“George Sodini: Misogynist and Racist”
“George Sodini: Misogynist and Racist”
To ignore the role that race played in this, is to speak about half of the story. We know that historically White men have constructed negative stereotypes about Black men to reduce competition, retain power, and forestall any kind of partnership between White women and Black men….
Sodini felt emasculated because he believed the lie of the big Black penis threatening to conquer the world. He felt that he had no place in the world any longer because the White privilege that he had come to view as a normalized social concept is changing. He did not see the many ways in which Blacks are still under attack by Whiteness…. It is simply not possible that one could ignore that race was certainly a catalyst in his actions and yet many only see the misogyny.
When he spoke of Black men having sex with White women it was from a sense of resignation. He viewed White masculinity as diminished and therefore in his mind he was relinquishing his claim to White female bodies. Sodini will be spoken about like a lunatic fringe killer instead of representative of the White male rage that has become so pervasive in our society. It was the sense of entitlement that has become normalized in White men that is problematic.
Really insightful post from Renee at Womanist Musings on the intersection of two prejudices, written in the wake of George Sodini’s shooting rampage in a Pennsylvania gym in which he killed three women, wounded nine more women, and then killed himself.
