zimmerman making racial remarks and stereotyping
3. Zimmerman not following the orders of the dispatcher
4. Zimmerman not acting in an official manner. He did not have the right to approach Martin, he is not an officer.

— EP_Represent

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:42 AM, 10/24/2012

Agree with Mr. Riordan. These two teens could have just as easily been white kids from disfunctional families. The father, divorced from the boys' mother for 7 years, reportedly has had zero contact with his five children. How can that be? Imagine the effect it had on the boys, their own father not wanting to have anything to do with them. I give credit the accused boys mother for turning them in to the cops. However, despite all the negative factors involved in the upbringing of these two boys, at ages 15 and 17, they are old enough to know better. They should without doubt be tried as adults and suffer the same fate as others if convicted as cold-blooded killers.

— misterhman

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:47 AM, 10/24/2012

The fact that we have to keep reminding ourselves that this isn't about race is a pretty good indicator that this is, indeed, still about race.

— pidginwedge

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:53 AM, 10/24/2012

misterhman, you are totally on point, great post! pidginwedge, it is about race because many of you are unwilling to look at the underlying issues, and unable to replace the race of the victim and perps with any other. This same tragedy would apply if all involved were white, black, asian, etc. These KILLERS will be tried as adult as they should, and will spend the rest of their lives in jail.

— EP_Represent

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:55 AM, 10/24/2012

It is a hate crime, due to the fact that a white girl had something two "African Americans" didn't. The same two "African Americans" hated the fact that this white girl had something they didn't, so they murdered her for it. Yeah, this IS a hate crime!!!

— 835union

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 9:58 AM, 10/24/2012

Al Sharpton will show up in his limo any minute now. Of course this is about race! If Autumn was an African American girl, these degenerates would never have killed her. That's the sad truth and naive liberals need to get their heads out of their hind parts and accept the FACTS!

— The Monk

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:02 AM, 10/24/2012

your premise is as idiotic and naive as you are...this is ALL about race...a whole generation of young black males are growing up with little regard for human life,terrorizing innocent citizens along the way...wake up!!!!who was responsible for these thugs???a single female parent,right???...where was she when all these kids were coming over looking for bike parts???did she think they opened up a used parts business on the side???your liberal thinking is what enables these people to thrive and multiply to the detriment of society...this affair is so sickening that i just wish i had about 5 minutes alone with these punks...and believe me,i'm far from alone in that respect...anf finally,i'm so sick and tired of reading idiots like you who say race is not a factor...it's a factor because the blacks make it a problem...who commits 99% of the murders in this area???give you one guess..so stop writing this tripe and get your head outta the sand and look around you...

— jabac

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:02 AM, 10/24/2012

First and foremost R.I.P. Autumn, my thoughts are with her friends and family.....

I don't think race was why Autumn was killed, BUT you can't say that IF Autumn had been black and the suspects white that the mainstream media AND the NAACP wouldn't turn it into a hate crime. And that is why white people are reacting the way they are, we've seen it happen so many times in the reverse where Al Sharpton and J. Jackson march in and talk about the evil that is the white race with their concern over the victim being secondary.

George Zimmerman...remember him? The Spanish guy who the mainstream media refused to call Spanish that was accused of killing Trayvon Martin. The evil "white" guy that killed the innocent baby faced black teen that black people were enraged about for two weeks before going back to their normal lives. There was no way you'd convince the black community that it was anything other than a hate crime commited by a white male on a helpless black teen. So why weren't websites similar to this one and the mainstream media making it a point to say this wasn't race related and instead just focus on the tragedy that unfolded that night in Florida?

Look, i feel that Autumn's death is a horrible thing and these two suspects should be tried as adults and hopefully do the maximum amount of time in jail. But this site as well as others shouldn't be up in arms over white people being annoyed at the double standard that is alive and well considering that articles, protests, candle light vigils, and general "outrage" floods the internet, newspapers, and televisions when the victim is black.

And saying that you saw both black and white uniting in grief (along with the picture to prove it),while its nice to see even though the circumstances around it are just horrible, I'm sure you could snap a picture of whites grieving with blacks when the victim is black and suspect(s) white.

— crenshaw2436

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:05 AM, 10/24/2012

EP_Represent: my community is doing fine. Slavs are ok in this country, low crime rate, very high percentage are in white collar jobs, low drug usage. Next time you hear about slavic people in the area killing each other everyday single day for 365 days give me a holler.

— Vlad

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:13 AM, 10/24/2012

I don't think this is a hate crime, but more a crime of opportunity. I do agree with other posters that things would be different if it were two white kids who killed a black girl for her bike.

— LouDiamondPhillipsheadScrewdriver

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:15 AM, 10/24/2012

What's foolish is thinking almost anyone who writes for this newspaper has a shred of common sense.

— tr88

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:15 AM, 10/24/2012

crenshaw2436, these idiots would have done the same thing to a black girl, white/black boy, etc. It doesn't matter. Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson are 60+. George Zimmerman, refer to my earlier post. There is no double standard. This tragedy has gotten national coverage. The news provided up to date info throughout. You are proving Kevin's point when you talk about a COMMUNITY uniting in grief. You and others on this site are the ones that a more concerned with what the AA community and race, and Al Sharpton are/aren't doing instead of looking at what this tragedy is. I haven't seen any poster on this site asking for these thugs to be tried as kids. This crime is consistent with a 1st degree murder. So when you see a community uniting in grief, they are mourning the loss of a daughter, and the unimaginable pain that the family will face. For you to minimize that to a "race" issue is shameful.

— EP_Represent

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:18 AM, 10/24/2012

@Riordan, why was the Trayvon killing immediately assumed to be a hate/racial crime when the defendent appeared to be white? Did you write a similar article back then denouncing the racist comments?

— psyrus

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:19 AM, 10/24/2012

test

— Professor1982

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:21 AM, 10/24/2012

We don't know the full motive yet. Presumably it was for bike parts but most sane people don't kill others for bike parts so maybe the two boys have some racial hatred. We won't know until the full story comes out or we may never know. We shouldn't be so insanely politically correct to just assume race had no role until we know all the facts.

— s