Snaps & Slaps
It’s about bloody time.
SLAP: Anti-Polynesian Racism
We don’t know if any of “our” people are doing this, but it still needs to be said. During Bell’s trial, comments left on Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News stories, as well as several blog posts, were overwhelmingly supportive of Bell. However, many who weighed in on the trial seemed more concerned with the race of the family members who assaulted Bell and Fair than with Bell’s innocence, calling all “islanders” dirty, poor, uncivilized, violent, gang members were not only common. While we normally ignore ranting on the internet, we can’t and shouldn’t ignore racism, particularly when it is so blatant. So let us make no mistake: The family is in the wrong here because they made anti-gay assumptions about Bell, because they broke into his house and beat him, because they engaged in vigilantism and because they continue to see no problem with their actions. They are not in the wrong because they’re Polynesian, nor are Polynesians any more violent than humanity at large. Racism is just as destructive to individuals and society as homophobia. As a broader community, we need to make sure that we don’t support an innocent white man because he is white, and scorn his attackers because they are not.
SLAP: South Salt Lake PD and SL County DA
We agree with Bell juror Natasha Jorgensen: This trial was a waste of time and tax dollars. And because police investigators made an absolute mess out of the case from start to finish (seriously, not interviewing the witnesses at the family’s house or at Bell’s house? What, was Inspector Clouseau on call that night?), it should never have gone to trial in the first place. But we’re even more flabbergasted at the District Attorney’s office, which refused to press charges against Bell and Fair’s attackers last year. Now that the trial is over, assistant DA Alicia Cook said her office may reconsider charges. Why the office couldn’t handle two cases at once is anybody’s guess. The bottom line: both departments fucked up. Miserably. And pressing charges is the least the DA can do both for justice’s sake and for the askes of two innocent men whose health and lives have now been compromised for 14 months.