The murder of 22-year-old Baltimore-area native Yeardley Love in her dorm room at the University of Virginia, where she played lacrosse, was by any measure a horrific tragedy.
But tragedy visits the streets of Baltimore every day, often imposing its will on the young, people - like Love - who had their whole lives ahead of them. Often these acts of violence - murder, assault, rape - merit only a brief paragraph in the pages of the Baltimore Sun, if they're recorded at all.
The Sun, like other national media outlets including the Washington Post, (and this solid piece in Sports Illustrated) has produced story after story about the case, in which Love's boyfriend, fellow Virginia lacrosse player George Huguely, has been charged with first-degree murder. When UVa takes on Towson today in Charlottesville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, media coverage will be intense.
Last week I was talking with a friend of mine about the disparity in coverage between the Love case and murder cases that happen here seemingly every few days. He was adamant that it constituted at the bare minimum institutional - and perhaps overt - racism. African Americans are killed every day in Baltimore, he argued, and no one, especially the media, seems to care. An attractive, young white woman dies, and the entire nation stops to take notice.
On one hand, I see his point. The loss of any innocent life should be mourned equally. But the reality of the situation is that the constant drumbeat of coverage of the violence in our city has caused us to become a bit numb. News is just that - news. Another 16-year-old killed in West Baltimore, unfortunately, is not new. A lacrosse player dying in her own room in an idyllic college town, apparently at the hands of her boyfriend and fellow athlete, is.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying it's fair. I'm just saying it is.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the matter.
Photo: The late Yeardley Love.
Comments
It’s not exactly racial inequality (in this case) …. far more socioeconomic. And it has a lot to do with good looks.
If a young, beautiful black woman from the upper echelon of society died under the same circumstances, I think this case would be getting the same amount of coverage.
When poor people die, it doesn’t seem to be news … and that is sad.
I agree with Sara’s points, and it is very important to move beyond the race card in analyzing important questions such as why this murder receives so much more attention that the frequent tragedies noted by Mike. The amount of coverage has everything to do with frequency and little to do with race, in my opinion. We are numb to urban violence; we see it on the local news in every city every day. I believe that another key driver of the Yeardley Love coverage is the truth that domestic violence will claim a victim anywhere, anytime, and that location, status, and ability do not protect a woman from this other under-reported, numbing daily tragedy.
I think you are all wrong. Everyone should be mourned and looked at as an individual not my race. And I don’t think people should be numb to these types of tragedies because they happen everyday.
I live in Canada and this story is well known here as well. The reason it has been such a news worthy story is because this beautiful young woman is what we all think of as a perfect daughter, friend,athlete, student and citizen. She had so much to offer this world, had already contributed in such a positive way and the world is lacking in this area already. An example of this would be her murderer. Here is a spoiled rich kid with severe anger and jealousy issues that society will now support for sitting in jail! He is everything that Yeardley was not! That is what makes it so tragic.
NOBODY deserves to be murdered or abused; it is the connection people can make to this girls family and self that makes it so personnel to the general public.
Very interesting discussion here. While I totally understand your friend’s issue with the disparity in coverage, I have to agree with you on the “news” aspect of this story. It’s sad to say, but crime in cities, especially in the poorer sections of cities, is something we understand. There’s desperation, poverty, a breakdown in educational and health services, etc. While we do not condone it and would very much like to do something about it,we understand it. The tragedy at UVA is senseless violence that scares us because it involves people of privilege who had their whole lives in front of them. A story like this shocks us and causes us to contemplate the very nature of man when someone from this environment is capable of such cruel violence.
What if Ms. Love was murdered by an African-American male that either attended the predominately upperclass UVA or by a poor local African-American male? Do you think this story would have received the same amount of media attention? Absolutely, in fact the race factor would inevitably be a major component of this story. Unfortunately I think we are desensitzed to Black on Black crime, put Black on White gets our attention. I think what this demonstrates is that unconditionally murder is wrong, but the dollar rules if the crime is a rarity. Two white kids from privileged backgrounds involved in a murder is going to incrase ratings and generate more revenue than two black kids from poor backgrounds. Welcome to a capitalistic gone disappointing when lost of lives is based on frquency and revenue.