Race has not been a big factor in this case, which is a good thing. We haven't had special interest groups fighting it out. It been a straight forward case in that respect even though it has all of the elements to become a black/white issue. We've come a long way, and I give Charlottesville, UVA, LE, all those involved and members of these forum a lot of credit and respect for this. I've seen less complicated, less serious thing go downhill very quickly in this area.
But any AA community, family, individual would get uneasy in this scenario. The history of how an AA male in the south accused of the disappearance of a white female has not been favorable for such a male statistically speaking. About 10 years ago Chief TIm Longo found himself accused of racial profiling when he got the bright idea of collecting DNA from AA males to put in data base to match up for some unsolved cases. http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2004/03/police-ask-residents-for-dna-samples-to-aid-serial/ Didn't get well received at all. Should have just doubled the data base and added equal numbers of Non AA participants, IMO, but the idea was shelved as racist and racial profiling.
I think that another issue at play here is the town gown thing. As some UVA posters indicated, there is not a lot of interaction between the two, especially first year students, and the new term has just begun.
IMO the focus on JM being the last one seen with Hannah has been appropriate, and teh national media attention on this case will hopefully keep everyone on their toes and observing the rules. I don't think JM would have been treated any differently had he not been AA.
