Why was the case of Iryna Zarutska so prominent? Some statistics on femicide in the US

On August 22nd, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was brutally murdered by stabbing while riding on a light-rail train in Charlotte, North Caroline. The suspect, a Black male called Decarlos Brown Junior was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

The murder was brutal, horrific, senseless and unprovoked and the whole incident was captured on video via the surveillance camera of the train. The local press in Charlotte published the news about the incident and the brutal video also circulated online prompting some major press outlets to also cover the incident. The Ukrainian press widely covered the incident.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In early September, around two weeks after the incident, Elon Musk began propagating the news about the incident and accused major press outlets like The New York Times and Reuters of racism for failing to cover the event. Ukrainian journalists have pointed out that the use of Iryna Zarutska’s case by the far-right to fuel racial tensions is ultimately helping political movements that support Russia. The story was amplified and spread by many pro-Russian accounts on X.com as per the example below of “LordBebo”, who works for the Russian disinformation group called Storm-1516.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The US embassy in Moscow has also created a makeshift memorial for Iryna Zarutska, which is unusual, since she fled Ukraine because of Russia’s invasion. Russia would probably be the last place where Iryna Zarutska wants to be commemorated.

 

 

The case of Iryna Zarutska was widely publicised in the press when it happened, but Elon Musk only began speaking about the case on September 8th. Musk framed his interest in the case as a narrative about violent crimes by Black perpetrators against White women. His rhetoric also carried an underlying message, amplified by pro-Russian accounts, claiming that pro-Ukrainian media are not truly concerned with Ukrainian lives. He further suggested that liberals tolerate dangerous crime by Black people.

Primarily, Iryna Zarutska’s murder was a femicide because Iryna Zarutska was a woman and she was killed by a man: she was targeted for being a woman. In 2021, there were a reported 4,970 murders against women in the US with up to 34% of these murders being caused by an intimate partner. Only up to 11-12% of the women murdered were murdered by a stranger. Femicide remains a serious issue in the US with 2023 marking up to 4,360 murders against women – 22% of all murders. Separate studies show that Black women are more likely to get murdered than White women. According to the 2023 statistics Black people are more likely to be killed by a stranger while White people are more likely to get killed by their intimate partners. However, the homicide rate by Black people is much higher than White people at 21.3 per 100,000 and 3.2 per 100,000 respectively.

Iryna Zarutska’s murder is a reminder of the senseless violence and regular femicide cases in the US. On the other hand, the Russians and their allies in the disinformation space are using Iryna Zarutska’s case to stoke further divisions in the US: an aim that the Russians have pursued consistently.