from Rolling Stone article:
It’s important to note that there is a good reason for Long to lie about his motivations: Hate crimes tend to carry with them more aggressive charges and
lengthier sentences, giving him plenty of incentive to downplay the racial aspects of the attack. But by telling the media the attack did not appear to be racially motivated, Baker, intentionally or not, erased the complex and interlocking issues of racism and misogyny that could exist at the heart of the attack.
Further, by emphasizing that the victims allegedly “tempt[ed]” the shooter, law enforcement officials made the women complicit in perpetuating what they referred to as the shooter’s “sex addiction” (which is, in itself, an
extremely controversial and medically dubious diagnosis that has been
rejected from the DSM). Officials were then also able to downplay any perceived racial biases behind the attack, while simultaneously underscoring another aspect of the victims’ identity — the fact that they allegedly did sex work — in a way that deprived them of their humanity. (In a statement, Mayor Kesha Lance Bottoms declined to comment on whether the victims were sex workers, stating that to do so would be to engage in “victim-blaming,” a turn of phrase that sex workers pointed out
implies that those who do sex work deserve violence to begin with.) In downplaying the racism and misogyny that was probably at play here — while simultaneously emphasizing the victims’ professions — law enforcement officials likely failed to recognize that they were painting a portrait of, and implicitly justifying, another type of hate crime altogether: a hate crime against sex workers.
The Excuses We Make for White Male Murderers
