They Killed Reena

[Pickle-party]

I had a friend. Her name was Reena Virk.

She was murdered brutally by Kelly Ellard.

Reena and me were both outsiders, yeah, some people can say that they are outsiders, but where do they end up hanging out? With their little group of Goths or nerds or self-proclaimed freaks or emos. Let it be known that if you claim to be an outsider, you don't fit in anywhere. Not with your groups of other outsiders.

Reena would always come and sit beside me but we would never speak with each other, never look at each other. Just stare blankly into the feild as if there was some kind of worm-hole there and it was comming to eat us if we went near it.

I knew Reena desperatly wanted to fit in. DESPERATLY. So one day when Kelly and her friends came up to us from that wormhole they asked Reena if she wanted to go out with them. I didn't say anything. She said yes and for the first time looked at me with glee and happyness in her eyes.

She went out with them. And next thing I Know I am reading in the paper that someone found her body under a bridge beaten to a pulp and drowned. It took them 2 fucking years to get a conviction on Kelly. And now she gets 7 years and 2 with a chance.

Kelly confessed in a courtroom the only reason she had to explain her actions that was Reena was weird and differant and didn't fit in.

Now if that isn't discrimnation then what is? Whe the fuck to thoes preps think that they can kill someone for being differant? And then only 7 years??? A black man in Surrey was beaten by a group of rasict white people, guess what they got? 20 months.

The laws should be harder for this shit, and they should enforce it thoughly!! and then the question arises, the media is making these bounries of what is pretty and what is ugly. They need to be held responcible. Am I not wrong? WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DO THIS?? I know why, they have money, and I know the government isn't gonna stop them, but why dont people? Why do we need to have a tragidy like this for 2 or 3 people to get up and say "Hey, that's not right!"

How much blood will be shed before a good percent gets up and does something?

[Angry Young Man]

Originally posted by Pickle-party@Jun 28 2006, 06:54 PM
I had a friend. Her name was Reena Virk.

She was murdered brutally by Kelly Ellard.

Reena and me were both outsiders, yeah, some people can say that they are outsiders, but where do they end up hanging out? With their little group of Goths or nerds or self-proclaimed freaks or emos. Let it be known that if you claim to be an outsider, you don't fit in anywhere. Not with your groups of other outsiders.

Reena would always come and sit beside me but we would never speak with each other, never look at each other. Just stare blankly into the feild as if there was some kind of worm-hole there and it was comming to eat us if we went near it.

I knew Reena desperatly wanted to fit in. DESPERATLY. So one day when Kelly and her friends came up to us from that wormhole they asked Reena if she wanted to go out with them. I didn't say anything. She said yes and for the first time looked at me with glee and happyness in her eyes.

She went out with them. And next thing I Know I am reading in the paper that someone found her body under a bridge beaten to a pulp and drowned. It took them 2 fucking years to get a conviction on Kelly. And now she gets 7 years and 2 with a chance.

Kelly confessed in a courtroom the only reason she had to explain her actions that was Reena was weird and differant and didn't fit in.

Now if that isn't discrimnation then what is? Whe the fuck to thoes preps think that they can kill someone for being differant? And then only 7 years??? A black man in Surrey was beaten by a group of rasict white people, guess what they got? 20 months.

The laws should be harder for this shit, and they should enforce it thoughly!! and then the question arises, the media is making these bounries of what is pretty and what is ugly. They need to be held responcible. Am I not wrong? WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DO THIS?? I know why, they have money, and I know the government isn't gonna stop them, but why dont people? Why do we need to have a tragidy like this for 2 or 3 people to get up and say "Hey, that's not right!"

How much blood will be shed before a good percent gets up and does something?

[Additives Free: Removed inappropriate comment]

[KC]

This sounds like one of those shitty myspace bulletins. Pickle-Party??? Sounds like a spammer.

[kurt]

Originally posted by Khayembii Communique@Jun 30 2006, 10:05 PM
This sounds like one of those shitty myspace bulletins. Pickle-Party??? Sounds like a spammer.

I don't know if it's a "bulletin", but I do know this was a real event that happened in my local area a few years back...

[KC]

Okay. My mistake.

[Felicia]

uhm, I think I saw that girl on oprah..... or somewhere, I've deffinitely seen this person on tv before....

[RebelOutcast]

It wouldn't matter if this particularl story was true or not (It is though, I remember reading about it), This sort of thing happens all the time, but thankfully it doesn't always result in murder.

[LSD]

Considering that this happened 9 years ago, why are you posting on it now?

[RebelOutcast]

Originally posted by LSD@Jul 1 2006, 07:11 PM
Considering that this happened 9 years ago, why are you posting on it now?

Revleft hasn't been around for nine years...
Perhaps they saw the discrimination section and saw it fit to post that here...
People can find a piece of news that is no longer "news" and still be shocked by it. My mum was horrified today to find out that the israelis had been using planes to bomb civilian targets on busy streets, something I have been aware of for quite a while.

Just my $0.02

[TC]

Alternatively, she never knew Reena Virk and made up her relationship because she thinks that Virk's death illistrates a point?

Reena and me were both outsiders, yeah, some people can say that they are outsiders, but where do they end up hanging out? With their little group of Goths or nerds or self-proclaimed freaks or emos. Let it be known that if you claim to be an outsider, you don't fit in anywhere. Not with your groups of other outsiders.

Reena would always come and sit beside me but we would never speak with each other, never look at each other. Just stare blankly into the feild as if there was some kind of worm-hole there and it was comming to eat us if we went near it.

I knew Reena desperatly wanted to fit in. DESPERATLY. So one day when Kelly and her friends came up to us from that wormhole they asked Reena if she wanted to go out with them. I didn't say anything. She said yes and for the first time looked at me with glee and happyness in her eyes.

Reena Virk was 14 years old at the time of her death, according to your profile, you were born 31 october 1991, which means you would have just turned six years old at the time of her death...

So, not to be cruel, but how is it that a five year old would be friends and in the same social group as a 14 year old, or for that matter, go to school together?

Reena Virk and her attackers went to Shoreline Secondary School Victoria...if you had been in the same school district you'd be at the elementary school, View Royal Elementary, unless you skipped about 8 grades.

She went out with them. And next thing I Know I am reading in the paper...

Reading the newspaper at barely 6 years old? Thats very advanced!

If you went to school with her, given the extremely high profile the case was given, wouldn't your parents been informed before, or wouldn't there have been some announcement at school, the way its typically done, even when

On the other hand, i guess since you claim to have run a large illigal communist/anarchist organization whose members all jailed or forced into exile by the government which, no one has ever heard of, to which no references exist, at the tender age of 14 or 15 (at the most, given the timeline you give), i guess you must be somekindof genius?

That or totally making it up.

Kelly confessed in a courtroom the only reason she had to explain her actions that was Reena was weird and differant and didn't fit in.

Actually Kelly Ellard did not confess to murder in the courtroom, she entered a plea of not guilty, she was convicted based on testimony from other students. If you're gonna make something up that can easily be checked, at least get the story consistent with the public record, eh?

In any case some of the other girls involved claimed that they had a fight with Virk as a result of social conflicts (Virk supposedly fooling around with one of their boyfriends, spreading rumors, etc), not because she was weird or different...it was in the testimony against Ellard where it was claimed that Ellard made comments about Virk's apperance in other instances.

Now if that isn't discrimnation then what is? Whe the fuck to thoes preps think that they can kill someone for being differant?

Those preps? According to the technical discription of the case the attackers were fairly drugged out 'gangsta wannabes', allegedly with pretend gang affiliations, hardly 'preps.'

and then the question arises, the media is making these bounries of what is pretty and what is ugly. They need to be held responcible. Am I not wrong? WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DO THIS?? I know why, they have money, and I know the government isn't gonna stop them, but why dont people? Why do we need to have a tragidy like this for 2 or 3 people to get up and say "Hey, that's not right!"

I guess the point of your making up a connection to Reena Virk was this then?

You cannot blame the media for social violence, especially given that Reena Virks murder appeared to have been the results of interpersonal disputes.

You also can't blame it for the existance of commonly held standards of beauty, those existed far before mass media did. The media largely reflects existing values in society, and when it comes to "what is pretty and what is ugly" a lot of that just has to do with sexual appeal, which is natural and biologically based, and social status dynamics, which are based in the economy and exist whether or not a mass media does.

In any case, the primary reason why the Reena Virk story got so much attention was becasue it was a murder case involving both a teenage girl as the victim and teenage girls as the accused, which got the media attention because it went against the sterotype of only teenage boys having a problem with serious violence. The sentiment was "if its *girls* killing *girls* than something *really* must be wrong!" since, if it was boys doing it it would have been considered relatively unremarkable and relegated to a minor local news story rather than a major international news story. Society has always been more protective and paternalistic towards teenage girls than, well, basically anyone else, and the coverage of the story reflects that more than anything.

[Felicia]

yeah, but pickle-party said taht this girl was her friend.... and P-P was born in like, 91 or something (or so her profile says...) ....so I think this girl's on drugs...

[RebelOutcast]

I never said that p-p's story was true, just that the event happened.

[Red Oktober]

This happened near where I live.
Reenas Granddad was my next door neighbour. I still see her mum around town.

There was also a racial aspect to her murder, it did not get much attention for some reason.

[Felicia]

Originally posted by RebelOutcast@Jul 2 2006, 05:54 AM
I never said that p-p's story was true, just that the event happened.

no, the story was written from the point of view of a friend of Reena's, I'm just pointing out that I don't think p-p actually wrote this story, cause someone said something about spam, I don't know...

[RebelOutcast]

Originally posted by Felicia+Jul 3 2006, 08:36 AM--> (Felicia @ Jul 3 2006, 08:36 AM)

RebelOutcast

@Jul 2 2006, 05:54 AM
I never said that p-p's story was true, just that the event happened.

no, the story was written from the point of view of a friend of Reena's, I'm just pointing out that I don't think p-p actually wrote this story, cause someone said something about spam, I don't know... [/b]

Quite possibly, P-p has certainly not made any more posts. and there has been an abnormal amount of spam lately, if this is just spam it is certainly unusual spam in the aspect that it's not advertising anything.
But if we're going to analyse it that much perhaps it should go to literature :P

[razboz]

But if we're going to analyse it that much perhaps it should go to literature tongue.gif

Its not got very much in the way of litrary features. The description if fairly bland, the narrative voice unsubtle and blunt. The sentences ar about as elaborate as a small brick and much of the language is disjointed and unimaginative. However if what Trgiclown is saying is true, then the imaginative work of attempting to weave her own story into this already estblished plot must be aknowledged, though certain important features were left out or mis-quoted.

Over all a fairly poor attempt. More description and use of literary devices would be required for full marks. D-

[Comrade Marcel]

I don't know about the poster of this story, but we did a study on this event in Equity Studies, University of Toronto. I'm away from home but when I get back I'll see if I can dig up the articles.

TragicClown, sorry to say this but you are wrong on some of your conclusions. They outted a cigarette in between her eyes in the middle of her forehead! What kind of message do you think they were sending with that?

[Morag]

Originally posted by Comrade Marcel@Jul 4 2006, 11:05 PM
TragicClown, sorry to say this but you are wrong on some of your conclusions. They outted a cigarette in between her eyes in the middle of her forehead! What kind of message do you think they were sending with that?

I think Tragic Clown was talking about how the media's representation of violence had nothing to do with Virk's murder which seemed to be about interpersonal conflicts, not anything to do with religion or ethnicity, which is what I think you're going towards. And if I recall, they put out cigarettes in quite a few places on her body (not to be crass, because I remember this as I live in BC, am Reena's age (plus nine years now), and had friends how attended school with her and it still chills me, but is there evidence that the placement of that cigarette burn had any particular importance? Sometimes things that appear connected are not).

[Comrade Marcel]

http://www.rajweb.com/cassa/eMag/Exp/Index.htm

THE REENA VIRK CASE



The following transcript is from the award-winning It's About Time video, produced by Lalita Krishna for CASSA's Say No to Hate project.



Anon journalist: At school, she was a target for cruelty, overweight and dark complected she was mercilessly teased.



Sheila Batacharya: Reena Virk was a young South Asian woman that lived in Victoria, British Columbia and on November 14th 1997 she was lured to a park by two young women and she was assaulted...One of the two young women took a lit cigarette and stubbed it out on her forehead between her eyes. And then they all sat upon her, and they kicked her and punched her. After the assault she was assaulted a second time, 2 of the youth that were involved in the first attack beat her unconscious and then drowned her in the gorge waterway.



Journalist: The incident was all the more shocking for the racial implications of the attack and the fact that most of the assailants were teenage girls.



Reena's grandfather: It's not easy to lose a child or any member of your family, and especially when she is murdered.



Sheila Batacharya: We were just horrified both by what happened but also by the fact that Reena Virk as one person faced so many of the issues that face young South Asian women in general...One of the things that really angered me was that the crime was being discussed as an example of girl violence so there was no mention of racism. It was almost that because no one ever called Reena Virk a 'Paki' or some other racial slur that people couldn't get their heads around the fact that so many other examples of their behavior and other actions indicated racism. The fact that the attack was initiated by somebody stubbing a lit cigarette out on her forehead between her eyes which is where you would wear a bindi. And even in the final days of the testimony it was really interesting because Judge Morrison did not have any evidence presented to her throughout the whole trial that a motive for this crime might have been racism. But at the sentencing she felt compelled to say that this was not a race motivated crime, she just said that without referring to anything in the court proceedings which says a lot I think. I definitely consider this crime a hate crime. It was not taken up as a hate crime either in the media or in the court proceedings.

[Comrade Marcel]

There is also these articles:

http://www.rajweb.com/cassa/eMag/Articles/Articles3.htm
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/freda/articles/denial.htm

and if you can find it:

Batacharya, Sheila. Racism, “Girl Violence” and the Murder of Reena Virk. Unpublished M.A. Thesis. Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, 2000.