🚨 The Gutter Report: Selective Outrage in America
Why Iryna Zarutska’s death made headlines, while Dacara Thompson was forgotten
📸 The Victim & The Suspect
🔪 Left: 19-year-old Dacara Thompson, a natural-born Black woman whose life was cut short.
🚔 Right: Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, the undocumented immigrant charged with her murder.
When tragedy strikes, the cameras don’t just show up for the pain — they show up for certain people’s pain.
On August 22nd, Iryna Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee, was fatally stabbed on a Charlotte, NC train. The story went national in hours. Federal charges were announced. The media rushed to paint her as a symbol of innocence lost.
But rewind just a few weeks. Dacara Thompson, a 19-year-old from Maryland, was murdered by Hernandez-Mendez. Where was the outrage then? Where were the press conferences? Where were the national think-pieces about how America failed her?
📸 The Outpouring for Zarutska
😔 Left: 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee whose murder sparked nationwide coverage.
🎥 Right: Surveillance footage moments before the fatal stabbing on Charlotte’s Blue Line train.
The Double Standard
Race & Sympathy: Zarutska’s whiteness and refugee status triggered a flood of empathy. Thompson’s Blackness meant silence.
Immigration & Narrative: Thompson’s case involved an undocumented immigrant, but the story stayed buried. Zarutska’s killer was framed as a random predator, making her case a national spectacle.
Justice in Headlines: Zarutska’s death brought federal charges and system reviews. Thompson’s? Barely a blip.
What This Shows
The U.S. media machine decides which victims matter. White lives are amplified. Black lives — even when cut short by preventable violence — are sidelined.
This isn’t about diminishing Zarutska’s death. She deserved safety and justice. But so did Dacara Thompson. The problem is a system that treats one as a national tragedy and the other as disposable.
Final Word
If outrage only comes when certain lives are taken, then what we’re witnessing isn’t journalism — it’s bias dressed up as news.
Good morning and Godspeed.
— Elliott Carterr
📺 YouTube: LFTG Radio
