Murdered Racist Leader May Have Propositioned Killer

[Judi Lynn]

Murdered Racist Leader May Have Propositioned Killer
Posted in Anti-Black, Anti-Gay by Sonia Scherr on May 4, 2010

White supremacist Richard Barrett enthusiastically denigrated gays and blacks.

In 1994, he led an anti-gay rally in Boston after a St. Patrick’s Day parade was cancelled in response to a court order that forbade the exclusion of homosexual marchers. Six years earlier, he signed “The Forsyth County Covenant,” which asserted that “all efforts to make us a bilingual, bisexual or biracial society must be defeated.”

But Barrett, who died after allegedly propositioning a black man, may also have been gay. Rankin (Miss.) County Undersheriff Bryan Bailey testified in court today that Vincent McGee, who is accused of murdering Barrett last month, told investigators that the 67-year-old lawyer made sexual advances toward him, according to The Associated Press. Bailey said at McGee’s arraignment that McGee gave multiple statements about why he went to Barrett’s house in Pearl, Miss. The 22-year-old neighbor said both that he’d gone to Barrett’s home to use the computer so he could access his Facebook account and that he’d gone there to complain that Barrett owed him money for yard work he’d done. In one statement, McGee claimed he beat and stabbed Barrett after “Barrett dropped his pants and asked him to perform a sexual act,” the AP reported.

Prosecutors announced at the arraignment that McGee could face the death penalty if convicted of Barrett’s murder. The charges against him were upgraded to capital murder — murder while committing another crime — because Barrett allegedly stole a wallet and gun from Barrett’s home. Firefighters found Barrett’s body in his home on April 22 after neighbors reported a fire there. McGee, who told the AP he didn’t know about Barrett’s racist activism, also faces arson charges in connection with the killing. Three people have been charged as accessories after the fact.

Some who study the white supremacist world said that Barrett’s alleged homosexuality, while ironic, is not that unusual.

More:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/05/04/murdered-racist-leader-may-have-propositioned-killer/

[QC]

1. Sounds like someone is setting up the ole gay panic defense.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_panic

[gratuitous]

3. It's worked so well in the past

Let's see what's stronger: Racism or homophobia.

[QC]

4. Yes, it's kept many a killer out of jail.

It'll probably work its usual magic in this case.

Meanwhile, we'll get plenty more posts about how all homophobes are secretly gay. That's a very popular one around here.

[piedmont]

2. Same bullshit defense that Terreblanche's murderers used in South Africa.

I'm not buying this story either. And even if I did, it's no excuse for murder.

[tabatha]

5. How do you know it is BS?

I have seen too much to prejudge - I'll wait for the facts.

[piedmont]

10. How do I know that "He propositioned me so I killed him" is a bullshit defense for murder?

Seriously?

[tabatha]

11. Why would someone go so far as to murder without any obvious benefit?

[piedmont]

12. And what exactly is the benefit of killing someone who propsitions you?

[tabatha]

13. One of the strongest motives for murder ---

boiling anger, resentment, etc.

Why do husbands kill their wives in arguments sometimes?

[tabatha]

14. dup

[tabatha]

15. Also, why does road rage happen?

[piedmont]

17. You're making my point for me. Senseless killings are murder. There is no defense.

[tabatha]

18. I agree they are senseless.

That was not my point.

My point was that senseless killings do happen.

[piedmont]

19. I'm not sure you had a point. I said that the killer's "defense" was bullshit.

You asked how I knew it was bullshit. I asked if you were seriously asking how I know that a prima facie bullshit defense is bullshit. Then you asked a question about motive, apparently confusing motive with justifiable reason.

I will re-state: "He propositioned me" is bullshit as a defense for murder.

[tabatha]

20. Thus:

a) his propositioning made him so angry that he killed him - which is probably what happened.
b) one should not allow anything to cause one to kill someone - hence your argument of BS.

But the defense will claim that he was so traumatized that his mental state, etc, etc, caused him to lose control.
They always do that.

[ecstatic]

6. Interesting article nt

[Angry Dragon]

7. I read the article

and what it said to me was that a lot of the loudest really hate themselves. How can they respect anyone else with these feelings??

[TexasObserver]

8. This kind of story is detestable.

It's detestable that criminals who kill men like to claim they were propositioned, as if that would justify killing the man, if is true.

It's detestable that the victim's sexual orientation - or alleged orientation - is dragged into the matter by the person who killed him.

[ecstatic]

9. I think there is a lot more to this story. I think McGee may have been offering

sexual services for a fee, and he snapped when the guy didn't pay him. I read an article that said Barrett picked McGee up and brought him to his house. That's a bit much just for lawn services, especially when you're supposed to be a big time white supremacist.

[KonaKane]

16. It's detestable because of the unfathomable hypocrisy

of advocating the repression and murder of people who shared his sexual orientation.