this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2025
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A Boring Dystopia

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Note that I'm not necessarily opposed to her facing consequences for killing him -- my issue is with how gleefully NYPost is framing it as if she just attacked him out of the blue and shoehorning her into the "evil transgenders" stereotype

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[–] yarr@feddit.nl 43 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Here is CBS's coverage of the event:

A deli worker told CBS News New York that Hodge was ordering a sandwich when a woman at the counter got angry and began arguing with him over who was first in line to order. According to the deli worker, in that instant, the woman pulled out a knife and stabbed Hodge in the stomach. USPS confirmed Hodge was a letter carrier assigned to Manhattan.

It appears to have started over a dispute over who was first in line. It's up to you to decide if that's a rational reason to attack someone with a knife, regardless of your sexuality / gender identity.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/usps-worker-stabbed-to-death-in-harlem/

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[–] MTK@lemmy.world 106 points 3 days ago (4 children)

You know something is up when they state that they are transgender when it bears no meaning to the actual article. This would be the same as "Gay man murdered people" the point is bigotry.

[–] xor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

the article skips why, but it is actually extremely relevant…

Cruz’s attorney claimed his client, a transgender woman, lashed out against Hodges because the 36-year-old postal worker had made a slur “about her gender identity.”
….
Cruz claimed that Hodges had ridiculed her with homophobic remarks and struck her several times before she pulled a knife and fatally stabbed him.
She showed no remorse for her actions when interviewed by detectives at the 28th Precinct in Harlem.

“I hope he’s maggot food,” Cruz told detectives, according to court documents. “I killed him laughing. Oh, well. I’ll piss on his grave.”.
Hodges had struck Cruz at least three times during the deli fight before she stabbed him, she claimed.

“I told him, ‘You come to me and I’ll kill you,’” Cruz told investigators. “No motherf—ers are going to put their hands on me no more.

“He tried to mess with me because I’m trans, and I poked him up,” Cruz said.

[–] justastranger@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

In a world where cis men have been deemed not guilty for murdering trans people just because they couldn't tell until they got to the sex, there is no way I'd hold a trans person guilty of murder for defending themselves from an ongoing assault that very well could have escalated to a murder against her.

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[–] musubibreakfast@lemm.ee 32 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Violently homosexual man brutalizes innocent bystander in gay rage.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You gotta mention that the innocent bystanders are straight, or else conservatives won’t know whether to feel sorry for them or be happy they were attacked.

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[–] GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Yeah, you hardly ever hear Christian gunman kills X children at school.

[–] belastend@slrpnk.net 235 points 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (28 children)

You don't shoot two mags into someone out of self defense and you don't stab someone 14 times out of self defense. But hey, it's not like she had committed knife crimes 5 times before that.

She cut in line, he yelled slurs, she spat, he punched and then she stabbed him to death. And then proceeded to tell people she would do it again and was glad he died. Yeah, you're kind of a shitty person for this.

Punch the guy, stun gun the guy, pepper spray the guy, you have my blessing and support. You don't fucking kill someone.

The entire media campaign surrounding this is also despicable: For one group, she is the living embodiment of the ebul trans people, who are all just men in disguise trying to molest kids, for another group she is a brave, yet innocent bean who should be totally acquitted. Both groups are morons.

IMHO, she should serve a long ass sentence.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 96 points 4 days ago (13 children)

Yeah the fact that she is transgender has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she murdered someone, the only reason the press is including that fact is to stir up drama, hate, and ad revenue. It's pretty despicable, but I have come to expect nothing more from the press. There is no such thing as an honourable news reporter these days, just gossip columnists.

[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 18 points 3 days ago (2 children)

My read on it is that they’re intentionally cross wiring it to blur the issue and attach a negative colloquialism to trans people. This is part of how a group becomes considered untermensch by our illustriously imbecilic regime. If I was trans I would gtfo the country now, no joke. This is some goebbels-type shit, so you know it’s probably Steven Miller’s idea, that fucking psychotic dweeb

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[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 49 points 3 days ago (1 children)

don't shoot two mags into someone out of self defense and you don't stab someone 14 times out of self defense.

I work in a trauma ward. It's not unusual to see people get stabbed dozens of times, whether it's self defense or not. People who get stabbed don't get dropped like a gun shot wound victim, they bleed out.

So more often or not if there's a confrontation with a knife people will keep stabbing until the person stops being a threat, which can take a while.

[–] Soggy@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah it's not like the movies, people don't just fall over when they're grazed by a blade or pistol-caliber bullet. If all I had was a knife to defend myself against an attacker I would choose "keep stabbing until they stop moving" even if that looks worse to juries. Better than being shot in the back trying to run.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Technically you aren't allowed to stab until they stop moving, just until they are no longer a threat. Stab em in the leg and run. Self defence isn't a license to kill it's a way to not go to jail if killing was literally the option available.

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago

Yeah, this is a tabloid. In a decent world people running tabloids would be imprisoned or doing thousands of hours of community service.

[–] kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Its insane how every single trans and queer person is expected to be perfect law abiding citizens or suddenly the act of being Queer makes you a murderer. They used the same justification during the Holocaust to murder Jews and they're using the justification to murder Palestinians.

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[–] GhostedIC@sh.itjust.works 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Here's a news source with an account of what allegedly happened. Of course nothing has been proven in court yet.

According to the charges, Hodge was at the store’s sandwich counter when Cruz cut in line, leading a dispute between the pair. After a witness separated them, Cruz allegedly went into their bag while Hodge’s back was turned, retrieved a knife and threatened him with it.

Prosecutors said Cruz then allegedly threw a plastic bottle at Hodge before lunging at him, stabbing him multiple times in the chest, neck, and arms. After a struggle in which Hodge attempted to wrestle the weapon away from her, he collapsed. A witness reported hearing Cruz remark: “He deserved it.”

Hodges was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

“This alleged broad-daylight stabbing shook the neighborhood, including the deli workers and customers who witnessed the attack,” said District Attorney Bragg. “My thoughts are with those grieving the loss of Ray Hodge, a postal worker and beloved father of two.”

After her arrest, Cruz reportedly admitted to police that she stabbed Hodge with a knife she carried for “protection.” Cruz also allegedly referred to Hodge as a racial slur.

Not sounding good.

“He rolls up his sleeves, and then he hits my client, and every time he approaches her, she backs up. And he approaches her again, she backs up until she’s all the way at the refrigerator and then when he’s still berating her and calling her a f**got and a tranny, she spat at him,” Schuman said. “You can see on the video that she’s saying to him, leave me alone. But he doesn’t leave her alone. He attacks her again.”

So there is an alleged video with contradicts a lot of what the witnesses say. I'd be cautious of defending this one. If it turns out that the lawyer is just exaggerating an unclear video, youre probably going to get tricked into defending an awful person. Again.

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[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 18 points 3 days ago

Does this mean they'll put "cisgender" in the title for all the other criminals?

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Not sure why the perpetrator being trans was important enough to put in the title, considering it didn't seem to have anything to do with the crime....

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[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 60 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (6 children)

ITT: propaganda successfully vilifying trans people as a group and idiots gobbling it up

Ask yourself why the news never specifies criminals gender identities unless it's one of the scapegoats.

Nothing will meaningfully improve until the rich fear for their lives

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[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 154 points 4 days ago (13 children)

Did he attack her though? Seems from the articles I read that she spat on him first. That's the attack.

It also seems she was arrested 5 times prior for knife crimes.

[–] Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 85 points 4 days ago (2 children)

"I separate them. The mail guy in the front, the lady she was in back. She spit on him, in his face. And mail guy, he got mad. Lemon juice next to the coffee machine, he threw on her. So she took the knife," the deli worker said.

Witnesses claimed that, in an instant, Cruz pulled out a knife and fatally stabbed Hodge.

Yeah

Cruz stands a towering 6 feet 5 inches tall. Witnesses to the murder described her as huge, and said she appeared to be high on drugs during her confrontation with Hodges.

...

Well thanks for adding a +1 to the womens murder rate and not to mens, we need it

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[–] RedAggroBest@lemmy.world 57 points 3 days ago (7 children)

Yea, as awful as the NY Post is for framing it this way, this ain't about them being trans. She bought a knife, wanted to stab someone, picked a fight and continually escalated (she fucking spat on him, sorry but bodily fluids are an assault and the dude had every right to treat it as being hit) until she pulled a knife in an encounter she started.

Got hit three times before pulling a knife? Just cuz she was too fucking slow to stab him after the first hit like she wanted to.

Can't believe there's people defending this.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 35 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I'm guessing that people are defending transgenders in general and this shitbait NY post article frames it in. Away that isn't too far off from insinuating that all trans are "pure evil".

Hell, "trans" shouldn't have been in the headline as it is of no consequence to what happened. Whatever the reason for the incident, she didn't stab the guy because she's trans. One human stabbed another, that one was trans or black or green for all I care doesn't matter and it is very hard not to feel that this bit was added just to sow division amongst people

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[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 48 points 3 days ago (1 children)

NY Post is staffed by scumbag shitheads.

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[–] zeezee@slrpnk.net 71 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (20 children)

“I killed him laughing,” she said. “Oh, well. I’ll piss on his grave.”

“I did spit on him because he called me a f—-t,” Cruz’s confession reads. “I called him a dirty monkey. You said hurtful words, so I said hurtful words to you.”

As their dispute escalated, Cruz claimed that Hodges struck her three times before she pulled a knife and stabbed him in self-defense, according to court documents. “I told him, ‘You come to me and I’ll kill you,'” Cruz told investigators. “No motherf—-rs are going to put their hands on me no more.”

Hodges, who lived in the Bronx, reacted to the stabbing with astonishment, saying, “You really stabbed me?” to which Cruz replied, “Yes I did,” court documents state.

“I got in between them — twice,” said Janet Rich, who was in the deli buying coffee when the fight broke out. “There was another woman with dreadlocks [who] said, ‘Don’t do this. You have a good job. Let this go.’”

It's interesting to see how women generally react using reasoning and deescalation - which is commendable - but also knowing crime statistics against women maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing if men feared that assaulting a woman could end up getting you stabbed.

Too bad she seem quite evil with the whole "killing him laughing" thing - but I'm sure this isn't going to get twisted into all trans women are dangerous criminals and should be locked up in men's prisons...

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[–] Krauerking@lemy.lol 6 points 2 days ago (9 children)

People need to stop picking sides and in groups. If people are mistreating you it doesn't really matter what group you belong in as that's more just for personal identification and doesn't help the situation at all to defend based on sides.

Ehh, no one here will care when our identity is all we think that matters. But this just further divides the groups and continues the work of the assholes that think it useful to do so.

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[–] Imhotep@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

that's breitbart level of misinformation right here

467 upvotes, lemmy. Congrats, you're as full of shit as right wingers.

[–] temmink@feddit.org 62 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

He threw a plastic bottle and she then stabbed him to death. She was charged with 2nd degree murder and pleaded guilty.

[–] AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space 41 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Yeah, as much as this framing of "pure evil" is nonsense, where they quote the family of the deceased - everything I found does not make this a legitimate case of self-defense, even if 100% of her story is true.

Quoting from this one:
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/05/30/jaia-cruz-admits-stabbing-postal-worker-death-harlem-deli-sentenced/

Cruz’s attorney claimed his client, a transgender woman, lashed out against Hodges because the 36-year-old postal worker had made a slur “about her gender identity.”

Hodges and Cruz were waiting in the sandwich line at the deli counter at Joe’s Grocery, on Lenox Ave. near W. 118th St., on Jan. 2 when the postal worker accused her of cutting the line.

Cruz claimed that Hodges had ridiculed her with homophobic remarks and struck her several times before she pulled a knife and fatally stabbed him.

She showed no remorse for her actions when interviewed by detectives at the 28th Precinct in Harlem.

“I hope he’s maggot food,” Cruz told detectives, according to court documents. “I killed him laughing. Oh, well. I’ll piss on his grave.”

While there is some sympathy for her there with me, understanding that some things can just make you snap - unless there are very different laws at play, answering harrassment over a fight over cutting in line with several repeated stabs is legally never self-defense.

And while morally, not "pure evil" by a long shot, and them presenting it as such is despicable - but trans people are people, and people can do shitty people things, like murder someone in overreaction when a fight escalates. The other guy using slurs, and even striking her is no excuse, if you pull a knife during a fistfight, and then repeatedly stab the other person - with witnesses reporting they tried to break up the fight, so potential for de-escalation was there - even if they are scum and started the thing, you are not just defending yourself, you got angry and out of that anger - no matter how justified that anger was - you killed a person.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago

Ahh the good ole broken post

[–] Pestilence@feddit.org 48 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

“I killed him laughing. Oh, well. I’ll piss on his grave.”

Sorry, but this IS pure evil.

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[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Can't really expect better from that rag

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