All the factors to Matthew Shepherds murder (Final Draft)

All the factors to Matthew Shepherds Murder

Willi Miller

Matthew Shepard was murdered. There are several theories surrounding the motive of his murder. The press focused primarily on Matthew Shepard’s murder as simply a hate crime.  There is evidence the murder may have been fueled by drugs as well.  Was this horrible crime committed out of hate, out of anger, out of a drug induced rage or all of the above?  In fact, the motives behind this crime were complicated and variable.         

Life is completely random. There is no rhyme or rhythm to it. Sometimes it slows down, sometimes it speeds up, but in Mr. Shepherd’s case it stops. The book and play, The Laramie Project argues that his murder was a hate crime against gays.  There are several statements throughout The Laramie Project that support this, “Uh, I really dont hate them but you know, when they start coming on to me and stuff like that I get pretty aggravated.” (McKinney pg. 93) McKinney was homophobic, “He (Mr. Shepherd) was grabbing my leg and my genitals.” (Mckinney pg. 90) and “Well he put his hand on my leg, slid his hand down like as if he was going to grab my balls.” (Mckinney pg 91)  McKinney seems proud of himself and he acts if he does not have a drop of remorse.  He almost seems phony, like he is trying to keep something hidden. Mckinney is so open with the fact that he beat Shepherd because he was gay, he comments, “I’d say I hit him about 2 or 3 times with my fists and about 6 times with the pistol.” (Mckinney pg. 92)  The judge asked McKinney, “Did Mr. Shepherd tell you to stop?” (Debree pg 92)  McKinney answered, “Well yeah, he was getting the shit kicked out of him.” (Mckinney pg 92)  From these statements, it seems pretty obvious he was hateful towards Matthew Shepard as a gay man.

There is more evidence that says the murder of Mr. Shepherd is not just a hate crime.

The Book of Matt is a controversial book about the case of Matthew Shepard. This book brings up many other factors that may have contributed to the murder of Matthew.  So if not a hate crime, what was it?  One can not get an answer to that question without looking at all of the possibilities. The author of the book, The Book of Matt, Steven Jimenez says “The prosecutor of the Aaron Mckinney trial got an anonymous letter that said that Aaron Mckinney was bisexual and the gay panic defence was bogus.” (Jimenez pg. 5)  Obviously this is pretty far fetched from the story that people have come to know.  Mr. Jimenez could surely be wrong, in fact, he says himself “My background is really in film and television.” (Jimenez Book TV interview) So this may give Mr. Jimenez a little less authority.  However, Mr. Jimenez is not the only one to have evidence that Mr. Mckinney is bisexual. In the 20/20 interview, Doc O'Connor, a Limo driver  who knew both McKinney and Shepherd stated, “I know for a fact that Aaron Mckinney was gay because there was an instance where he wanted to have a 3 way and he wanted me to be the 3rd guy.” (Doc O’Connor 20/20 interview) Now there is not only one but 2 people saying McKinney was bisexual.  Why would Mr. McKinney want to kill Mr. Shepard simple because he was gay, if he was gay himself?  Something else Mr. Jimenez figured out from his research for his book is that Henderson and McKinney could have both been on meth. He says “I talked to several drug dealers that knew Aaron Mckinney, then later came to realize as I started to explore the drug world that Matthew Shepard was also involved as a user.” Jimenez (book tv interview) Could this really be true? Matthew Shepard, a meth addict? There are many sources including Steven Jimenez that say yes. In the original story, the news made Mr. Shepherd out to be a perfect young man, but he actually may have been very troubled, and using drugs to deal with his troubles.  

Matthew Shepard’s death was the sad result of many complicated factors. First of all, he was, in fact, involved with drugs.  There is speculation that Aaron McKinney was actually going to rob Matthew Shepherd for money to buy drugs. According to the 20/20 special Aaron Mckinney’s girlfriend stated, “His real motive was to beat him up and rob him.” However, because McKinney was on a week long meth binge, he was most likely feeling the full affects of it. Two emotions that meth causes are anger and paranoia, according to a video on how to quit meth.  Some brain functions are amplified, while others are reduced on meth.  The part of the brain that controls judgement is reduced, and aggression is amplified when one is on meth. Complete lack of judgement and serious aggression are two major factors that drove McKinney to murder Matthew Shepard.  There were also deep feelings of hatred involved in the murder.  Perhaps, Mr. McKinney hated not only Matthew Shepard for being gay, but also hated himself for being bisexual.  One of Shepherd’s closest friends says in the 20/20 special, “I feel comfortable in my own heart that they did what they did to Matt because they had hatred towards him for being gay.”  Indeed this is true, there was most definitely hate involved, but there is no denying the facts about meth.  Truly this is a crime, started by hatred and fueled by drugs.  

The sad case of Matthew Shepard’s murder, illustrates the prejudices of sexual orientation.  It also shows just how dangerous drugs can be.  When drugs fuel hatred, anger and aggression, disaster is the only thing that could come from it.

Picture Analysis

mily Weincheck

“What would you guys say to Aaron if you saw him right now?” (Belber pg 61) Act III

“My most striking memory from the funeral… (Drake pg 78) Act III

“The cold, the wind. They say wyoming's winds will drive a man insane, but you know what? it dont bother me. well some of the times it bothers me. but most of the times it dont.” (O'Connor pg. 7)

all the factors to Matthew Shepherd murder pt. 1

life is completely random. There is no rhyme or rhythm to it. sometimes it slows down, sometimes it speeds up, but in Mr. Shepherds case it stops. No one really knows for sure as to why except for the fact that 2 people murdered him. The book and play The Laramie Project argues that it was a hate crime against gays. There are several cumulitive statments throughout that bring it up, and this is one of them, “Uh, I really dont hate them but you know, when they start coming on to me and stuff like that I get pretty aggravated.” (McKinney pg. 93) This is one of the things Mckinney originally brought up in the trial. but it is not very believable for one specific reason. He kept changing up alot of the thing he said in court, for example. after saying “He (Mr. Shepherd) was grabbing my leg and my genatals.” (Mckinney pg. 90) then suddenly changed his story to “Well he put his hand on my leg, slid his hand down like as if he was going to grab my balls.” (Mckinney pg 91) Although he was shifty about his story. He seems proud of what he does. As if he does not have a drop of remorse. It almost seems phony, like he is trying to keep something hidden. Mckinney is so open with the fact that he beat Shepherd because he was gay for example These several quotes help support this. “Id say I hit him about 2 or 3 times with my fits and about 6 times with the pistol.” (Mckinney pg. 92) “Did Mr. Shepherd tell you to stop?” (debree pg 92) “Well yeah, he was getting the shit kicked out of him.” (Mckinney pg 92) These things actually make sense, but one has to really read between the lines. There is more evidence that says the murder of Mr. Shepherd is not a hate crime.

There is a controversial book about the case of Matthew Shepard concerning if it was really a hate crime or not, but if not a hate crime, what was it? one can not get an answer to that question without ruled out all possibilities.The author of this book, The book of Matt, Steven Jimenez says “The prosecutor of the Aaron Mckinney trial got an anonymous letter that said that Aaron Mckinney was bisexual and the gay panic defence was bogus.” (Jimenez pg. 5) Obviously this is pretty far fetched from the story that people have come to know, and Mr. Jimenez could surely be wrong infact he says himself “My background is really in film and television.” (Jimenez Book TV interview) So this may give him a little less authority and knowledge to do what he did, however Mr. Jimenez is not the only one to have evidence that Mr. Mckinney is bisexual. In the 20/20 interview with doc O'Connor, who knew both Mckinney and Shepherd he stated “I know for a fact that Aaron Mckinney was gay because there was an instance where he wanted to have a 3 way and he wanted me to be the 3rd guy” (Doc O’Connor 20/20 interview) Now there is not only one but 2 people saying this. This may not be the answer to the question of why Mr. Mckinney killed Mr. Shepherd but it is getting closer. Something else Mr. Jimenez figured out fro his research is that Henderson and Mckinney could have been on meth. He says “I talked to several drug dealers that knew Aaron Mckinney, then later came to realize as I started to explore the drug world that Matthew Shepard was also involved as a user.” Could this really be true? Matthew Shepard, A meth addict? there are many sources other than Steven Jimenez that say yes. In the original story, the news made Mr. Shepherd out to be a perfect young man, but everyone has problems.  

Meth, not even once.

Meth has a critical tendency to make people turn insanely brutish. There has been many instances through out history where meth has turned perfectly good people into cold blooded killers. There is a significant amount of evidence that says Matthew Shepherd was using Meth. Bryan Fischer, host of "focal point" says… "Every thing you have heard about Matthew Shepherd is wrong, he was killed by a gay lover over drugs" This is obviously very vague.  It does not mean that Matthew was on meth, however his murderer, Aren McKinney might have been on Meth according to Stephan Hemenez, a journalist who wrote "The book of Matt".  In an interview, Stephan says "Erin McKinney knew Matthew Shepherd before Matthew moved to Laramie.  Erin McKinney was a drug dealer." These statements suggest that Erin might have been involved in more ways than people have come to know. How precisely he was involved though is something Stephan Hemenez can answer very well. In another interview he said "Matthew according to scores, had meth the night he was killed and was willing to exchange it for money, but Erin did not have the money that night so he came up with the idea to rob him." Although these statements are miles away from any thing most people have heard about this case, They have some truth. Rachael Martin from NPR says in an interview with Mr. Hemenez "After a decade of research in Laramie, Hemenez has pieced together his own story." Later in the interview, Hemenez states, "There are several people that literally spoken about the fact that they used meth with Erin up until the morning of the crime." this might mean that Erin got himself so addicted that he would do any thing to get more. It could also mean that Erin was already using at that point at the and killed Matthew because he went into a meth induced rage. no one would know unless they were there.

Prejudice and irony in Laramie Wyoming

If there were two words that describe Laramie Wyoming, they would be 'generic' and 'old school'. First, it's a small town, and people are simple. Second, people who live there seem to have a more conservative old way of thinking. Very few residents are liberal minded. The following statements represent that in many ways. In The Laramie Project, Jonas Slonaker says, "when I came here I knew it was going to be hard as a gay man." and "So many gay men grew up here, and they're like "this is not a place where I can live, how can you live there?".  These statements infer that a gay male is out of place in Laramie. Another example of this town being intolerant to gay people is from a waitress named Marge Murray, she commented about what someone might do if they met a gay person in a bar.  She says, "They might poke one, if they were in a bar situation, you know they had been drinking, they might actually smack one in the mouth but they'd just walk away." This is interesting because it is not a male saying this, but a woman. Women, as well as men, seem to have prejudices against gays in this town.  This last quote from the book shows that there are people in Laramie are not only clueless about different cultures, but are afraid of them too. "Because I'm Muslim I decided to start wearing a scarf." People say things to me like,"'why do you have to wear that thing on your head?" "like when I got to the grocery store, Im not looking to give people islam 101." and "This is the worst part cause they'll be like, I know its part of your religion, but why?" So, all these thing tell the reader that this is a town that is uneducated in difference. It does not mean this town cannot grow, but for now there are two words that come to mind. generic and old school.

Irony is a big contributor to the creativity of this book and play.  It also is a major theme throughout. Something haunting but ironic is that according to Matthew Shepherds academic director, he was actually studying to work in human rights after he graduated college. His director commented, "I can only say this in retrospect, of course….I think he was heading towards human rights." Matthew was planning to spend his life helping to teach acceptance to all people, including the very people that murdered him.

Hate, A big thing in our way of success

In the United States, people commit hate crimes for a multitude of reasons. Hate crimes are commited because of race, religion, ethnicity, sexuallity and disability. However, according to The FBI Uniform Crimes Reports, 54% of all hate crimes in America are committed against blacks, making them the top victims of hate crimes.  The KKK is just one example of an organization that commits hate crimes against black Americans.  According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports, religion is the second highest ranking hate crime.  9/11 is arguably one of the worst religious/cultural/political hate crimes ever committed.  Hate crimes are also committed for reasons of ethnicity, sexuality, and disability.  Violent hate crimes are rooted in a fear of differences.  Tolerance for others could mean peace for all.    

The vast majority of hate crime offenders are white males. Other races also commit hate crimes. More white males commit hate crimes than Arabs, Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans combined according to  www.portlandmercury.com.  People who feel and think they are more superior may be offenders.  There is also a big fear factor of indifferences.   It doesn't matter who commits hates crimes, or who the victim is, it's always wrong and it's always about hate.

A memoir is a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources. They are very deep, emotional and a lot of the time very sad, however like every story, they have there moments that can be positive. For example, Ishmael Beah's "A long way gone" A collection of memories about some things when he was a kid which are extremely sad because of the traumatizing childhood he had being a child soldier. This is the sad part of the book however there is another side to it. Beah was forced into becoming a child soldier when he was  only 9 but before that he was very happy. This statement from the book confirms that. "My imagination at ten years old did not have the capacity to grasp what had taken away the happiness of the refugees."(Beah 6) This is an interesting point not only that he had nothing to do with the war when he was 10 but that he could not even comprehend what it did to others. Obviously Beah had a conflict begin within himself when he got involved in the war. Like several other memoirs like this one, characters have convict with themselves. For instance, in the book "Two kisses for Maddy" by Matt Logelin, one of the main reasons why he wrote the book is because he feels like he will not be a good enough father to take care of his daughter after his wife dies during child birth. That itself is self conflict. However another reason Logelin Wrote this book is to get things in a way off his chest, and so his daughter would understand when she is older. It is a story with underlying conflict, love and hope. These books are great examples of memoir because of there the many similar qualities.

In order to write a memoir you must be a great story teller. It is baffling that people from all over the world write them no matter how intellectually advanced they are. Humans have a nack for reflecting on themselves, and telling others about it. an example of this is the memoir called "A stolen life" by Jaycee dugard, in this memoir Dugard gets abducted from a school bus stop near her house for 18 years. She reflects apon every thing that happened to her, bad and horrible, she still tells a story. It takes courage to tell every thing that happened to her in that situation, but she still talks about it. One of the reasons is to let go of it emotionally. Some evidence from the book is "I had to stay in the same place id just been raped in. I didn't know  at the time that is what it is called. the word 'rape' was not in my vocabulary (Dugard 162) It shows the sheer emotion of this memoir, and a look into the horror that was Dugards life. It gives a peak to what an immence amount of courage it took to write a whole book with countless quotes just like this one. However they were not all sad. For example "I don't feel like rage inside of me thats building… I refuse to let my preditor to have that, he can't have that, he didn't get all of me." (Dugard 44) She takes away that nothing can break her after all that. Most of these people that wrote memoirs have probably come from from this state of mind or took it away after writing one. 

The war give many examples of violence taking over peoples lives and ruining them. However it is absolutely beautiful how the creators of this movie have put slight ironic and interesting symbols to convey meaning or emotion. For example, sound is something they used through out the movie to give the viewer mostly a sense of sheer terror, raging anger and violence. They used this type of effect on the viewer in the sense when stu challenged the limp nickys to swim across the raging waters of an old water tower. as the water roars there is many explosions all around coming from under the water. The same type of noises coming from a bomb or other weapon. However it is ironic because with the dark wet environment around them, there is still small ruptures of light coming through the ceiling. This could mean that there is still hope. through out the despair there is always hope.

Many senses had similarities to them making them instinctively peculiar. The creators of this movie may have put these kinds of recurring sounds and environments in certain seances to covey specific emotions they are trying to get across. For example, in the sense from Steven's flash back from the vietnam war the environment is dark, wet and there is sounds of gun shots and bombs going off all around him giving the dramatic sense that he could get shot at any point, bringing up anxiety. Also in the sense when Steven is working in the mine, low and behold they are in the same type of environment. Later in that sense rocks fall on Steven and Mo giving the same anxious "he could die at any point" feeling. It is truly amazing how many words a picture can say without saying any thing at all.

There are several lessens in the war about racism, standing up for yourself and others, small acts of kindness and solving problems without using violence. These are some of the most important thing s to remember but it is sad because honestly some people let them slide under the rug and forget these fundamental factors to peoples lives. For example, the limp nickys are poor, and dirty. In return that makes them sad and, angry. On the other hand there is the Simmons family, who are also dirty and poor , however because of their attitude towards life they realize that they still have a lot to be thankful for. "Ones life is in direct proportion to what they perceive it is"

The War is a Memoir based story on many peoples lives at the time, not actual fact However most of the themes and topics form the film are very real. at the time there was so much racism in this country and still is today. Today it just gets slipped under the rug as a joke. So many of these topics go hand and hand like standing up for your self and other and racism. With out racism, people would not know how to stick up for them selves or others, argo the world we live in today. Humans need problems to over come fear just like stu had to overcome the fact that his father was dead. Humans need problems so that we can learn from them and make ourselves and the world better.

Writing it this week so that I don't have to do it next week. 

as we not only finnish up our class college essay reviewing meetings and our memoirs. we begin a new chapter this week. A movie, one that has intrigued me. I have never been a fan of violence and This movie hit it right on the head for me (no pun intended) However while I am watching it I am remembering that the quality of ones life is exactly how that person perceives it to be. For example The father from the movie is leading a good life. He understands that he might not be the most wealthiest person in the world in terms of money, but he is in control of how he deals with that. He does positive things which gives him a sense of what he does have which is a family that loves him. This is the spectacular cycle that makes him care enough to try his hardest to find that job and buy that house. I look up to that man, not just because of what he has been through but his indifference as a human being. 

Interesting this from the week prior

Well as I go about my day. Every day, there are several countless thing that I have to remember to do, think about and worry about. Mostly short term things like what my homework is for that night or what I am having for dinner that night. This class reminds me about my porous. Where I am going. where I want to end up. What kind of person I really am. mixing these thoughts with my every day thoughts is interesting to step back and look at through an outer body perspective, I can't get to know myself on a different level. 

 the 3rd week 

writing collage essays is troubling. finding a collage to go to is troubling as well. It is a stressful time however there are things that I have found to keep me sane. For the past couple of days I remember in class we would read an essay every day at the start of class. It really helps me in the way that I can get to see what a real collage essay looks like and what I should base mine off. I really had no Idea what one was even about so this week as all together was an eye opener to how I can start thinking about collage. 

I was sitting on the top of a mountain with a shortness of breath looking around me in absolute awe. I almost couldn't think because there were so many thinks running through my mind. These huge insane freaks of nature, this is something that should be free. My heart was beating so loud that I could hear it more than the music I was playing. Mostly because of what I was about to do but also because I realized so many things about myself upon that ridge.
 

Memoirs, only 6 words long!






memoir. A very interesting topic that I have discredited for most of my life up until last week. As I have been reading Jay-Z's decoded I have learned many new and incredible thing about that man. One of the intriguing things about memoir to me is that most rant very happy memories. However the writer has made them in to something that even though may not be enjoyable to read, it is more interesting because of the way the writer tells the story. Tragic but incredible that only baffle me more when It crosses my mind that they are 100% true. 

I have only scratched the surface of memoirs yet. However what I have come to understand is that there are many different types of ways to write a memoir. For instance it doesn't even have to be a complete story with 6,000 word, It only has to be 6. in my opinion the less the better because it leaves quite a mystery stand point for the reader but it all depends on the subject. 6 word memoirs are based off memoirs in general but a lot more compact argo the name 6 word memoirs. here are some of mine.

Realist alive, meeting gods and lords.

Wake up, think, go to bed.

Sins of life make a career.

Become bill gates or die trying.

Get trill like the trap lord.

Have fun with life until death.

Life seems clearer in the dark. 

Write with pencil, talk with pen.

Life.

Life.

I feel as though life is a journey that a human can only truly and fully understand when they are ready to die. In my opinion Life should be about adventure, exploration, prosperity, music, and above all, positivity. That is how I live my life. If someone asks me what I would like to be when I am older I can only really guess. There is no for sure knowing, because nothing happens exactly how you plan it out. However when I saw this picture on instagram it hit home. Why? I do not know, but some thing about it says that that man is truly happy and that is all I know for sure. I want to be truly happy.

When I look at this picture I feel as though it could be interpreted as a man feeling down and not seeing any hope however all I see is hope here. I feel as though this man is curious and wants to see what lies behind the darkness. he is exited about the journey the get behind the darkness and not scared of the darkness itself. This is the adventurous part of me, because without adventure, life is dull and boring. adventure is risk and risk is adrenaline and I am quite and adrenaline junky.

I am very passionate about art expressing your self and music. I feel as though these things are essential to living a happier life. This picture is of A$AP Rocky. He is my favorite artist and one of y inspirations. Music is special to me for one very simple reason, it makes me feel good. However when it catches us at the right moment it can change our life. Art is a big part of my life because it is a way to express yourself along with music. Wich is why I put a picture of both because when music and art are combined it is beautiful.