The Death of Nia Wilson

Submission 5,153

Overview

The Death of Nia Wilson refers to the stabbing attack of 18-year-old Nia Wilson at a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) platform in Oakland, California. Since her death, police have arrested a 27-year-old man for the stabbing.

Background

On July 22nd, 2018, Nia Wilson and her sister Lahtifa Wilson were the victims of a violent knife attack while at the platform of the MacArthur BART platform in Oakland, California. Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene and her sister was hospitalized.^[1] BART police arrested 27-year-old John Lee Cowell later that day.

Development

Online Reaction

Following the murder, people online began showing their support for Wilson. Some helped to revive the "say her name" campaign, which aims to bring attention to attacks on black women that some say receive far less coverage in the media than attacks on white woman. Additionally, people posted their support of Nia and Lahtifa Wilson using the #JusticeForNia and #JusticeForTashiyaAndNia hashtags. ^[12]

On July 25th, the verified Black Lives Matter Twitter account tweeted,^[2] "We do this for Black women. We do this for Black girls. We do this for Black femmes. We do this for #NiaWilson We will always #SayHerName." The post (shown below, left) received more than 1,700 retweets and 3,500 likes in one week.

Twitter user @MichaelSkolnik tweeted,^[3] "Nia Wilson. Say her name. Fight for justice." The tweet (shown below, center) received more than 560 retweets and 2,000 likes in one week.

On July 28th, Twitter user @shhelleywong tweeted^[4] a photograph (shown below, right) of a "Memorial for Nia Wilson at MacArthur station."

On August 1st, Redditor ^[8] DazzleMeWithGold asked about the attack and its relation to racism in the /r/OutOfTheLoop. They wrote, "Was looking through Mic snapchat story and it was dedicated to the death of a black teenage girl(Nia Wilson) who they said was a victim of hate crime but didn’t specify how apart from that the murderer was white? OutOfTheLoop on what happened and why it’s being seen as a hate crime?" The post received more than 600 points (89% upvoted) and 150 comments.

Redditor porqueknuckle responded:

She was stabbed to death while exiting the BART in ~~San Francisco~~ Oakland. Her sister was also attacked, but survived. The hate crime aspect hasn't been established, but following several other knife-on-public-transportation attacks in recent history (notably in Portland, OR – edited from WI, see below for embarrassing details), there is a not unreasonable expectation by the public that race was a motivator. To date there has not been any concrete indication that this stabber was racially motivated, and his (distant) family is claiming a history of mental illness:

"As of today, Cowell hasn’t been tied to white-supremacist organizations. His past convictions were for battery and robbery. Cowell’s family, with whom he has a distant relationship, said in a statement that he suffered from untreated bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The San Francisco Chronicle reported over the weekend that Cowell and a black friend of his have matching tattoos. But casual, or even profound, camaraderie with the other is not inculcation against racism. What cannot easily be accounted for is the kind of racial hatred that is ambient or unconscious, that goes unsaid. 'They are trying to say that he was sick and crazy,' Wilson’s oldest sister, Malika Harris, told the Times. 'It was an act of racism.'" – source: New Yorker Magazine^[9]

Celebrity Response

On July 25th, Academy Award-winning actor Anne Hathaway posted about the murder on Instagram. ^[5] She wrote:

"The murder of Nia Wilson- may she rest in the power and peace she was denied here- is unspeakable AND MUST NOT be met with silence. She is not a hash tag; she was a black woman and she was murdered in cold blood by a white man.

White people- including me, including you- must take into the marrow of our privileged bones the truth that ALL black people fear for their lives DAILY in America and have done so for GENERATIONS. White people DO NOT have equivalence for this fear of violence.
Given those givens, we must ask our (white)selves- how “decent” are we really? Not in our intent, but in our actions? In our lack of action?
Peace and prayers and JUSTICE for Nia and the Wilson family xx

The post (shown below) received more than 384,000 likes in one week.

Hathaway's comments, however, were also criticized as an example of white privilege.^[6]^[7] As a result of the controversy, Hathaway closed the comments to the post.

Other celebrities, including Common and Reese Witherspoon posted on social media about Wilson and the #SayHerName campaign.

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the story, including NBC,^[1] Teen Vogue,^[7] The New Yorker,^[9] The San Francisco Chronicle,^[10] The New York Times^[11] and more.