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1. Media MIA when it comes to victims of color « Moms in the Lobby on 24 Oct 2009 at 4:06 am

   [...] the missing black kids?  or Latino kids?  or Asian kids (up until and perhaps beyond the case of Annie Le)?  A trip to the website for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shows [...]

Comments

1. maus wrote:

   I don’t think it would have graduated to primetime news if this wasn’t Yale. Much more attention has been focused on the white male suspect than her life and backstory.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:06 am ¶

2. Nadra wrote:

   I think that in this case her Ivy League ties trumped her race. Other students of color from Ivy League schools who were involved in a crime have received widespread media attention. If Annie Le had gone to a community
   college, or even a state school, I doubt she would have received so much attention.

   You could also argue that the case of Laura Ling and Euna Lee put Asian American women on the map to be in the national spotlight.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:31 am ¶

3. atlasien wrote:

   I’d just like to add one note. The circumstances of the case seemed particularly noteworthy according to the media…

   …a woman walks into a medical lab and never walks out again.

   It sounds like the premise for a cerebral horror movie.

   I think a lot of the media attention was due to that ghoulish angle or “hook”. I’m not saying race was NOT a factor, just that this case was definitely not presented as a “simple” disappearance case. And because the hook” factor was so strong it minimized other factors, such as race.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:34 am ¶

4. miss a. wrote:

   Disgrasian commented on this issue on their blog, and I have to agree with most of what they say. They made the argument that Annie Le was of interest to the elite media because of her Ivy League status. She had admittance into a school that’s universally well-known for its exclusivity, which in most people’s minds equates with a type of safety bubble. When she was found murdered/missing, it shattered their perception of Ivy League prestige.

   But I suppose it didn’t hurt that she was part of the stereotypical, short, cute, model minority. However, by no means, do I consider the national coverage of her murder a “pass into the hallowed hall of Whiteness.” There are plenty of missing/murdered Asian females who go unreported by national media outlets because they’re not Ivy League students/model minorities/attractive.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:44 am ¶

5. sfr wrote:

   good questions… i already asked some of these last week, as an asian american woman over at: http://www.apaforprogress.org/questions-about-murder-annie-le-yale

   the four points that lead to national media coverage is on point… and annie’s case brings up some questions.
   she’s female. she’s attractive. she’s of an upper caste by virtue of education.

   her fiance, if you look at his pics though… seems to be mixed race asian.

   the thing about media/cops that is pissin me off is that they’re calling it “work place violence”? why isn’t this being looked at straight up as violence against women? seems like violence on white women is seen as violence against women. but here it’s still a case of a woman of color, and so they want us to look at it as a “work place violence” case? wtf.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:48 am ¶

6. Versai wrote:

   I think in this case, the media hopped on board because this happened at Yale and was close to her wedding date. It had the potential to be a “love triangle gone wrong” or “man so obsessed/in love he had to kill her” kind of story.
   Yale + possible “romance” angle=coverage (no matter the race of the victim).

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:54 am ¶

7. Eva wrote:

   I think a large reason her case went national was because it happened at Yale. People get nervous when stuff like that happens in the Ivys. If she went to a state school I doubt there would have been the same media coverage.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 11:58 am ¶

8. queerhapa wrote:

   Um, how about the fact that she was a Yale student? Even better, a Yale student who went missing only days before her planned wedding day?

   Here’s a take on the media’s obsession with Ivy League murders: http://www.slate.com/id/2228705/

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:00 pm ¶

9. Queen B wrote:

   I think there a couple of reasons why this particular murder case garnered so much attention.

   First, the crime scene was Yale. Yale along with Harvard are the most prestigious universities in the country so the fact that such a crime occurred there was very shocking to many.

   Second, Ms. Lee is an attractive woman so her looks and gender played a role as well.

   Third, the fact that Le went missing on the eve of her wedding to a man who like her is a student an elite university, Columbia, was an interesting factor as well.

   If Lee had been found dead at a state university or a no name community college, this story would have never gone national. The presence of Yale put this story over the top, no question in my mind.

   In no way has the media made progress on covering missing women of color. When I see a missing black woman garnering the same kind of attention as Natalee Holloway, Jon Benet Ramsey or Caylee Anthony, on a regular basis, then I will know things have changed.

   In this particular case, class trumped race.

   Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:08 pm ¶

10. RCHOUDH wrote:

    I think it’s due to her exceptional circumstances that her case is being widely publicized. The first characteristic about her case is that she’s Asian-American. Since the media hardly ever covers crimes (of any sort) committed against Asian-Americans, it’s quite surprising of them to have covered this crime. Which brings me to the next characteristic of her case, which is that she’s a missing Asian-American woman. Missing (white) women stories have held a certain level of fascination in America; that’s why the E(ntertainment)! channel devoted resources towards creating a special about beautiful missing (predominantly white) young women.
    The next characteristic is that she was a college student from Yale so it’s not just any college that she hailed from. I think the media’s focus on her socioeconomic background will help to perpetuate certain pervasive stereotypes about Asian-Americans.
    The final characteristic (which is related to her socioeconomic background) is the fact that the media is constantly playing up hers and the her perpetrator’s differing socioecomic levels, by playing up the fact that she was conducting research towards potentially finding the cure for cancer and diabetes while the perpetrator simply cleaned mouse cages. Playing up these differences serves to characterize the case as a unique case of workplace violence with no sexual connotations (as most other missing womens stories invariably possess).

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:10 pm ¶

11. Alpha Asian wrote:

    To have a dead body stuffed into a wall of an Ivy League university is sure to draw attention.

    I wouldn’t say this is progress for POC. The media chooses stories to publicize when the missing person is attractive and whether there are motives to be played up and sensationalizied: jealous lover, extramarital affair, horrific sex crime, etc.

    The NY Times has played up the racial angle by implying the suspect was an Asia-phile.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:16 pm ¶

12. Santi777 wrote:

    Honestly I think the only reason her case received so much nationwide attention is because she was an Ivy League grad student. I’m sure there are many other women of color who don’t share a background like that who have gone missing and are never heard from again.

    Asian Americans might be considered by some to be model minorities but the term ‘Asian American’ itself is pretty broad. I mean does a Hmong immigrant really have the same privileges as a South Korean bloke studying at an American university? I don’t think Asian Americans will ever be accepted in the same way that Irish Americans are now.

    In America women have to be thin to be considered beautiful by the mainstream media. So someone who is a little on the heavy side and less attractive (according to the media) would probably not receive as much media coverage.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:18 pm ¶

13. Journey_Wmn wrote:

    I’m from New Haven, CT and I have to say on one hand you can see it as progress that a WOC received so much national media attention. But, the feeling from the POC here in New Haven is much different. We see it more as an issue of her being a Yale Student. In New Haven, Yale owns 2/3 of the city and a large amount of attention and energy is spent to make their lives easier at the expense of the other residents of New Haven.

    For instance, a lot of the coverage that I’ve seen surrounding her murder has been about how dangerous New Haven, and what can Yale students can do to protect themselves. One such article was written by Le herself before her death. So I say all of this to say yes it is significant that she gained so much national attention, but I think a large part of this has to do with her being a Yale student about to marry a white man. I seriously doubt any other WOC would get as much attention.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:22 pm ¶

14. denise wrote:

    i agree that white people get more press than non-whites when they are missing.
    i dont understand why you mentioned Ms. Le’s fiance’s religion as a possible reason for her disappearance being given more attention.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 12:33 pm ¶

15. Mary wrote:

    I think, after the runaway bride from Georgia, the media already had a “runaway bride” story they could slot Annie Le into. Because I feel like my first introduction to this case was “woman goes missing a week before her wedding,” and there was speculation she had gotten cold feet, and a little while later it was discovered that she had been killed.

    I wonder, if a white woman had not created the “runaway bride” narrative as it exists in the media today, if the media would have had a convenient slot to place the Annie Le story in. And if they hadn’t had that slot, would they have created one specifically for her? Probably not.

    The only other time I remember a missing Asian American person getting this much attention was when that family got trapped in a blizzard while driving, and the husband left to seek help.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 1:09 pm ¶

16. theresa wrote:

    i’m also from CT (and Asian American) and this has no doubt dominated the local news.

    cosign everyone saying this got the coverage because she’s a Yalie. as sfr noted, the outlets here are really pushing the “workplace violence” line that the local police have been giving them, which really bothers me, since they’ve already noted that the suspect is sort of an asiaphile and already has a history of harassing women. “workplace violence” seems to imply that this was random and decidedly much less horrific than the background details seem to indicate.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 1:21 pm ¶

17. silverlight wrote:

    I think that in this case her Ivy League ties trumped her race. Other students of color from Ivy League schools who were involved in a crime have received widespread media attention.

    Exactly — a lot of the stories about Le talk about how scared a lot of the Yale students were until the suspect was taken into custody. Thus, it’s a story because there was fear that this guy could be a danger to white students as well. I mean, I’m sure that’s not exactly what was going through editors’ heads as they placed this story front and center, but it seems now that the guy is off the streets, the coverage has waned a LOT. Because the white kids aren’t in danger anymore!

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 1:32 pm ¶

18. Phrone wrote:

    What most people seem to be talking about for me is how unusual the circumstances of her death were. If her body had been found in a river, I don’t think there would have been quite the media attention, even if it was still at Yale. The fact that she entered a building and didn’t leave, and then that her body was found in a wall, was I think the reason that the media took the story and ran with it.

    Honestly, my first thought was “serial killer”, just because the details of the case were so fucked up.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 2:04 pm ¶

19. Eva wrote:

    BTW, I do think it was workplace violence. I work in an Ivy and in the research dept. I do believe this was over mice.

    The most important people in research are the ones who work in the animal labs. Seriously the cost of mice as well as housing them can run someone about 50k a month.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 2:30 pm ¶

20. Asada wrote:

    I also live in CT ( 2 hrs from Yale).

    I had the feeling it was murder, she didn’t seem like the type to NOT want her marriage. Cold feet a week before the wedding, not even answering phone calls or responding when it hits the news? Murder.

    Media wanted to blame the neighborhood but it happened in a card protected Yale building. Priceless.

    I just wish the family closure.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 4:02 pm ¶

21. Lola wrote:

    I read about this story on CNN literally a day after she went missing. This was before the body was found so the coverage is not based on the unusual location of her body. The coverage has to be based on the fact that she was a Yale student and that she disappeared the week of her wedding. The Yale thing says she is upper class and therefore her life is valuable to the media and the wedding date adds that extra level of drama and sensationalism. I think the media was expecting it to be a runaway bride or a murder by spouse.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 4:45 pm ¶

22. Kaonashi wrote:

    1. Young and attractive female
    2. It happened at YALE, of all places
    3. They found her body holed up in a wall

    All of those details are salacious enough to sell papers and get people to tune in. And like Nailah Franklin, her story is sympathetic; you have attractive, successful young professional woman with the world at their feet that somehow met with A Very Bad End.

    Poor, unattractive people don’t sell papers or give website hits unless they are particularly noble, brave, or died in an incredibly horrific way. Add substance abuse or “amoral living” to the mix and they’ll be lucky if then even get a mention in the local paper or RSS feeds. Usually they’re left nameless, as in “a body was discovered in an abandoned building at 3 p.m today…”

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 5:28 pm ¶

23. April217 wrote:

    I agree that this tragedy would not have received much press if it did not have an Ivy League crest attached. I also agree that it would not have had continued press coverage if it were not for the horrific details of the case.

    I think that the media puts more coverage on white, female victims is because they believe the public feels violence is the exclusive domain of ethnic communities (and horror films). When the assailant is also white it gets even more coverage because white-on-white violent crime is perceived as “atypical”. However when you add privilege to the equation the presence of violence is unimaginable. These “rare” stories are great for ratings and the selling of advertisement space. It would be nice if the news media would just report the news instead of selling it.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 6:24 pm ¶

24. gordon gartrelle wrote:

    Great comments. Thanks, everyone.

    I agree that her being a PhD candidate at Yale seems to be driving the news coverage, but this coverage falls within a larger tradition that governs how national media assign people value. If we exclude celebrities, only white people have been allowed to fulfill the role of socially or economically elite victim/criminal who captures the nation’s attention. That Le was Asian American is somewhat noteworthy.

    to denise, I tossed out her fiance’s identity as a possible factor because many people draw certain conclusions about the social identities (e.g. level of assimilation, authenticity) of those in interracial relationships. And in our country’s racial landscape, Le’s fiance is effectively white. It has nothing to do with Judaism.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 6:46 pm ¶

25. Kaonashi wrote:

    April217: Yes and no. I think the attractiveness and likability of the victim trumps everything when it comes to these sort of stories; if that white woman looked like Beth Ditto, was a HS dropout and had a nasty meth habit to boot we wouldn’t be hearing about it. The only time such victims become “sellable” is when it’s a serial killer involved.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 6:56 pm ¶

26. Secret Sociologist wrote:

    I thought that the coverage was definitely related to the upcoming wedding. I’m a bride-to-be myself so I know that was one reason I clicked through the headline.

    Like Mary (#15) said, my first introduction to the case was that it was a “missing person,” and that she was to be married. I remember thinking, “Well, I hope she’s just running away… at least then nothing awful has happened to her.” Sadly that wasn’t the case.

    I do agree that the coverage has waned after they “found” the killer/suspect. Unlike with some other missing person cases, there seemed to be no public outpouring of grief, no biography or other pictures, no personalizing coverage. In other cases, we’ve seen extended home videos, biographies, interviews with family & friends etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum. It’s like they reported her murder only as it related to the missing person case.

    It sounds awfully macabre, but if she’d simply been found and not “missing” first, I don’t know that we would have heard much about it at all.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 7:08 pm ¶

27. PPR_Scribe wrote:

    if that white woman looked like Beth Ditto, was a HS dropout and had a nasty meth habit to boot we wouldn’t be hearing about it.

    So the WOC who are missing and/or murdered but do not get media coverage are in the same category of media worthiness as this hypothetical White woman? I do not even know where to start with that premise…

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 10:06 pm ¶

28. m. wrote:

    This is a serious case of #2, minus a pass granted into that ‘hall of whiteness’ (although it is kind of no secret that the media does not consider other abducted POCs sympathetic “victims” and that people believe missing/murdered Black and Native women were “asking for it” despite what their lifestyles, backgrounds and habits may be). It really seems to be D that distinguishes her and this case, though in my opinion it is not the sole factor. You could say MILS (murdered ivy leaguer syndrome) is the new MWGS, but I think the other reason people paid attention is because she IS Asian, female and conventional in “lifestyle” and apperance (see also: Euna Lee and Laura Ling). The reason I am not willing to believe these factors (”Ivy league crime phenomenon or missing likeable/adored-by-all-who-knew-her, non-threatening Asian woman?”) are mutually exclusive in garnering attention, is because there is a definite preference being shown here both because of her being a Yale student AND because there is a racial heirarchy/”model minority” thing at play. This is NOT the same as Asians becoming white; the ‘honorary whites’ thing just doesn’t cut it and isn’t comparable to the Irish. So no; clearly no “racial barrier” has been broken, here. This is not “progress”. I’m not even going to touch the Raymond Clark deal, as I’m sure there are plenty of people who *just cannot fathom* how a white boy in a pair of Dockers (no matter how nauseating he clearly is in appearance and mannerisms) could do such a thing.

    My heart goes out to Annie’s family, I hope they receive all the support they need during the healing process.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 10:25 pm ¶

29. April217 wrote:

    @ Kaonashi – I understand your point and I agree to an extent. However, when the standard of beauty is European, being white is still the trump card.

    Unfortunately, there have been plenty of cases where attractive, educated, “likable” women of color have fallen victim to violence. Yet, unless the assailant was a celebrity we rarely see media coverage.

    Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 10:37 pm ¶

30. Free wrote:

    I agree that the the location, Yale, is the overriding factor in the media coverage. It just occurred to me that women, whether pregnant or murdered must be considered beautiful and sexy for the media to shine the spotlight. Ugh.

    Posted 22 Sep 2009 at 3:23 am ¶

31. Reiter wrote:

    I think a lot of valid points have already been made, and many factors like socio-economic and class differences as well as professional competition and tension may have had a part in this (co-workers beef with one another all the time, across all gender and racial lines). That said, I have wondered what the fall out would have been if the suspect had been anything else other than white.

    Of course, a white perp is treated as an individual criminal and not indicative of the race as a whole. But if he had been, let’s say, an Asian male (thankfully he wasn’t, small consolation to the family and friends of the victim, I know), my god; as if we didn’t already have to deal with the growing stereotype of the socially awkward, mentally unbalanced, and now potentially violent Asian male (gun-toting or not). I did kind of breathe a mental sigh of relief that the perp ended not being a POC regardless. From the V-Tech shooter to the recent killings at the immigrant learning center, to the whackjobs that beheaded their victims in a cafe and that Canadian bus recently, we could do well without another Asian face being flashed as some crazy maniac on the 5 o’clock news.

    Posted 22 Sep 2009 at 10:32 am ¶

32. Kaonashi wrote:

    PPR Scribe: No, that is NOT what I meant.

    All I’m saying is that with women, attractiveness and likability is currency in regards to coverage regardless of race, and that goes doubly if you are a WOC. Is it right? Hell no. Unfortunately, it is what it is.

    Honestly, when was the last time you’ve seen a national case where the female victim was unattractive?

    Posted 22 Sep 2009 at 4:51 pm ¶

33. Jysella wrote:

    She was young, conventionally attractive, and at an Ivy. The mass media would have been all over this story no matter WHAT race she was – though the tone of the coverage might have been different had she been Latina or black.

    Posted 23 Sep 2009 at 11:45 pm ¶

34. PPR_Scribe wrote:

    Kaonashi, I will tell you what is overheard in some Black barber shops and Black family living rooms whenever the latest round of breaking news WHite-woman-goes-missing story comes on the TV and the (White) reporter describes the woman as “all-American” or “beautiful”:

    “They consider *her* beautiful?”

    In other words, it is not the attractiveness of the White women that makes them news; It is the very *fact* of their *Whiteness* that makes them *attractive*.

    Posted 24 Sep 2009 at 7:25 am ¶