What part of this is hard to understand – every life matters?
The vicious murder of bodies that are deemed unreal, unthinkable, an “it” – open season has been declared upon bodies that are said to be wrong. Law enforcement and judicial officials are colluding.
Perhaps you know – if not you should know – that 18 year old Angie Zapata was murdered on July 16.
Angie was a trans woman. She was beaten to death by Allen Ray Andrade, 32, who confessed to the crime, yet placed the blame for his actions squarely upon the victim.
As Holly of Feministe breaks it down, this is not an unusual defense:
“Deception” is the commonly told and commonly believed story in cases like this, but further investigation and examination of the facts has OFTEN suggested it’s a smokescreen.
Seriously, don’t let anyone sell you the usual line that “oh, she tricked him and then he freaked out and killed her.” For one thing, even if that was the case, the appropriate reaction is not to kill someone. But more importantly, it’s often totally fabricated. But everyone just believes it because it’s so “plausible.” It’s the entire audience of listeners to these stories that need to wise up. Tell your friends. Here are some important points:
2) trans women, even young trans women, are not total ….. idiots. Especially the ones who have experience, who lived to see adulthood and have had to survive on the streets. Trans women know the risks associated with sex partners who aren’t aware of our status. Trans women are, by and large, experts at judging and negotiating this kind of situation. Part of the reason many community advocates think the ongoing wave of “trans panic” crimes involve bogus stories is that most trans women, sex workers included, make sure that potential sex partners are not confused as hell about what’s going on. Unfortunately, that doesn’t eliminate the unpredictable violent psychopaths of the world.
3) The victims of these murders are DEAD and cannot tell their side of the story. Seriously — Andrade killed her, he confessed it. He knows what kind of story is likely to elicit the most sympathy from other straight guys, and he’s telling it. He even included details about “she wouldn’t let me touch her, but she gave me a blow job.” This whole scenario is a classic myth — which doesn’t mean it never happens, but when the murderer is caught red-handed and then proceeds to give the most “sympathetic sob story,” why the hell does everyone believe him? Because most people find it impossible to identify with the victim, and far too easy to identify with the killer of a “thing.” This needs to change, but the dead cannot speak for themselves, cannot persuade people to empathize and listen. It’s up to the rest of us.
If this were not bad enough, it gets worse.
Experts say it may not be easy for prosecutors to prove it was a hate crime.
“A prosecutor is going to talk about this being a knowing killing, that the defendant knew what he was doing. The defense is going to argue that it was the heat of passion, that he did it because he, the defendant, was so upset for being duped,” said 9NEWS legal analyst Scott Robinson.
Robinson believes that while the prosecution will be seeking a conviction for second-degree murder, the defense could seek a lesser offense of heat of passion manslaughter.
“This is not a classic hate crime, where an individual is beaten to death because of their orientation. This is a case when an individual reacted irrationally and unlawfully to learning they had been fooled,” said Robinson.
Again, blame for the death placed squarely on the victim, who cannot speak for herself. How is this not a “classic” hate crime? Did Andrade need to be exclaiming “I hate transgendered persons” while he bashed Angie’s head in with a fire extinguisher? Did he need to be wearing a Klan robe while stealing her car? Did he need to burn a cross at the scene of the crime?
As long as people know they can get away with this kind of defense, they will.
It’s up to the rest of us to speak for those who cannot.
Exactly, some can speak and most should. That someone gets away with murder by calling another “it” is absolutely unpardonable. Let’s not allow Angie to be such a person.
The man spent all day building a case against her from her photos while he was at her apartment. She had spent all day the day before driving him around after his court hearing which she went to.
Then he finished killing her by hitting her a third time after she awakened from being hit twice previously and knowcked unconscious. That is not heat. That’s rying to expunge one’s own embarassment or post-regret by using human sacrifice.
Is it even believeable that he had no idea she was transgendered? I don’t think so.
This “panic” defense needs to be canned once for all. TRhis is the case to do so.
I have not done an official count but I would bet the predator Kyle Payne was blogged about more than Angie…what a sad statement.
[...] Body Matters: The Murder of Angie Zapata Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Ya Think?Quran in the crapper – A Hate Crime?Obama [...]
Watching people try to dissect the definition of “hate crime” so that it no longer means a “hate crime” is making me ill.
I mean, people blithely talking about how Andrade supposedly didn’t target Angie, he just decided to kill her on the spur of the moment…because she was trans, meaning he targeted her.