*A white man is being held as a suspect for murdering a black teenager. Upon inquiry, the man said that he felt ‘unsafe’ by the teen because he was listening to rap music.
On 4th July, Elijah Al-Amin was attacked by Michael Paul Adams, a 27-year old, inside a convenience store in Arizona. The suspect reportedly followed Elijah inside, approached him from behind, and slit his throat before fleeing.
Threatened by Rap Music
After Adams arrest, the Police Department was left confused because of the motive of the crime. According to the July 5th report, Adams says that he attacked the boy because Al-Amin had rap music playing in his car and he felt threatened by this.
Adams went on to explain that the music playing in Al-Amin’s car made him feel unsafe and he had been attacked by similar people in the past. As if this wasn’t weird enough, he concluded his comment by saying that he believed that everyone who listened to rap music was a threat to him and the community.
Proactive Rather Than Reactive
The report of the incident was clear in stating that Adams had no prior interactions with the teenager before following him into the store and stabbing him. This is why Adams claimed that he felt that he needed to be proactive rather than reactive.
Adams has now been charged with first-degree murder and held under the order of the court with a $1 million bond.
Reactions After The Incident
We already know that this incident would have left Al-Amin’s family outraged along with the broader public. The people who know about the incident have marked it as one of the most high-profile incidents to have occurred in the history of confrontations and harassment instances in public spaces. The hashtag #JusticeforElijah has already begun trending all over social media networks and the unanimous opinion is that Adam should be convicted and given the harshest sentence.
Critics, however, are also quite angry about the claims being made by Adam’s lawyer. He repetitively said that the attack had nothing to do with racism and is due to the untreated mental issues of his client. Well, Al-Amin’s family countered their argument by saying that it is very clear that their beloved was a victim of hate crimes – the ones America has become so familiar with.
