2nd fatal stabbings within 3 blocks, and 5 hours. Eastern Pkwy and Schenectady. June 11, 12:20 AM

Beyond blatant racism (which can definitely be seen at times on these boards), there's a psychological phenomenon known as belief in a just world.  The idea is that we want to believe that the world is just, so if it is unjust we manufacture justifications for why some tragic event happened.  So if a kid gets shot, it was because he was out too late.  If a woman gets raped, similarly she is accused of being out too late, or being too scantily clad, or any other number of ways that we rationalize what happened. The reason we do this is that if we have to admit that tragedies like this happen for no good reason at all and there really isn't that much we can do to prevent them then we're all equally likely to have the same thing happen to us and our loved ones, to our sons, to our daughters, to the people we love, which is too terrifying for most people to deal with.  So they cast aspersions on victims.  It's awful, and while sometimes it does come from a place of malice, many times we simply do it to reassure and convince ourselves that we're safe in spite of all the obvious evidence to the contrary.  We're simply fortunate, and rather than denigrate those who haven't been so fortunate, we should simply acknowledge our good fortune, mourn the dead in the knowledge that it could just as easily have been us or our loved ones, and try to resist our most basic, fear-driven, self-interested impulses.  The alternative is to indulge in the nonsense posted earlier in this thread, which is a shame for anyone to have to read, let alone the victim's family member.  I hope your family can find some peace in spite of this awful tragedy.