Markhasev is a criminal not a racist

By Matthew Green, On-line Forty-Niner

July 16,1998

"I believe America taught our son's killer [Mikail Markhasev] to hate African-Americans," wrote Camille O. Cosby, the mother of Ennis Cosby, in her letter to USA Today.

But I doubt Markhasev killed Cosby because of his dark skin.

Cosby assumes Markhasev was racially-motivated because he has been convicted twice of harming an African-American. In 1995, Markhasev was incarcerated for stabbing a black man at a gas station.

Using that reasoning, one could automatically assume a person convicted of assaulting two individuals of the same race was racially motivated in both instances, regardless of other factors. Because his victims have been African-Americans does not mean Markhasev was targeting black men.

Also, Cosby supposes Mark-hasev was racially motivated in his crimes because after he killed Cosby he allegedly said to his friends, "I shot a ni--. It's all over the news."

By using such a derogatory term, Markhasev seems to be a racist. But by examining his linguistic environment, one might think differently.

Markhasev allegedly associated with gang members, who tend to have a limited education and tend to listen to "gangsta" rap.

Gangsta rappers excessively use the "n" word and other offensive language to emphasize their messages and to illustrate the street lingo of gang members.

The language of these rappers is a reflection and reinforcer of gang members' language.

And because of gang members' limited education, they probably use the word they hear most often, which is more likely to be the "n" word rather than a linguistically sensitive term like "African-American."

Because of this environment, Markhasev may have been unaware of the "n" word's extremely negative connotation. To him, it was probably the only word he used to describe African-Americans.

Instead of being racially motivated, Markhasev could have killed Cosby because he mistook him for someone else.

Before killing Cosby, Markhasev was at a park-and-ride lot about 450 feet from Ennis Cosby's car to call a drug connection, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Markhasev allegedly wrote, "I went to rob a connection, but obviously found something else."

He may have initially mistaken Cosby for this connection, and once he realized his mistake he decided to kill him for his sleek Mercedes Benz, regardless of Cosby's skin

This first point I am making is that Markeshev was motivated by things like drugs, money and fancy things he could steal like cars.

The guy is obviously a hoodlum, we all agree, but his motivation for killing Cosby was plain greed for the man's car and disregard for human life, any human life, not just a black man's.

Of course no one one can read Markeshev's mind, and my opinion is who would want to. The guy is sick for killing a man over a car.

But while I'm on a roll, I have another problem with Camille O. Cosby's statement.

Cosby's letter was her way of venting the anger and pain caused by her son's death, so she blames all of America for this tragedy.

The most important issue is Markhasev be held responsible for killing another human being. Markhasev decided to kill Ennis Cosby, and he alone should be blamed for it, not the entire nation.

Matthew Green is a reporter for the Summer Forty-Niner.