On Friday night, a doctoral student in the engineering program at Duke University was shot to death in his off-campus apartment (thanks, Zuni123). The parallels of this tragic crime to the LSU murders cannot be ignored; like then, our tip line is the conduit for confusion and frustration over another senseless murder. Via The Raleigh Chronicle:
The victim has been identified as Abhijit Mahato, age 29, a Ph.D. engineering candidate who was from India and was studying in the United States, Duke University officials said on Saturday afternoon.
“He was found by friends who came by the apartment to check on him Friday night,” said Kammie Michaels of the Durham Police Department. Mahato was pronounced dead on the scene when police arrived, say police.
Durham Police said they do not yet have a motive for the shooting. Their investigation is continuing…
Mahato, originally from Tatangar, India, was studying for an engineering doctorate degree focused on computational mechanics at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. He was in his second year in the program, says the school.
Larry Moneta, Duke’s vice president for student affairs, said the university has begun “reaching out” to Mahato’s friends and to his family in India, as well as to Indian and other international students on campus. It is offering counseling services and has begun considering appropriate ways of commemorating Mahato’s life.
One way they didn’t commemorate it was by finding it a happy opportunity to test a school safety feature.
Here’s how the victim’s adviser, Tod Laursen described him:
“He made friends very easily and always had a smile on his face,” Laursen said through Duke University. “Our research team was particularly close to Abhijit. He was very well read in both poetry and literature, and enjoyed conversation with others about what they were reading.”
More about a stolen life:
On his website at Duke, Mahato said his hobbies included reading books, playing chess, and photography.
Before coming to Duke, Mahato worked for two years for the GE Global Research Center in Bangalore, India where he focused on finite element analysis, a computer-simulation technique used in engineering.
Mahato earned his mechanical engineering degree from Jadavpur University in India in 2001 and a master of technology degree from the Indian Institute for Technology in Kanpur in 2004.
Mahato was very proud of his Indian heritage and seemed to enjoy talking about his hometown.
“My upbringing was in Kolkata; the City of Joy, the city of intellectuals, and much much more,” said Mahato on his website at Duke. “My native language is bengali. We, Bengalis, have a very distinct and rich culture.”
Mahato’s website is here. May his memory be eternal.
i bet the culprit’s under age 35. i hate young people.
I bet the culprit is not Manju. I hate everyone except Manju.
This is so wrong. But it made me LOL.
Someone upthread from Duke said that they signed a petition to encourage the Indian government to take action- what exactly can the Indian government do, if anything?
I subscribe to the prejudice+power theory of racism, but only partially, because I think it’s foolish to go on and on about how all whites are racist, when many of the crimes committed against desis that have been covered recently have NOT been perpetrated by whites. Minorities are racist, too, and a bullet in your head is proof positive of some kind of power. So let’s hold off on the generalizations.
Organize a bandh. Burn some buses. Break some storefronts. You know, maintain the venerable communist party tradition of citizen unrest that is alive and well in West Bengal.
call me sexist, but i bet a man did this
The sexism on sepia mutiny is out of control
53 · nala said
Maybe they could send in the armless Thakur saab from Sholay to take care of the hoodlums?
Bridget Jones: Churches, mosques, mandirs, etc. do community service because they see it as what God(s) commanded His(their?) followers to do. The sole purpose of a university is to educate; not to benefit those who have no affiliation with the school. And if we are to talk about moral obligations, surely the good citizens of the surrounding ghettos should understand that pointing a gun at defenseless college students and demanding their hard-earned beer money is also wrong?
No, it’s not… universities are centers of learning and research, they’re part ivory tower part social innovation, and they are part of the communities they’re nestled within.
Manju, happy MLK day! 😛
Likewise, I look forward to your future misrepresentation of the good doctor.
This is from Abhijit’s website:
That’s adorable.
54 · nala said
Crime is crime plain in simple black store owners get killed also,there was a black store owner on U.ST here in DC a few years ago that got killed. I am tired of folke trying to claim that it is a hate crime. Seems like in every thread here blacks get brought up no matter what.
Not that it matters, but it’s hard not to compare the publicity this murder (and the previous LSU ones) generated, to the ‘Natalie Holloway’ saga. With all due respect, I haven’t heard squeak about these murders, aside from a corner CNN citation.
So where TF is Nancy Grace ???
I didn’t speculate on the race of the killer, nor did I say that it was a hate crime. I was responding to posters who were talking about how this shouldn’t be surprising since white people (‘yokels,’ etc.) are all racists. I’m guessing that white people who read these boards may feel pretty put upon too.
My beef is with the South Asian American organizations that gloss over the very real fears of desi small business owners.
i agree with doug. the point of my absurd sexist and ageist comments was to point out this post has nothing to do with racism. what the racism of white southerners or anti-Semitic flyers or browns having to be extra careful has to do with this post is beyond me.
not all crimes are hate crimes. people should be allowed to rob and kill without being called racist.
Durham police released a crime alert on their web site on 01/19. Apparently there have been more than 30 robberies targeting Latino victims since the beginning of this year of which 9 happened between January 18 and 19 including the fatal shooting of Doleres Gomez on Friday. This report excludes Abhijit’s death and a few other incidents over the weekend reported later . [link]
When we’ve come to this realization, it is a happy MLK Jr. day after all!
WOW–that’s a serious bombshell!
5 · naz said
Nationwide movements spring up from the grassroots. I encourage you to organize your own community to kick this off and not wait for a figurehead to impose change from the top.
35 · Johnny Valker said
Others might call “justice” what you call “charity.” Regardless of what you call it, though, it just makes practical business sense in the vein of “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
57 • Johnny Valker said
From Duke’s Mission Statement:
not all crimes are hate crimes. people should be allowed to rob and kill without being called racist.
I’ve been saying the same thing for years.
As sad as this murder is. There was another desi killed this weekend on this side of a world.
A young 1 year old girl was killed by her father here in my part of the world in Vancouver. The girl had made the mistake of being a girl, when she should have been a boy. The father had 2 daughters already, so he had to kill his daughter, cause other people in his community were losing respect for him cause he had 3 daughters and not had male son yet. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Canadian_Sikh_kills_two-yr-old_daughter/rssarticleshow/2716494.cms
nala and Harbeer: in an ideal world, I’m sure we would all like to see the university and community holding hands and breaking ground for an orphanage together. despite Duke’s well-intentioned but formulaic statement (which is similar to those made by other schools), no amount of money thrown at the surrounding community is going to put an end to the animosity between the two. the billions of dollars funneled into impoverished neighborhoods over the years has not made an impact- they still remain cesspools which continue to breed criminals. before these communities demand money from universities and large corporations that happen to be located there, they need to learn how to clean up their act. they can start by stopping the harassment of college students.
uh… what billions of dollars?
here in NJ, the worst performing school districts (read: poorest) receive a tremendous amount of state aid in order to make them compete with the top performing ones. Five years ago, the budget for the Newark school district was 800 million, most of it courtesy of non Newark tax payers. If I’m not mistaken, there are around 31 such districts throughout the state. You can do the math to figure out the amount spent (wasted?) on education alone. After 10 years, these schools remain at the bottom of the list, with no significant drop in crime either.
Yeah, those children of immigrant doctors who settled in Plainsboro are really suffering as a result of tax money going out-of-district. How do they get through the day at their multimedia-equipped, doting-staff-filled schools?
72 · Johnny Valker said
I think your ideal world would look more like a plantation or a sweatshop.
Show some self-respect and just admit that I got you. By “well-intentioned” you mean for their image, right? Your reading of this statement implies that Duke was not sincere and that insincerity is acceptable. Sorry holmes, I hold people to their word and so does the law.
Then I suggest that Duke surround itself with a moat containing a dragon and a very high wall.
Keep talking buddy. You’re really showing your true colors now.
You didn’t even bother reading the article that Mary Mary Not Contrary linked to in comment 27, did you? No, you’ve got your mind made up and to hell with the actual facts!
73 · nala said
this may be an accurate description of newark, where the racist democratic establishment kept their people enslaved to social welfarism, but inner-cites like Harlem have long enjoyed a renaissance. bill clinton referred to harlem as an “emerging market,” magic johnson started developing property, merril lynch and BoA started making loans to entrepreneurs, pension funds started to develop affordable real-estate,national chains were invited in, and the result was job growth while newark continued to shrink and the average income in harlem grew faster than the national avg.
universities and their tired charity mindset should stay out. banks should get in.
can’t imagine why someone would do this
God bless his soul, and give peace to his loved ones
oops. i quoted nala quoting johnny valker (oh, i just got it) so those are JV’s words, in case some of you are worring that nala suffers from britney spears’ ailment.
Manju – what you quoted in #77 isn’t what I said, but what Johnny Valker said.
I think what a lot of college students at the aforementioned schools mean by ‘helping the community’ isn’t giving away money, but more things like helping with local tutoring programs (e.g. Boys & Girls Club), things like that. Some of these schools are supposed to be ‘the cream of the crop,’ and they have reputations for being extremely liberal, but the attitudes of many students toward the people who live in the area is still very off-putting and condescending. Also, it’s really just in the best interest of the university to care about what’s going on in town, e.g. think of New Haven twelve years ago versus now, things have improved a lot and so has student quality of life.
Yes, it really did take me that long to post that comment, that I didn’t see your correction, Manju…
63 · nala said
I agree with that 100%.
not all crimes are hate crimes. people should be allowed to rob and kill without being called racist.
I agree with you, problem is, many times the assailant removes all doubt. Of course in this case we don’t know, what I had meant to say (which wasn’t clear, I agree) was if indeed it’s uncovered that it’s the result of a sub standard living, uneducated white person who’s lived there and feels that as his territory, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, given the propensity of those residents to harbor those feelings.
publicity this murder (and the previous LSU ones) generated, to the ‘Natalie Holloway’ saga
but white privilege doesn’t exist, right?
And if it was the result of a substandard-living, uneducated black person who’s lived there and feels that it’s his territory? Would that not be much of a surprise either, given the propensity of those residents to harbor those feelings?
Not really… you really don’t hear black folks saying “go back to your own country, etc..” when they themselves have been treated like 2nd class citiznes, sure they might commit acts for other reasons (and I guess if the end result is the same, it perhaps doesn’t matter)
but given the DOJ stats I quoted earlier, GIVEN a homicide has occurred it’s only slightly more likely that the assailant is black.
85 · HMF said
you really need to get out a litte more
43 · sigh! said
I guess this depends on how you characterize neighborhoods 🙂 The southside of (the city of) Berkeley, which is overwhelmingly populated by (UC) Berkeley undergraduates, has relatively high levels of muggings, car jackings, bike thefts, etc., and as you move further south towards the Oakland/580-980-24 freeway border (and also in West Berkeley, near I-80) you see higher violence rates as well. Stanford, meanwhile, is in Palo Alto, which borders the former “murder capital of the country,” East Palo Alto. That said, I know very few students who live in East Paly, and it certainly is not within the a 5-mile radius of Stanford, no? I am happy to omit GW from the list, though 🙂
It sounds like you believe that socioeconomic disparities, poverty, and injustice are all “natural” pre-existing conditions. Many of the universities mentioned in this list have VERY poor town-gown relations, and others have exacerbated or created these “inner-city” problems you allude to. Also, I can’t speak for Duke, but hardly any of these universities pay their share of property taxes, either, which — when you are a sprawling campus — does not help regenerate funds for local government initiatives.
Also, please speak for yourself when discussing “suburban Mutineers.” This is a reoccurring and inaccurate red herring that comes up anytime folks discuss crime and poverty on this blog — not everyone grows up in your vision of desi suburbia, and not all of us choose to live in that suburbia later in life, either. If you have a critique that actually addresses ANY of the substantive points raised in this discussion, that would be helpful. It sounds as though you’ve staked out your position and are firmly committed to your corner.
Manju, while both Harlem and Newark are overwhelmingly African-American, there are substantial differences in their economic structures (unrelated to the nefarious democratic establishment, to which you refer). For one thing, Newark has been a shrinking city for the past 10 years, while Harlem has been anything but. I understand the attempt to draw parallels, but I don’t think these two provide an accurate case. Newark is more comparable to Detroit than it is to Manhattan/NYC.
I don’t mean to egg you on because I really don’t think this has a place in this conversation, but is this claim based on your actual, lived experience, or on your “rational assumption” of how you think black folks interact with desis?
77 · Manju said
fair enough, but do you think that renewal will spread to smaller cities, especially those that lack Harlem’s cultural past?
nala: i agree with you that it’s hypocritical for self-styled liberal students to show only contempt, and a little bit of fear, towards their not so affluent neighbors. i assumed earlier posters were referring to the university shelling out tuition/endowment money in order to help the local crackheads.
Camille- have I told you how confusing it is for someone not from the area (or maybe just me) to figure out the geography & demography of the Bay Area. For California in general, actually. Though I still think it’s insanely awesome that there’s an area called the ‘Inland Empire’ (even though the area itself may not be that awesome).
Word.
Heh… agreed.
88 · Johnny Valker said
its a nationwide trend. check out this organization
Manju, have you been a troublemaker in Dr. Phil’s getting real program again?
He would, but every time he crawls out from under his desk and peers through the window, he sees more members of whitey’s army prowling outside.
If it’s such a sure thing, who’s stopping them? Isn’t this America?
This is scary and very tragic. I hope the killer(s) get thrown in jail soon.
91 · Rahul said
there’s no sure thing but they’re getting in. BoA the most, then merril, and goldman has a new community development fund. and then there’s a host of smaller lesser known socially concious VC and private equity funds. it’s a fairly big thing, not as big as some other socially-conscious ventures like greentech, but pretty big.
Yes. You got a problem with that?
That explains it. Abhijit was targeted not because he is indian but because he looks hispanic.
Two comments:
First: Circumstances probably propel DBD grad students to “shadier” neighborhoods
To begin with: Grad students are paid quite poorly [18 dollars more per year than a minimum wage earner: per Jorge Cham’s presentation: )] – especially true for the snootier schools/departments [They expect you to come there for the “research opportunities” and brand name (snob value)]. Quite often, a student applying from India will merely picked the highest rank program he or she has been admitted to (or received aid from). For many of them, there is the additional desire / imperitive to save money from even this meager payckeck to buy annual/biannual air-tickets and send money and gifts home. The net result is as stated.
Second: (vivek beat me to it – and so i merely second the opinion) Abhijit was probably killed because he was perceived to be mexican (brown). With brown (mexican) v/s black tensions rising across the country (have been reading with increasing frequencies stories alluding to such gang wars), perhaps we should be specially cautious.
but is this claim based on your actual, lived experience, or on your “rational assumption”
both. at the very least, blacks claim less personal ownership (ie, the are quicker to acknowledge the presence of native americans as the true owners, etc..) to the land as whites do.
he sees more members of whitey’s army prowling outside.
If only I had the correct sequence of youtube videos to get me past that initial 5 feet.
you really need to get out a litte more
True, I really need an audience w/that diverse group that you perhaps hang with, the upper west side elite, the upper east side elite, the battery park elite. so much can change in an 80 block difference you know.
Dhoorendhar: just out of curiosity, do Indian grad students receive any allowance/aid from the Indian government?
Dhoorendhar: just out of curiosity, do Indian grad students receive any allowance/aid from the Indian government?
No, Only if they are on GOI (Government of India) various fellowships (which are not that many), and/ or bilateral fellowships like Fulbright, Ford Foundation (then most of the money comes from the foundations).
Majority of Indian graduate students are on research/ teaching assistantships, and/ or individual institute fellowships, and lot of them self-financed.
It’s understandable 🙂 The state is confusing to non-Californians because it is a) huge; b) divided by its physical geography (coast, mountains, valleys, deserts); c) impacted by its diverse (socioeconomic and racial/ethnic) history of settlement, colonization, resettlement, recolonization, and migration; d) generally known in movies/TV by Los Angeles and now, west (read: affluent, mostly white) Orange County; and e) its biggest metro areas are generally a “network” of autonomous cities, not a single metropolis with satellites (e.g. LA, Bay Area as opposed to NYC or Chicago). I can’t tell you the number of times I have to explain to folks that LA and SF are NOT near each other, or that you cannot “surf to school.” 🙂
Aside from the freeway system, what’s confusing about the Bay’s geography/demography?