Murder, Grosse Pointe and White Privilege
This past week my community of Grosse Pointe Park has been engrossed in the tragic killing of a local woman. Currently, the police have her husband as a “person of interest”. It is a sad story. The woman worked across the hall from me and always greeted me with a smile and “Hello” when we passed in the hallway.
Her body was discovered in her Mercedes SUV in an alley on Detroit’s eastside. There was no damage to the car and no evidence (to date) that the woman was robbed or that this incident was a carjacking. When the media and public heard of this news, everyone went to the place of this must be a “Detroit crime”. After all, something as tragic and brutal as this crime was would not happen in Grosse Pointe. The victim must have been robbed and driven there or she was a victim of a carjacking while she may have been pumping gas. In fact, police sources have reported that she was most likely killed in her own home in Grosse Pointe.
Additionally, the killer had the belief that if he or she “dumped” the body in Detroit, then everyone would think that this crime was just one more statistic in the Detroit murder rate. Most people, including the killer, went immediately to that place of power and privilege. After all, Grosse Pointe is one of the wealthiest and highly educated communities in the state and certainly no one in our community would commit such a crime. It must have been one of “those people” from Detroit.
If one looks at the media coverage this past week, you will notice that this story of a white business woman from Grosse Pointe was on the front cover and the lead story since day one. If a Latina or African American woman was killed under these same circumstances, would that story receive the same attention and coverage. Doubt it.
