Ah, the ubiquitous conversation catalyst: ethnicity.

Name a controversial scenario or topic, and the issue invariably appears in the discourse. So it’s only natural that it would wind its way into the recent John Deng investigation.

The report, released Sept. 25, found that Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Stotler was justified in shooting Deng, who had just stabbed Iowa City
resident John Bohnenkamp.

So did the omnipresent issue have a role in the Deng investigation or death?
Deng’s death was, without a doubt, tragic. He lived an undeniably austere and arduous life, coming to the United States as one of the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” The fight between Deng and Bohnenkamp may have been averted if Bohnenkamp hadn’t provoked Deng, who had spilled bottles from his garbage bag.

But we can’t see into Bohnenkamp’s head at that moment or speculate about his visceral prejudices, and I think it’s equally difficult to argue the investigation would have found a different result had Deng been white.

I think class, rather than skin color, played a part in this unfortunate incident.

Iowa City has a large homeless community, which creates a stark socioeconomic schism with relatively well-off city residents.

Questions still remain even after the release of the report, but we know that Deng was confronted for a bag spilt asunder.

Fault can be presumed on both sides. Deng shouldn’t have stabbed Bohnenkamp, just as Bohnenkamp shouldn’t have confronted Deng. Issues of class may have been at work in the exchange.

Bohnenkamp’s actions could have been subterraneously ethnically motivated. But the overt impetus appears to have been class.
— by Shawn Gude