Victim-Blaming Is Not Cool

On Sunday, Osmani Munongerwa and his mother, Isha Musa, were brutally slain, according to the Metro Nashville Police Department. Their family found their dead bodies in their apartment. Some foul evildoer allegedly came to their home and killed them.

Who’s to blame for this? The person or people who took weapons to that apartment and killed this man and woman? You’d think, but this Tennessean article by Natalie Allison sure makes it seem like the police think Munongerwa is partially to blame.

Munongerwa’s sins? He posted pictures “flaunting” a little good fiscal fortune, and he had a juvenile record.

Osmani Munongerwa fanned out a stack of cash, waving it around as he danced in his Facebook profile video Saturday night.

It was similar to the photo Munongerwa posted earlier that morning — as well as another video the day before — also showing the 20-year-old Nashville man flaunting cash, jewelry and an armload of shopping bags. ...

Metro police have “been aware of this young man for years,” Aaron said, based on his juvenile record, which the police department isn’t authorized to discuss.

Let me be clear: This was stupid of Munongerwa, but 20-year-olds are stupid. It doesn’t mean they deserve to die. And if “flaunting” your wealth is a good reason to murder you, then a lot of people with Instagram accounts should be terrified.

And, yes, the police should indeed look into who his friends and associates were. But this whole story reads like: “He was a bad person with a juvenile record who was showing off, and he got what was coming to him.”

I’m just having a hard time imagining us sitting quietly by if this were a story about a woman with a record “flaunting” her body on Facebook and then being found raped and murdered. And I know people would be raising a stink if her dad died during the attack, and the story was still formulated like it was all her fault.

There simply has to be a difference between, “These are some of the factors we’re looking at,” and, “Well, what do you expect if you go around acting like that?” when the way he was acting was perfectly legal. We’re on the wrong side of that distinction here.