![]() ![]() ![]() So why did Gutierrez never follow up with her? McLean had no reason to lie to protect Adnan and she would have been the ideal alibi witness. In previous episodes, Koenig has questioned why Gutierrez never called Adnan’s classmate Asia McLean to follow up on the letter she had sent (saying she had seen him at the library the day he was accused of murdering Hae). Koenig segues from discussing racial and religious bias into the question of whether Adnan’s lawyer, M. Though, when Koenig interviewed jurors, while they said religion didn’t affect their views, she did find that “stereotypes about his culture were there, lurking in the background.” One juror, for instance, said “In the Arabic culture men rule, not women,” to explain Adnan’s supposed rage at being spurned by Hae. “It shows how easy it is to throw stereotypes into facts,” said Koenig, who referred to many examples of “casual prejudice” against Muslims. So clearly, his religion and his heritage came into play when it comes to the trial, where he was referred to as ‘Pakistani” even though he is an American of Pakistani heritage. She then presents some pretty damning examples of overt anti-Muslim sentiment from Adnan’s bail hearing, where all sorts of unsubstantiated accusations were loosely thrown around that basically suggested Adnan had access to a “badass uncle” in Pakistan who could reportedly “make people disappear,” and that his connection to the local mosque would help make it easy for him to flee the country. Koenig outright dismissed Rahman’s suggestion that the cops were anti-Muslim, but acknowledged that perhaps anti-Muslim sentiment crept in inadvertently. I say discrimination because we are Muslim and minor in this country, so that’s why they took Adnan.” It was easy to target, for them to come in and pick him up. Though there was no blatant prejudice against Muslims exhibited, Adnan’s mother, Shamim Rahman, said she feels certain he was targeted “because he was a Muslim child, that’s why they took him. Of course, I do believe it. But, perhaps in response to some of this criticism, this week’s episode tackles the issue head-on - at least in terms of a potential bias against Sayed because of his heritage or religion. In fact, over at The Awl, Koenig has been taken to task for her “white report privilege” and for viewing Sayed and Lee from an outsider’s perspective. But up until now, “Serial” hasn’t delved into the role that prejudice and biases played in Sayed’s conviction. ![]() ![]() “Serial” creator Sarah Koenig has peripherally discussed racial biases and assumptions about the story’s primary (real life) characters: Sayed, who is a Muslim American of Pakistani heritage, Lee, a first-generation Korean-American and Jay, the prosecution’s main witness, who is African-American. READ MORE: Obsessed with “Serial?” You’ll Love These Documentaries After what felt like an interminable break for Thanksgiving, “ Serial” returned this morning with its tenth episode, “The Best Defense Is A Good Defense.”Ĭoming just a day after a grand jury in Staten Island, NY failed to indict a while police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, in the murder of unarmed black man Eric Garner (despite videotapes which showed him using a choke hold on the man), it’s hard to separate current events from the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee and conviction of her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Sayed. ![]()
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