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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHomeless Man Set on Fire By 3 White Men With Shaved Heads
http://www.alternet.org/homeless-man-set-fire-3-white-men-shaved-headsOn Saturday night, three men crept up to a 58-year-old homeless man who was sleeping on a Ventura, California beach. They poured lighter fluid all over his sleeping bag and set him on fire, then fled the scene while a witness tried to put out the six-foot flames with sand, according to KABC. The perpetrators were white men with shaved heads, clad in black, according to witnesses.
The victim, 58-year-old John Frazier, who spent his time sitting on the beach not bothering anyone, according to residents, suffered second and third degree burns all over his body, according to the report. He's in critical but stable condition.
We were talking about how beautiful the sunset was and the fish sculptures and how nice the evening was and he was just a really nice guy, Elaine Lutz told KNBC about Frazier, according to Raw Story.
"It's so hard to believe that they can be so brutal. It's just ridiculous," another dazed-looking resident told KABC.
Omaha Steve
(99,632 posts)I just don't get it.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Some of us are so cruel.
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)I want to kill someone, and I know that's not healthy.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)doubt it will receive 1/100th the attention in the MSM that it would if the attackers were black.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)If it's any help, someone getting beat to death in a fight over a parking space doesn't get nearly the media coverage of a story where someone is stalked and killed, Wonder why that might be?
All acts of brutality are terrible ... but there is a particular noteworthiness when they are killed because of their flavor.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)it's not hard at all to believe people can be very brutal. I hope they are caught and set on fire themselves.
newfie11
(8,159 posts)Poor poor man. I hope he survives. He's got a long road ahead just to get back to where he was.
I hope the psychopath SOBs that did this are caught soon before they do this again,
tblue
(16,350 posts)Southern California Regional Burn Center
LAC+USC Healthcare Network Inpatient Tower, 5th Floor
1200 North State Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033
I am just dumbfounded. So very cruel and heartbreaking.
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)Does Ca. have such a fund?
No idea if he could make use of it, hope he can. [link:http://vcgcb.ca.gov/victims/|
Terra Alta
(5,158 posts)He's going to need all the help he can get.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Cameras all over Ventura beach area. Homeless persons need a secure safe place to sleep(no police harassment either)
http://www.vcstar.com/news/beachcam
Flatulo
(5,005 posts)Don't parents teach their children empathy for others? Are there that many sociopaths among us?
oberliner
(58,724 posts)That seems not germane at all to what happened.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)But I don't really see the need to do so in the headline.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)And give this:
Anyone with information is asked to call the Ventura Police Department at (805) 339-4309
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-man-fire-ventura-20150118-story.html
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Could be very germane.
joshdawg
(2,648 posts)Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)I'm more inclined to suspect white supremacists. There's more than one group in Ventura. I think Save our State, and another one called CRW. Could be more.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Marines and white supremacists, are not mutually exclusive.
http://archive.armytimes.com/article/20140610/NEWS/306100083/White-separatist-propaganda-turns-up-Fort-Carson
pocoloco
(3,180 posts)Semper Fi
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)But my point was there are white supremacist in all branches of the US military.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)but we've seen those too. It's just that Ventura and other beach communities in SoCal have been a locus of Nazi skins for some reason, so that's what immediately came to my mind.
enki23
(7,788 posts)Last edited Wed Jan 21, 2015, 11:36 AM - Edit history (1)
To state the ridiculously obvious.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Overseas
(12,121 posts)mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)When you look at some of the lame reasons people are locked away in America, and real murderers are walking the streets. This is a prison for life kind of crime.
who made them judge , jury and executioner . what gave them the g..mn f++king right to set this man alight ? who the sam heck do u shite heads think who u are ?. if u claim u r christians then you should read the part about LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF. you alpha hotels. about that love thy neighbor thing , i meant it . author , god. on edit . many times we are not here by choice . too bad the punishment dosnt fit the crime.
Terra Alta
(5,158 posts)Find the perpetrators, and set them on fire. See how they like it.
Unbelievable how cruel some humans can be.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)Assholes like these aren't even human and don't deserve to live in our society.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Also from the article:
It's not hard to see why the homeless are so vulnurable to violence: they have nowhere safe to go and are widely dehumanized. Instead of investing in safe shelters and housing, many US cities opt to enact laws that further marginalize the homeless, like anti-panhandling and anti-camping measures.
As professor and homelessness expert Amy Donley told Al Jazeera, These laws devalue homeless people and further distance them from mainstream society, she said, adding that the visible homeless who are not in shelters are the people that society most fears, and yet they are the most vulnerable of homeless people, in terms of physical attacks.
Men under 30 -- especially teenagers -- commit the large majority of crimes against the homeless, according to the NCH report. "Some who target the homeless are mission offenders, who believe they are on a mission to cleanse the world of a particular evil, says the NCH. Others are scapegoat offenders, who violently act out their resentment toward the perceived growing economic power of a particular racial or ethnic group, notes Al Jazeera.
Homeless people also suffer violence at the hands of police, many of whom do not receive proper training on non-violent ways to deal with people who might suffer from mental illness. Last year New Mexico police gunned down a man living in a part of the Albuquerque foothills where camping is not unauthorized. He agreed to come down and had started gathering his belongings when police chucked a flash-grade grenade at him, causing him to draw his knife. Police then shot him to death.
Society fears the wrong people.