Ralph Yarl, 17, filed a civil suit in Clay County Court seeking monetary damages from Andrew “Dan” Lester, along with Lester’s homeowners’ association. The HOA failed to take precautions about a “potentially dangerous individual,” the lawsuit says.
I personally think it is pretty obvious that there was not “reasonable” cause to shoot someone simply since they rang your doorbell, but now it is up to a jury.
I also doubt this would be in the headlines if it was white man shooting white man or black man shooting black man. This really just seems like race baiting which isn’t surprising in an election year I guess, moreso it’s disappointing.
Lester, who later said he saw a large Black man at his door and was scared, shot through a glass storm door and then shot Yarl once again when he fell.
I don’t think the media needlessly added race to it, the guys statement did.
If he saw a white man, well, he probably wouldn’t have shot, but he wouldn’t have said a ‘large white man’ if he had to describe it.
He’s explaining why he was scared, and felt “black” was an apt word to include in an explanation is telling.
Dude had a gut reaction to a strange person, in large part, by his own wording, because they were black. It’s pertinent.
I get it, sometimes the media does inject race of victim selectively when it might not be relevant. There was a shooting death in my area recently, and the story was lamenting about black on black violence, when a story almost exactly like it played out between white people a little while back and race wasn’t cited. But here, it’s pretty core to the story.
"A 20-year-old woman with dreams of becoming a marine biologist was fatally shot by a homeowner Saturday when the car she was in turned into the wrong driveway in upstate New York.
Kaylin Gillis’ death, which occurred days after 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot and seriously injured after ringing the wrong doorbell in Kansas City, has sparked a national conversation around gun violence as well as “stand your ground” and “castle doctrine,” both self-defense laws."
Describing someone using their race when it is a clear way to discern them from a crowd of people is not racist; but describing someone by their race when it’s entirely irrelevant is likely driven by racism.
The kid being “black” in the statement adds nothing to the information. He could have easily said “I saw a large man at the door and I got scared” and it would not have been any different, since it isn’t like he is trying discern the kid from a crowd. “Black” is being used to justify his fear of the person, and this is inherently racist.
The idea is that it wasn’t for no reason, his comments make it pretty clear he’s uncomfortable around black people. Doesn’t necessarily make him a racist but certainly a bigot though perhaps of ignorance rather than actual malice.
Mm arguably, you could call it tribalist, bigoted, ignorant. We can define it how we please you just lose some support you might otherwise gain by calling a spade a spade rather than a gardening implement.
Except we’re not talking about someone who simply described someone’s race. We’re talking about someone who tried to murder a person because of their race.
I’m also relatively confident that it wouldn’t have happened at all had it been a white man ringing the doorbell, or a black man on the inside of that house.
Wild how the poster above terms suing a man for shooting you in an act of blatant racism as “race baiting” by the victim.
It’s like his brain is on backwards and he knows racism is involved, but he can’t acknowledge what actually happened so he has to blame the victim for it.
If a man ~50 years younger than me that I don’t recognize/know knocks on my door at night, regardless of his race, I would be concerned. Would I just shoot him? No. Would an 80 year old man just shoot him? apparently, I guess… But equating it to racism, without any evidence, is simple race baiting…
The old man is clearly in the wrong, that doesn’t mean he is racist just because the kid was black
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he overlooked the “by the victim” and probably was talking about the media.
Your larger point still stands, that given the reported facts, it seems pretty apparent that the old man was scared by the person in large part because the person was black. I don’t know why he wants to die on the hill that race didn’t matter when the old man said seeing a large black man scared him enough to shoot.
“Large black man.” Checking the photo in the article yeah that’s a teen boy. Image search for “Ralph Yarl” kid looks even younger in more candid shots.
Fucking of course there was a racial element, you have to deliberately close your eyes to pretend otherwise.
If a man ~50 years younger than me that I don’t recognize/know knocks on my door at night, regardless of his race, I would be concerned. Would I just shoot him? No. Would an 80 year old man just shoot him? apparently, I guess… But equating it to racism, without any evidence, is simple race baiting…
The old man is clearly in the wrong, that doesn’t mean he is racist just because the kid was black
The law being challenged for those interested (commonly known as “stand your ground” law)
I personally think it is pretty obvious that there was not “reasonable” cause to shoot someone simply since they rang your doorbell, but now it is up to a jury.
I also doubt this would be in the headlines if it was white man shooting white man or black man shooting black man. This really just seems like race baiting which isn’t surprising in an election year I guess, moreso it’s disappointing.
I don’t think the media needlessly added race to it, the guys statement did.
Describing someone using their race isn’t racism
Making the story about race rather than “this old man shot this young man for seemingly no reason, old man bad” is, in fact, race baiting
If he saw a white man, well, he probably wouldn’t have shot, but he wouldn’t have said a ‘large white man’ if he had to describe it.
He’s explaining why he was scared, and felt “black” was an apt word to include in an explanation is telling.
Dude had a gut reaction to a strange person, in large part, by his own wording, because they were black. It’s pertinent.
I get it, sometimes the media does inject race of victim selectively when it might not be relevant. There was a shooting death in my area recently, and the story was lamenting about black on black violence, when a story almost exactly like it played out between white people a little while back and race wasn’t cited. But here, it’s pretty core to the story.
This event happened days before another story like this- where some teens accidentally drove up the wrong driveway and the owner started shooting and killed one of them. Both stories showed the state of mind of gun owning homeowners when someone approaches their home. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kaylin-gillis-shot-driveway-new-york-what-to-know-rcna80280
"A 20-year-old woman with dreams of becoming a marine biologist was fatally shot by a homeowner Saturday when the car she was in turned into the wrong driveway in upstate New York.
Kaylin Gillis’ death, which occurred days after 16-year-old Ralph Yarl was shot and seriously injured after ringing the wrong doorbell in Kansas City, has sparked a national conversation around gun violence as well as “stand your ground” and “castle doctrine,” both self-defense laws."
this. This, is the headline.
The whole “black man killed by white man” is just race baity.
You’re hired
Heaven forbid the media spend time talking about the massive racism problem we have in America.
deleted by creator
Describing someone using their race when it is a clear way to discern them from a crowd of people is not racist; but describing someone by their race when it’s entirely irrelevant is likely driven by racism.
The kid being “black” in the statement adds nothing to the information. He could have easily said “I saw a large man at the door and I got scared” and it would not have been any different, since it isn’t like he is trying discern the kid from a crowd. “Black” is being used to justify his fear of the person, and this is inherently racist.
They’re pointing out the old man’s perception of a small child, like legit iirc the dude is like 5’6" and like 14 at the time that ain’t large.
That itself is reason enough for this story to go viral. The racial element was just the icing on the cake.
The idea is that it wasn’t for no reason, his comments make it pretty clear he’s uncomfortable around black people. Doesn’t necessarily make him a racist but certainly a bigot though perhaps of ignorance rather than actual malice.
If you’re uncomfortable around black ppl yes you are a racist.
Mm arguably, you could call it tribalist, bigoted, ignorant. We can define it how we please you just lose some support you might otherwise gain by calling a spade a spade rather than a gardening implement.
Why is age more relevant than race?
“Describing someone by their race isn’t racism, unless it is in a headline, in which case it is race baiting because it is an election year.”
Except we’re not talking about someone who simply described someone’s race. We’re talking about someone who tried to murder a person because of their race.
You had a convincing comment, up until the last statement where you lost the plot.
I’m also relatively confident that it wouldn’t have happened at all had it been a white man ringing the doorbell, or a black man on the inside of that house.
Wild how the poster above terms suing a man for shooting you in an act of blatant racism as “race baiting” by the victim.
It’s like his brain is on backwards and he knows racism is involved, but he can’t acknowledge what actually happened so he has to blame the victim for it.
He’s not saying the victim is race baiting (which wouldn’t really make sense), he’s saying the media is.
No, he literally replied to me saying the victim is race baiting.
I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he overlooked the “by the victim” and probably was talking about the media.
Your larger point still stands, that given the reported facts, it seems pretty apparent that the old man was scared by the person in large part because the person was black. I don’t know why he wants to die on the hill that race didn’t matter when the old man said seeing a large black man scared him enough to shoot.
“Large black man.” Checking the photo in the article yeah that’s a teen boy. Image search for “Ralph Yarl” kid looks even younger in more candid shots.
Fucking of course there was a racial element, you have to deliberately close your eyes to pretend otherwise.
If a man ~50 years younger than me that I don’t recognize/know knocks on my door at night, regardless of his race, I would be concerned. Would I just shoot him? No. Would an 80 year old man just shoot him? apparently, I guess… But equating it to racism, without any evidence, is simple race baiting…
The old man is clearly in the wrong, that doesn’t mean he is racist just because the kid was black