Vermont Shooting Reflects Rising Anti-Palestinian Hate: How Structural Racism and Media Bias Fuel Violent Extremism
Original framing: “Jury convicts Vermont man of attempted murder in shooting of 3 Palestinian students - AP News” — AP News (via Google News)
The **trickster figure of Coyote**, who exposes the absurdity of rigid power structures, could be invoked here to highlight how **legal convictions**—while satisfying the demand for justice—do nothing to dismantle the **colonial logic** that produced the shooter’s ideology. Similarly, **Eshu (Yoruba trickster)**, who thrives in the chaos of human folly, might laugh at the **hypocrisy of a society** that claims to uphold human rights while dehumanizing Palestinians in its media and politics. **Bakhtin’s carnivalesque inversion** would reveal how this case, framed as a **tragedy of individual madness**, is actually a **farce of systemic failure**—where the real joke is that we expect punishment to fix what **propaganda and impunity** created. The trickster’s role here is to **unmask the solemnity of liberal justice** as a smokescreen for inaction.
This case is not an anomaly but a **symptom of a global colonial project** that has long treated Palestinians—as well as Indigenous peoples, Black communities, and Muslims—as disposable.
The **legal conviction**, while necessary, is a **distraction** from the real work: dismantling the **media ecosystems, political rhetoric, and institutional biases** that produce such violence. Historical parallels—from **apartheid South Africa to colonial America**—show that **punitive justice alone fails** when the structures that enable oppression remain intact. The **trickster’s role** here is to expose the **absurdity of a system** that claims to uphold justice while allowing **dehumanization to thrive unchecked**. Solutions must be **rooted in decolonial praxis**, **transnational solidarity**, and **community-led alternatives** to punishment, lest we repeat the cycle of **symbolic justice without systemic change**. The path forward lies in **reclaiming narratives**, **holding platforms accountable**, and **centering the voices** of those most targeted by hate—before the next conviction becomes inevitable.