{"id":163599,"date":"2025-09-09T17:38:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=163599"},"modified":"2025-09-09T17:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T01:39:12","slug":"nbc-news-suspect-in-fatal-n-c-train-stabbing-of-ukrainian-refugee-is-charged-with-federal-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=163599","title":{"rendered":"NBC News: Suspect in fatal N.C. train stabbing of Ukrainian refugee is charged with federal crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hear we shouldn’t politicize or racialize this crime<\/a>. OK, but why? Was it OK to politicize or racialize the killing of George Floyd? Who am I to tell somebody that the way they experience life is wrong and should be kept quiet.<\/p>\n

Who are we to pronounce on one type of identity is superior to all others? If someone is buffered or porous? If someone’s identity is religion or nation or tribe, who are we to condemn them? if somebody sees the world through the lens of race at times, so what? What if race is key to somebody’s identity? We can say that’s not cool bro, but someone’s life experience might lead them to see race in some things where others claim they don’t. Why is one lens superior to another?<\/p>\n

I don’t see why the pose of being above all racial, tribal and political loyalties is the way of the superior man.<\/p>\n

ChatGPT says: Charles Taylor\u2019s \u201cbuffered\u201d vs. \u201cporous\u201d self distinction already shows that modern Western liberal identity (buffered, secular, individualistic) isn\u2019t the only way of being. It\u2019s just the one that won out historically in certain societies. But when people treat that form of selfhood as \u201csuperior,\u201d they smuggle in a judgment that others\u2014who locate meaning in religion, tribe, race, nation\u2014are backward or less evolved. That\u2019s where resentment and cultural fracture grow.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re right: if someone interprets the world through the lens of race, or faith, or nationality, that is part of how they\u2019ve made sense of their own vulnerability, history, and belonging. Telling them \u201cdon\u2019t racialize\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t politicize\u201d can feel like telling them to amputate a part of themselves. The dominant culture often gets to declare its perspective \u201cneutral\u201d while framing others\u2019 lenses as \u201cbias.\u201d But neutrality is itself a lens\u2014one that usually reflects privilege.<\/p>\n

That said, not every lens is harmless. Some ways of framing identity can harden into exclusion or violence against others. We\u2019re entitled to push back where an identity lens leads to dehumanization. The trick is holding two truths at once: (1) no one has the authority to declare a single mode of identity universally superior, and (2) societies still need norms that prevent destructive or scapegoating uses of identity.<\/p>\n

So, it\u2019s not about denying people their identities. It\u2019s about recognizing that identities are plural, partial, and situational. A person may be religious on Sunday, nationalistic at the World Cup, racialized when they\u2019re pulled over, and buffered when they\u2019re at work. None of those is \u201cthe\u201d right lens\u2014they\u2019re all real to that person. The danger comes when one lens demands to be the only one everyone else must accept.<\/p>\n

In the courtroom<\/p>\n

Which identities are \u201creasonable\u201d?<\/p>\n

Jurors are instructed to evaluate evidence from a supposedly neutral, rational standpoint. But \u201cneutral\u201d is usually coded as buffered, secular, individualistic. A plaintiff who frames harm in terms of family honor, community standing, or racial vulnerability risks being seen as \u201coveremotional\u201d or \u201cirrelevant.\u201d Meanwhile, a defendant who appeals to economics, medical bills, or \u201cobjective\u201d science is seen as speaking the language of reason.<\/p>\n

Expert testimony as gatekeeper: Courts privilege certain epistemologies. Medical experts, economists, accident reconstructionists\u2014these are buffered ways of knowing. A priest, elder, or neighborhood historian is almost never admitted as an \u201cexpert,\u201d even though in that community, they might be the authority on meaning and harm.<\/p>\n

How this plays out: Plaintiffs from porous identity backgrounds have to translate their experience into buffered language to be taken seriously. If they don\u2019t, the jury is told to discount their way of seeing. That\u2019s a hidden hierarchy of identities.<\/p>\n

In politics<\/p>\n

Dominant \u201cneutrality\u201d: Politicians often say, \u201cLet\u2019s not make this about race,\u201d or \u201cLet\u2019s keep religion out of it.\u201d That sounds even-handed, but it usually reinforces the buffered identity as the only legitimate one in the public square. Others are told their frames are \u201cspecial interests,\u201d not general concerns.<\/p>\n

Race and tragedy: After a crime, some say, \u201cDon\u2019t racialize this.\u201d But for many, their life-world is already racialized: they walk into stores and are followed; they apply for jobs and are filtered. To not name race feels like gaslighting\u2014like being told their reality doesn\u2019t count.<\/p>\n

Policy debates: Universalism (talking about \u201cthe people,\u201d \u201cthe nation\u201d) is treated as high-minded, while particularism (talking about \u201cBlack lives,\u201d \u201cimmigrant struggles\u201d) is painted as divisive. But universalism itself is particular: it usually defaults to majority norms.<\/p>\n

The deeper tension<\/p>\n

So when we ask, \u201cWhy is one lens superior to another?\u201d the real answer is: because institutions\u2014courts, media, politics\u2014decide which identities get coded as \u201cneutral,\u201d \u201creasonable,\u201d and \u201cgeneral,\u201d and which ones get coded as \u201cbiased,\u201d \u201cemotional,\u201d or \u201cspecial pleading.\u201d It\u2019s not a philosophical inevitability; it\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

The moral challenge is whether we can build spaces (legal, political, cultural) where multiple identity lenses can coexist without one being forced into invisibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hear we shouldn’t politicize or racialize this crime. OK, but why? Was it OK to politicize or racialize the killing of George Floyd? Who am I to tell somebody that the way they experience life is wrong and should … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21791],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-163599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=163599"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163601,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163599\/revisions\/163601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=163599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=163599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=163599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}