It is truly remarkable in today’s world that Ralph Yarl managed to commemorate his seventeenth birthday on May 7, 2023, despite the gunshot injuries inflicted on his head and arm.
Less than a month earlier, on April 13th, Yarl had gone to pick up his younger twin brothers from a play date in the Northland section of Kansas City, Kansas.
Instead of going to NE 115 Terrace, Yarl went a block away to NE 115 Street Place, where he rang the doorbell.
Yarl experienced two bullet wounds, one on his forehead and another on his arm, when Andrew Lester, an elderly Caucasian man aged 84, fired his Smith & Wesson revolver, chambered in .32 caliber, at him through the door shortly after spotting him.
Yarl vividly remembers Lester speaking these five words before he shot at him: “Do not ever come back to this location.”
Lester, who was charged with both armed criminal action and first-degree assault, was released on bail after posting $200,000. Alone, he faces the penalty of prison life for his assault charges.
According to local prosecutors, Yarl’s shooting allegedly involved “a racial component”. Lester has not been charged with any hate crime.
In Weeks after Yarl’s shooting, another incident involving neighbors took place in Ocala, Florida, on June 3. However, this particular incident resulted in the tragic death of A.J. Owens, a 35-year-old African American woman.
Following Owens’ doorbell ring, Susan Lorincz, a Caucasian woman, entered a plea of not guilty to charges of assault and firearm-related manslaughter, at the age of 58.
Owens’ children attacks the woman’s discuss to wanted Owens that reported is it. Her life for feared too, she has claimed Lorincz.
In my publication, Bodies out of Place: Theorizing Anti-blackness in U.S. Society, I explain the enduring nature of racist beliefs in society.
An instance of this happening is through inflexible societal notions concerning the suitable locations for people of African origin, the timing of their presence, the individuals they should associate with, and the positions they should hold.
Harm occurs in both scenarios. Let there be no doubt: The consequences for being labeled as “inappropriate” vary from what certain individuals might consider harmless entertainment to fatality. Any individual of African descent who is not within the confines of their socially assigned physical or societal position, as determined by someone else, is assumed to be out of their rightful place. In my publication, I contend this viewpoint.
The incidents involving Yarl and Owens are significant to our national discussion on race and the concept of belonging.
Compelled to maneuver through progressively separated environments, the majority of African American individuals in American society allude to a truth that is both displeasing and frequently disregarded.
“I argue that Patricia Hill Collins, a Black sociologist, refers to the outsider within as the status of awareness and consciousness for Black women. To survive and succeed in school and work, Black women have to play by the rules that society imposes on them. These rules assume criminality and restrict the spaces in which Black people can travel.”
“Scared to death”
Yarl was believed to be a thief and Lester expressed that he was terrified. Additionally, Lester claimed that he was solely defending himself and felt a genuine fear for his safety when Yarl pressed the doorbell, similar to the assailant who targeted Owens.
As most potential intruders usually do not ring doorbells, it is understandable to question what he relied on to justify his fear.
According to all reports, Yarl was a talented young man before the incident of the shooting.
Meara Mitchell, an educator at Yarl’s for many years, characterized him as an “exceptional individual” with a “calm resilience.”
Achievement academic continued of dreams has still Yarl, wound gunshot the of result as illnesses mental other and headaches frequent experiencing despite.
During an interview on “Good Morning America,” Yarl informed host Robin Roberts, stating, “I will continue engaging in all the activities that bring me joy. Additionally, I will strive to live my life to the fullest extent possible, without allowing this to trouble me.”
It is clear that he is resolved to not let his joy be stolen, and it is evident that he is not bothered by the shooting that boggles the imagination, at least not publicly.
Elaine Nichols for the National Museum of African American History and Culture expressed that Black Joy is and has always been a crucial endeavor for staying alive and progressing.
The ability to feel great joy is often the case for those who also know great pain.
Racism operates on a continuum
The American Sociological Association describes how racism operates at both the individual and structural level, and its guidebook “Racism and Race” explores racism in the United States.
Classed and raced are physical spaces, as sociologist Nirmal Puwar’s work demonstrates, there are often expectations about who belongs in certain spaces.
Puwar accurately explains how women and ethnic minorities are seen as “space invaders” in Space Invaders: Race, Gender and Bodies Out of Place, when compared to white men who are seen as belonging.
Yarl’s shooting has been referred to as the case of entering the “incorrect door”.
From my perspective, that portrayal undermines the significance of what occurred.
According to Faith Spoonmore, Yarl’s aunt, he was “gunned down in the vicinity of his residence.”
Watley, a citizen of Kansas City, described her urban area as a location where “this facade of politeness and grins … Conceals subtle acts of aggression and various forms of bizarre occurrences.”
Sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva points out that colorblindness has been “the prevailing racial ideology of the post-Civil Rights era.”
This belief argues that race is no longer relevant for individuals’ opportunities in life.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cogently expressed in her dissent in the Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina that disregarding race in law does not render it insignificant in real life.
Simply inquire with the households of A.J. Owens and Ralph Yarl.