News We're Not Seeing

I am just now hearing about the murder of 19-year-old Brooklyn resident, Rashawn Brazell, whose body parts were strewn across various areas in the Brooklyn area. This story is important for many reasons.

1) Stories say Rashawn was gay and was on his way to meet a man he'd met online.
2) Rashawn was black and a victim of an alleged LGBT hate crime.
3) There's been nothing on the news, local, national, and definitely not in L.A. about Rashawn's murder.

This is significant for many reasons when it comes to journalism. Black people don't matter. Black GAY people don't matter.

Now, if this were Matthew Shepherd, or a look alike, we'd see stories everywhere.

Check out these links for more information. I'm shocked, surprised, and saddened I'm just now hearing about this.

• Critical Thinking entry on BlackGayBlogger
• A look at the case on another blog
• Story from New York Newsday
• Tips on dating safe, especially when meeting people from the computer

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