Last week, a jury in Atlanta sentenced 68-year-old Chiman Rai to life behind bars. Why you ask? He was convicted of ordering a hit man to kill his African-American daughter-in-law, Sparkle Michelle Rai. She was strangled with a vacuum cord and stabbed more than a dozen times on April 26, 2000. What makes this case more savage was the fact that while her last breath was being choked from her, she reached for her baby daughter Analla. Sparkle was 22 years old at the time of her murder. ...
Rai had Sparkle killed because she married his son Rajeeve "Ricky" Rai, who is now 27, a month earlier. Rai viewed the young woman as unacceptable because she was black, prosecutors in the case have said. The case went unsolved until a break two years ago indicated that their relationship was the murder motive.
According the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, defense lawyer Don Samuel argued that while Rai may have hired a hit man, he didn't order such a brutal killing. And while there was evidence that Rai, a native of India, believed his son's marriage would cast a stigma on his family in caste-conscious Indian society, Samuel said Rai wasn't a racist and had strong support in the African-American community in Jackson, Miss., where he had run a grocery and other businesses. He also taught math at Alcorn State University. A dozen nonfamily witnesses, black and white, testified they had never seen the 68-year-old Rai act like a bigot.
"A racist? Somebody is lying," said Rickey King, a black businessman who owned a tire shop by Rai's store in Jackson, Miss.
Whether this man was racist or not, Rai put the wheels in motion for this young sister to be murdered. Also, what caste-conscious society condones murder as a way of keeping a stigma from being placed on a family?Unfortunately, this case is another example of how RACE MATTERS EVERYWHERE, period. Being "black" is always viewed as a negative not just in America but all over the world. It can often affect social status and earning potential in many non-American cultures. Many families fear their financial and social viability when someone of a different race is included into their lineage .
For some, as in Mr. Rai's case, this fear is so great that it provokes them to do the unthinkable.
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By: SMOOTHSMITTY on 6/30/2008 12:26PM
This is so sad, I mean like this is the worst case scenerio one could even imagine! My wife has a girlfreind who's married to a man from India, and he's really cool, they have 2 sons about 7 and 8 yrs of age, and I recall that she admitted that the relationship with her inlaws could be better. That silver generation can be a trip!! Right?
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By: corey on 6/30/2008 12:26PM
This is a sad story. It is so amazing that people of a different race find african-american people SO repulsive. I don't understand it. African-Americans were bought to this country against their free will. And once we got here, we were put through SOOOOO much BS. Then we got it in our minds that we were not going to take crap from anyone and that we are humans beings and we deserve to be treated the same as everyone else. Now that we have are freedom to do the same things as OTHER race, we are considered to be a menace to society. Again I don't understand it. Maybe THEIR for-fathers should have thought twice before writing the constitution.
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By: Evelyn Warner on 6/30/2008 3:32PM
America"s founding fathers established the status of the Africans in the Constitution.The ststus was then a part of the education system that was developed and OKed by the instituton of the American church, in the name of God.Everybody all over the world knows that,Social control &economical benifits .
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By: pablo on 6/30/2008 3:24PM
Try the racism in the computer field, these fools come in on special Visa to take jobs away from people who are citizens of this country and have the skills and knowhow to get the job done, but they come in and get themselves in position to be as racist as anyone else.
I grieve for this family, I just found out about this 20 minutes ago. Why doesn't the get press in our media? I can understand why it wasn't done on the TODAY show (not katie couric or meredith viera looking enough)
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By: Evelyn Warner on 6/30/2008 3:40PM
The world knows how America feel about Africans in democratic America. American foundin fathes intent was for slavery to be for the life of tis nation,and only when 1segment of white Americans found themselfs short changed over king cotten did America declared war on itself(economics}Raceismis ingrained in the USA
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By: Evelyn Warner on 6/30/2008 3:50PM
If you want to validate my statements ask any armed service person,especily those who served in WW1 andWW2 To day American services men call Arabians ""SAND NIGGERS"" WHY? thank you for letting me to go on and on.I can go on for daysI am anAfrican American who conciders her self an amiture historian
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By: Evelyn Warner on 6/30/2008 3:56PM
I am an 83 year old who jus graduated from college in 2005 going back as soon as I can get me some money.Why would this man want a Black in his family with the historical ststus America has branded us with.
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By: Evelyn Warner on 6/30/2008 4:02PM
To day India is a very prospers nation.in fact that where a lot of our jobs are.I see from reading about this man he was very involved in the Black community, I'm sure his motive is money not intermingling with Black people.
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By: Glennisha on 7/01/2008 12:05AM
This is really sad.I'm sure that guy was tramatized but,it's amazing to me how now the girl's parents have custody of their child, and he's probably not even active in her life. What's up with that?
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By: Tyesha on 7/01/2008 7:26AM
So when did the husband find out who had her killed?
Because didnt the news cast say that there daughter was adopted by her black granparents? So what made him stop being involved in the babies life? hmmm...Why would he just leave his daughter like that.
It sounds like maybe he knew all along!
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