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Troopers interrupt apparent sexual attack on the Esplanade
By adamg on Sun, 06/30/2013 - 1:15pm
Around 1 a.m., state troopers on patrol near the Longfellow Bridge arrested Joseph Barthel, 49, of Waltham, after they spotted him attacking a 21-year-old woman, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.
"Based on the evidence developed thus far, this incident does not appear to be linked to the well-publicized series of unsolved sexual assaults on the Esplanade" and at Moakley Park in South Boston, the DA's office says, adding, however, they will compare his description to those of attackers in other unsolved attacks in the area.
Barthel is white, while The suspect in the unsolved cases, which date to 2007, has been described as a clean-shaven African-American male in his mid-20s to mid-30s, 5'8" to 5'10" with a shaved head.
Barthels is scheduled for arraignment tomorrow in Boston Municipal Court on a charge of indecent assault and battery.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
I hope they got it on camera
And then I hope we make a law allowing for the execution of sex criminals caught on tape.
Who said Esplanade/Moakley suspect is African-American?
Nice work by the State Police on this arrest, but as for the suspect in the previous attacks, African-American? Really? Did he tell the victims that or did the victims describe him as black and political correctness then took over?
I'm reminded of Bruins legend Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL who still makes many public appearances. He dislikes being introduced as "African-American" since he is um, Canadian. It's almost as comical as CNN anchor Carol Lin's 2005 reference to rioting blacks in France as "African-American" despite no indication any had American ties. Sometimes it's OK to say black, especially when the suspect's origin is unknown.
100% correct
I had a friend in college who was a black American. She found the term "African-American" offensive because her family's ancestry was from the Caribbean, and they considered themselves of Caribbean ancestry.
While, yeah, most Caribbean blacks came to the islands via the African slave trade, 1500-1800, it was long enough ago that most of them no longer had an African identity.
Right, not synonyms, but...
Yes, it's ridiculous to replace all instances of "Black" with "African-American," and you're right that there are many examples of people doing this when it's just not correct (Nelson Mandela, anyone?).
However, African-American does refer to groups of people who have grown up in this country and are of usually indeterminate African origin, or have been here for several generations and resonate with this identity. There's a whole wealth of African-American culture (which based on your previous posts I realize you would rather just not exist...) that defines this group as more than just a racial group. You're right that someone might have just incorrectly thought the terms were interchangeable, but it's also possible that the people describing the attacker had some interaction with the person and did perceive this to be the person's culture.
It's just like how if you interacted with me for a few minutes, you'd be able to figure out my gender, what country I grew up in and probably the region, and probably my socioeconomic class and a few other things without directly asking me about any of this. These things would be useful for finding me and describing me to other people. It isn't offensive or presumptive that people have demographic characteristics. It's actually offensive to pretend they don't.
Re: "You'd rather African-American culture just not exist"
Really? Do tell/cite. The African-American woman that I live with might be interested in knowing about these previous posts. So would I. You should have stopped at the first paragraph. The rest is either common knowledge or drivel.
As for "if you interacted with me for a few minutes...". Perhaps, but only if you spoke. Many attackers don't. As for Willie O'Ree, a great guy who I have interacted with, take away the Bruins cap and knowledge of his past and you'd have a hard time telling me he's Canadian. It's pride in his country and his own wealth of culture that prompts him to correct people.
Be my guest eeka, throwing the African-American euphemism around for those blacks who "seem" American. You're a defense attorney's dream. "The victim and police said the attacker was African-American, my (black) client was here on vacation from France and has no American traits."
Magic 8 ball says...
You're originally from a wealthy white liberal MA or NY suburb, you've never directly experienced true poverty and despair, you're drowning in white guilt tears, you have a very expensive master's-level liberal arts degree, you live in a highly gentrified section of the "hood" and think it gives you major street cred points, you're drowning in white guilt tears, and your salary isn't a major portion of your income. Oh, and did I mention the white guilt tears?
Magic 8-ball would be
WRONG.
Go play with your stereotype collection, please. At home.
What I find awkward is that
What I find awkward is that we use African-American for people who have no idea where in African they come from, but not for actual African immigrants. African immigrants make mention of their country of origin, be it Senegal, Liberia, Nigeria, etc. Africa is a whole continent with various races, colors, countries and ethnic groups. Saying Africa is vague.
You really don't know if
You really don't know if someone is African-American unless you speak to them personally. That's why law enforcement still says Black in reference to victims and suspects. Boston in particular has a large West Indian and Haitian population, Black but not necessarily African-American.
"American"
Not that anyone in this conversation is going to care or agree, but there a whole lot of people in the Western Hemisphere who consider it legit to be described as "American" although they have nothing to do with the United States of America. So calling someone "African-American" and clearly stating that it excludes Canadians, is making the chauvinist statement that the opinions of millions of other people living in the "Americas" mean nothing.
For some areas the term Afro-Caribbean is used or Afro-descended (obviously the Caribbean, but also the Central or South American Caribbean coast).
But I would agree with you in this case - you saw someone do something and the police ask you to describe him -- it's going to physical traits ("he was white with freckles") and then whatever else you can infer ("he had an accent and was wearing a kilt and called me a 'fooking cunt' - so I think he was Scottish").
Incidentally in Latin America they frequently use in Spanish what we would translate as "United Stater" -- Estadounidense. I've heard some French use étatsunien - but far less. Seems more accurate to me, but sounds like shit in English.
United States....
Our neighbor to the South is also the United States ... of Mexico.
true enough...
...but they're full of Mexicans! We're full of Americans. And so there begins the debate again.... "No, just regular American."