OPINION: Whether it’s a CEO assassin, a subway strangler or a mass deportation, whiteness can justify any form of violence.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
“We should stop by the police station,” I told my mom. “I know it’s only my first day, but there’s probably some forms we need to fill out.”
As she burst into laughter, I remained serious. I had just finished my first class at Master Robinbson’s Martial Arts Dojo and, as a diligent, law-abiding 10-year-old, I wanted to make sure I was in compliance with all local and federal statutes. I explained that we should probably fill out the necessary paperwork before someone forced me to use my newly acquired skills. I assured her that I would never bring shame upon my family, our community or my new karate master.
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Mikey,” my mother said. “What paperwork do you need to fill out?” Apparently, she had never heard about the commonly known legal obligation required of all boxers, military assassins and practitioners of the deadly art of kung fu. Yet, for some reason, my answer made her laugh even harder:
“I have to register my hands as a lethal weapon.”
This story is about whiteness.
This story is about privilege. It’s also about power. In fact, this story is about the greatest power, the whitest privilege and the most lethal weapon in America. More than anything, this story is about reasons.
On Wednesday, Dec. 4, surveillance footage caught a masked gunman killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. But before authorities arrested 26-year-old Luigi Mangione for the crime, law enforcement officials, certified journalists and social media criminologists speculated on why someone would kill a wealthy corporate executive. The news fueled conspiracy theories about the “assassin” who targeted the wealthy corporate executive. Amateur social media criminologists and certified journalists positioned Mangione as a “hero” who reflected the public’s dissatisfaction with the health care industry.
They needed a reason.
Even the most creative conspiracy theorists couldn’t conceive of the possibility that this was a classic case of gang-related activity. To them, Thompson’s murder had to be committed by a brilliant mastermind with a legitimate axe to grind. Thankfully, we now know exactly what inspired the Ivy League graduate to join the white-on-white crime epidemic in the Caucasian community.
It turns out, Luigi Mangione was just an angry white boy.
Despite his well-formed abdominal muscles, Mangione is not the Nat Turner of Jason Bournes. He is just a privileged rich kid who used violence to settle a personal score. According to USA Today, Mangione experienced “brain fog” caused by a debilitatingly painful spinal condition. But, unlike the 14 million other spondylolisthesis who somehow managed to not murder someone, Luigi Mangione apparently believed that Luigi Mangione was uniquely qualified to bring the health care industry to justice for the pain they inflicted upon Luigi Mangione. “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming,” reads the manifesto allegedly written by Mangione. “Evidently, I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.” And evidently, I am one of the first journalists to treat this case with such brutal honesty.
As one of the top profilers in the race-baiting industry, I didn’t need high-definition surveillance footage or forensic evidence to understand why this incident was different from the other 21 murders the NYPD reported in the 28 days preceding Thompson’s assassination. Any astute observer of mainstream media, law enforcement lingo and public reaction understands that the label “assassin” is exclusively reserved for white men.
Thompson allegedly dumped UnitedHealthcare stocks just before federal investigators announced a federal criminal investigation into the company he led. Thompson will forever be remembered as a “brilliant, kind man” because, even at their worst, white men are entitled to their humanity and the privilege of individuality. Every year, the inability to afford health care kills twice as many people than murderers. But because they are white, this was not a “beef” between a thug and a “gang leader.”
This story is about Nipsey Hussle.
When a gunman killed the wealthy CEO of Marathon Clothing as he was headed to his business in 2019, he was not assassinated. While Hussle publicly and repeatedly disavowed his former gang life, media outlets referred to him as a “gangster,” too unbothered to ask how a wealthy CEO got caught slipping without his security. Despite being diagnosed with auditory schizophrenia at 19, the man convicted for Hussle’s murder was “described as an African American male” and “Crips gang member.” CNN somehow managed to connect Hussle’s death to every other homicide in the entire city of Los Angeles. Even though the LAPD explicitly told the media that Hussle’s death was not gang-related, TMZ reported that Hussle was part of an LAPD investigation for the nebulous charge of “gang activity.” But in California, the word “gang” is a legal weapon.
For years, Hussle had been trying to get his name erased from off California Gang Database (CalGang), a statewide system that includes alleged gangsters as young as one and as old as 70. One doesn’t have to be convicted or charged with a crime to be formally declared a gangbanger. And since California’s 222 law enforcement agencies don’t have to meet a legal standard before putting someone into the database, a recent study found Black Californians were twenty times more likely to be recorded as gang members in CalGang. Fortunately, enforcement officials finally scheduled a meeting with the rapper on Monday, April 1, 2019.
On Sunday, March 31, an assassin killed wealthy CEO Nipsey Hussle.
Daniel Penny is a lethal weapon.
On Monday, a Manhattan jury acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, an unarmed subway passenger who died after Penny held him in a chokehold for six minutes. During the trial, Penny’s martial arts instructor testified that Penny knew his actions were “potentially lethal” and “could lead to injury or death.”
Since the initial incident, Penny has become a darling of the far-right. To them, Penny is simultaneously a brave warrior who “acted to protect other passengers” and a fragile citizen who “feared for his life.” Even the Associated Press described Penny as a “Marine veteran who used a chokehold on an agitated subway rider…in a death that became a prism for differing views about public safety, valor and vigilantism.”
To be fair, I couldn’t find a quote of Penny claiming he feared for his life. Then, again, he didn’t have to. Jordan Neely wasn’t just an unarmed 150-pound subway passenger who hadn’t touched a single subway passenger before Penny wrapped his arm around Neely’s throat and squeezed for six minutes; Neely was Black. He didn’t need a weapon to inspire fear, and Penny didn’t need a reason to justify his actions.
That’s why this story could be about anything.
It explains why George Zimmerman could grab his gun, stalk 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, shoot an unarmed teenager in the chest at point-blank range and then claim he was simply standing his ground. It’s about the 65,844,954 people who suffered from “economic anxiety” in 2016 after Trump weaponized their whiteness. It’s about the fragile insurrectionists who used Caucasity as a deadly force on Jan. 6, 2021. It’s about the MAGAmuffins who had an economic anxiety relapse in 2024 despite experiencing lower unemployment, higher wages and more economic growth under Biden. It’s about why the whites who attacked Caitlin Clark’s critics are now attacking Caitlin Clark. Caucasian America is in its angry era, and whiteness is the reason for the season.
To them, we are the violent ones. Even when white people spontaneously combust into violence, they are entitled to the presumption of humanity. Conversely, every Black body is a vessel that carries the potential for violence until a good white man can choke the life out of it or a brave police officer can fill it with enough holes. Our criminality is as implied as their fears.
Like the legend of legally registered lethal fists, whiteness is a fantastic fable and a real-life scam. Through the sheer force of its obliviousness, whiteness can unstain history and codify lies. It is an all-powerful god and a legendary myth. It can kill without consequence and serve as its own validation. It is as violent a thing that has ever existed, but it does not need a reason to justify its violence. Whiteness is a reason in itself. It is not just a legal weapon; it is also a lethal weapon that I didn’t discover until I was 10 years old.
Instead of allowing me to declare myself as armed and dangerous, my mother forced me to research the definitions, etymologies and the difference between lethal and legal. I discovered that “legal” is anything that pertains to the law. The origin of lethal dates is more fascinating. According to Greek mythology, the Lethe was a river at the entrance of Hades. Anyone who drank from the Lethe would immediately forget the past and live in oblivion forever.
When I conveyed this newly acquired information to my mother, she asked me to use it in a sentence. “I still need to register my hands as lethal weapons,” I said with a smirk while kissing my fists. “For legal considerations.” My mother was not amused.
In spite of my obvious charm and brilliant linguistic improvisation, my mother refused my request to formally notify the proper authorities that I was more of a threat than the average preteen Black boy. This was pre-internet, so I didn’t know there was actually no such thing as registering one’s hands as a lethal weapon. Then, after my 13,353rd time asking, Mom informed me that she had taken care of everything. I figured she had filled out the forms during her lunch break or a shopping trip. I asked if there was a certificate or card that I could carry in my wallet to prove that I should be considered as a lethal weapon. In response, she shrugged dismissively and said:
“Trust me, you won’t need it.”
This story is about that.
Michael Harriot is a writer, cultural critic and championship-level Spades player. His book, Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America, is available in bookstores everywhere.
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