It’s always sad when random violence claims another victim:

Joe Wagner, who wanted nothing more than to be a civil rights leader, once told his father he was willing to give his life for the cause.

“Joe was a son of Ann Arbor who was an activist working for freedom, equality and peace,” said John Wagner of Ann Arbor this morning. “It’s a tragedy he’s been lost.”

Joe Wagner, 21, a 2002 graduate of Pioneer High School, was stabbed to death Saturday night at a church festival and dance in Detroit.

You try and understand how another human can be so evil, that he or she would take an innocent life.

Wagner worked for the group BAMN, or “By Any Means Necessary,” which is fighting a ballot initiative that would ban affirmative action in Michigan…

“It’s horrible,” Driver said. “He was a really great guy, and he was a great organizer and a great person. He’s going to be a real loss to the fight to win equality in this country, and build a new civil rights movement.”

My first thought: What a pity; life taken at its prime, and at least he stood for something which is rare nowadays. My second thought: Oh man, they’re going to blame Ward Connerly for this. Lo and behold, this post from a random blog [link removed, see comments]:

Read the article here about how Joe Wagner, a BAMN advocate, was killed for sticking up for what he believed in…

I remember signing a BAMN petition during one of the annual Art Fairs held in Ann Arbor downtown. I agree with some of BAMN’s POVs and their desire to see change in universities with the issue of affirmative action. If someone opposes another’s viewpoint, it should be taken in the form of debate, not guns and knives.

While I share his view that we should fight with words and not weapons, he’s really jumping to conclusions here. There is no indication that this murder was politically motivated. It just seems like yet another sad case of random violence in our inner cities. I can understand why the writer would want to place the blame on his political opponents. However, if a College Republican were murdered, I wouldn’t immediately try to place the blame on a College Democrat or Green. Such a thing would never cross my mind. As the BAMN director quoted in the article said:

“There’s no way to explain these things.”