18 year old Nia Wilson was fatally stabbed as she entered a train in
Oakland with two of her sisters. You're watching What's Trending, I'm
Martine Biermann. Make sure to subscribe for more stories. The youngest of eight
siblings, Nia had her whole life ahead of her. She thought she might one day become
a paramedic, open a dance studio or maybe even be a rapper if a producer ever
heard of music. But on Sunday, John Cowell, a white man she had never met stabbed
her to death while she was changing trains.
Nia's older sister, Latifah was also stabbed in the attack though she was
later released from the hospital with only minor injuries.
Video: "You know, she backed up as we started walking on then he started attacking. And I look back and he was was wiping off his
knife and stood at the stairs and just looked."
It took nearly 24 hours to catch Nia's suspected killer and in that time, much
of the Oakland community was concerned the police would neglect the
investigation because Nia was black. Singer Kehlani who is from Oakland
tweeted #BART manages to catch riders who haven't paid ticket fare, young graffiti
artist, you can catch a murderer. Give her family some peace and get a murderous
white supremacist off of Oakland streets." After police received an anonymous tip
of a man matching the suspect's description boarding a train, Cowell was
arrested. Despite Nia being black and John Cowell being white, police have not
singled out racism motive in the killing, though they admit it certainly could be.
In a statement, Cowell's family did not speak to the fact that this may have
been racially motivated. Instead they did talk about his history
of mental illness. "Knowing that he was diagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia,
the system has failed in this instance, we had to get a restraining order at one
time as well for our own protection. He was living on the streets without the
proper treatment. This is no way an excuse for his senseless and vicious
attack." He had been in prison until May 2018 when he was released on parole
after serving two years for robbery. But, regardless of Cowell's motivation, race and
its role in this story has galvanized the Bay Area. When reporting on the
murder, KTVU used a photo of Nia holding what appeared to be
gun, but was an actuality a gun-shaped cellphone case. This outraged many in the
area as they say it's evidence of the media's portrayal of black victims as
less innocent than white victims. Lawyer Beilal Chatila said "I would say that
there is a general feeling of this community being let down again."
KTVU did apologize on-air for posting the photo and said it would not be shown
again. Video: "There's no doubt that we made a mistake."
It never should've happened. But we made the mistake and we are owning up to that mistake. and I can only hope right now
that her family, and parents are watching. So they can see me, and all of us here at channel 2 say that we are so sorry
about what happened to your daughter and we are sorry about the mistake that we made today."
There was also some controversy surrounding a post by writer Rachel
Cargle, which was temporarily taken down from Instagram for according to them
violating community guidelines against hate speech. This because she wrote that
the post was exclusively for women of color. After a considerable outrage,
Instagram allowed the post to stay up, but amid all the controversy, people are
still trying to take time to praise Nia at for the person that she is and she
was, and the time that she spent on this earth. Many used the demonstrations in
Oakland as an opportunity to play and dance to some of Nia's music.
And actress Anne Hathaway wrote a much shared Instagram post that's being
praised as a shining example of white solidarity.
She wrote "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 equivalents for this fear of violence." So regardless of
Cowell's motivation, Nia Wilson's story does remind us that black people live with an
embedded fear. Fear of violence, and then fear of once that violence is committed,
that it won't be taken seriously. What happened to Nia Wilson is yet another
tragedy. But, maybe now with the situation that were dealt, it's an opportunity for
the entire community to come together to seek justice.
John Cowell will be arraigned on August 22nd. If convicted, he faces a maximum
sentence of life in prison. What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments,
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