For the past week, many news outlets have been talking about this kid who has been dubbed, "Florida Face-Eating Frat Boy." While that is some beautiful alliteration (seriously, who came up with that?), it was a terrible, terrible thing to happen. Here are some quick facts, in case you aren't up to date on what happened.
According to the Miami New Times, last Monday, 19-year-old Austin Harrouff was eating with his parents in Tequesta, Florida, when he allegedly became angered and left. He ended up in the garage of a married couple, where he stabbed them to death and proceeded to bite and tear part of the man's face off with his teeth, said police. He also stabbed a neighbor, who tried to pull him off the couple and made the police call. According to Martin County Sheriff, William Snyder, Harrouff was "grunting and growling" and "making animal noises" when law enforcement found him. It took three cops, multiple tasers and a police dog to get him off of the body. Multiple weapons were used by Harrouff, including a switchblade he was apparently known to carry. Harrouff was then sedated and brought to a nearby hospital. Though he tested negative for many different drugs, it is now speculated that he was on a new, synthetic drug, known as flakka. However, it has not been proven yet.
Now that all the facts have been said, we need to talk about what else is being said about Austin Harrouff in the news. The Miami New Times opened up their article by discussing how Harrouff was, "starring as a defensive tackle at Suncoast Community High, a Palm Beach County school ranked among Newsweek's ten best in America at least eight times in the past decade." Wait, what? Huh? Did anyone get that? More importantly, he was in advanced-placement classes and could bench-press 365 pounds. So, he was a huge guy, eating a man's face off, and police decided to try their tasers instead of their guns. Makes sense. He was also in a fraternity at Florida State University, with no history of drugs and or anything bad at all on his record. Okay, that makes me feel better.
I don't know about you, but I've been sick to my stomach reading all of this. The Miami New Times's article has been stuck in my mind, and I have thought a lot about how white men are portrayed in the media.
Flashback to Brock Turner, who not too long ago raped a girl and was only sentenced to six months behind bars. His sentencing sparked a lot of media attention because of how little punishment he received and how much people were trying to defend him. He also tried to blame the rape on "party culture" at Stanford University and how being convicted ruined HIS life. Does anyone actually buy this crap?
Not too long after that, Kyle Vo, an Asian-American at West Chester University, was also convicted of rape, but was sentenced to six years in prison, a sentence that makes much more sense. What was the difference between Turner and Vo's crime? Nothing, except the fact that Turner was a white Stanford swimmer.
In addition to his sentence, Turner was first portrayed on the media as the champion swimmer and excellent student he was, instead of the rapist he was reported to be. Most media outlets posted good-looking pictures of him, instead of his mugshot. He was completely in the spotlight and no one was talking about his victim at all. How could the media be sympathetic towards him and what happened? How could the judge and jury be lenient in his sentencing? Where is the justice?
We also need to talk about what happened in Miami several years ago, when the first reported "face-eating" incident happened. Does anyone remember Rudy Eugene? You probably don't remember his name because he was mostly known as the "Miami Zombie Man" or something like that. Back in 2012, Eugene was supposedly on bath salts and attacked a homeless man by eating his face and mauling him on a highway. Police shot him immediately upon arrival. Now, tell me, what is the difference between face-eater frat boy Austin Harrouff and face-eater black man Rudy Eugene? Well, you already know.
It is SO important to realize what has happened with these four different cases and to question if the justice system is truly working to put criminals in their place. We all know that skin color and status are having a major effect on how criminals are being treated and what their sentences end up being. Criminals should be punished in a universal way. Each case that's examined may have different facts and different people involved, but a rapist should not go to jail for just six months. A man, whether or not he's on drugs, should be shot if he is on top of someone, mauling his face off, and is too strong to be subdued.
Now I could go into how some recent police shootings of black men have been unethical and uncalled for, but I'd rather not. That is not what I want to talk about today. It is relevant and important to mention that the difference between Harrouff and Eugene's cases was their skin color, and that is why Harrouff was not shot. If you want more on that, this writer for the New York Daily News, Shaun King, writes it beautifully, if that's what you want to read.
In our society, we must question why these things are happening. We must admit to ourselves that there is a problem with the justice system and how certain situations are handled. What criteria is being used to decide the fate of a rapist or murderer? Can we look past the fact that a guy was a football playing, smart student, and that he actually committed a horrible, disgusting crime?
In the next weeks to come, I urge everyone to stay up to date with what happens and not to throw it aside like just another case. What do you think will happen to the face-eating frat boy?
