Originally Posted by TheDragon
On the contrary. Whenever I hear about an Asian gang shooting, I always get an uneasy feeling in my stomach, no matter how guilty the victim was, or how badly they had it coming. Sure, a part of me might feel a bit safer knowing one less gang member is off the streets, but that doesn't mean I feel happy about them being dead, or that I automatically assume the side of the killer because he's somehow doing the world a favour by murdering somebody else.
In this case, I never once took the side of young Mr. Prevost. Sure, he's dead, and sure he may have had it coming, but that was his choice to live that lifestyle. That said, did he deserve to die for it? Probably not. At the same token, Paskua shouldn't be granted hero status for killing somebody else.
Personally speaking, I was brought up in an environment that preached equal rights, liberty and fair justice for everybody, no matter what the color of pigment is in a persons' skin when they are born. I was taught to look past the boundries of ethnicity, creed, sex, sexual preference or religion in order to understand that everyone is the same. I was taught discrimination and bigotry are wrong, obsolete ideologies that do the new world no good by being passed about.
That's why, when I hear of instances like this, where one person is claiming racism because a member of their family was given the right to a fair trial, and was dealt a sentence, I personally believe, was fair and just given the circumstances, facts, and evidence provided to the public, I do infact get my panties in a bunch, so to speak. I feel exactly the same way towards any other cases that are similar to this one.
Why? Because that is telling me that there will always be that lingering thing within certain people to make them think they are seperate from the rest of the world. It tells me, they don't view themselves as being obligated to apply to the same set of "rules," if you'd excuse the term, as I was, and as such, are such entitled to get away with crimes, or any other variable of illegal activities that go against the charter or rights that is provided to ALL Canadians. It tells me they view themselves as being different, which isn't fair.
Now, granted, there are more than enough cases of racism, bigotry and discrimination having an impact on a trial and a sentence... but this isn't one of them, in my opinion. Getting 12 years for punching a kid you were involved in an argument with? That's a steep, unfair sentence. Pushing a kid into a moving train as it's going by, and then fleeing the scene, and the city for that matter, in hopes you'll never get caught? Sounds fair to me.
But, I digress.
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