PK Note: Their Lives Matter Too. It’s a book you must pick up. Names you’ve never encountered, stories you’ve never read about, all for one, unmentionable reason: black on white murder.

It’s a leap year, so why not go back in time and find a story rarely told to close out 2020 Black History Month? We all know the names Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, and Trayvon Martin, but have you ever encountered the name William Berkeyheiser?

No?

Here’s his story. [Cops: Man Killed Over Racist Joke, Fox News, April 26, 2005]:

A black man shot a white former co-worker to death on Easter, claiming he did it because he overheard the victim telling a racist joke seven years ago, authorities said Monday. Stanford A. Douglas Jr., (search) 29, was arrested Sunday after a two-hour standoff with police. He was charged with murder and jailed without bail. Douglas allegedly shot William Berkeyheiser, 62, three times in the chest and shoulder on March 27 after he opened the front door of his home. Douglas told investigators he had thought about killing Berkeyheiser ever since he overheard Berkeyheiser tell someone a joke with racial overtones in 1998, Bucks County District Attorney Diane Gibbons (search) said. Douglas refused to recount for detectives the joke that made him so angry, according to court papers. The two men had worked at the Baptist Home of Philadelphia (search) in 1998, Douglas as a maintenance man and Berkeyheiser as an executive in plant operations. The victim’s wife, Viola Berkeyheiser, who is of Asian decent, said she was certain her husband would never have told a racist joke. “He was a very funny, very witty man, and he did make people laugh,” she said. “But he would never, never, never have done anything like that. I’m a minority. … That just wasn’t who he was.” It was not immediately clear if Douglas had an attorney. Douglas had hired a private investigator to find Berkeyheiser’s house, the district attorney said. He was identified after authorities released a surveillance videotape from a convenience store near Berkeyheiser’s home. A clerk said the man on the tape asked for directions to Berkeyheiser’s street just minutes before the killing. Berkeyheiser’s widow attended Douglas’ arraignment and said afterward: “I needed to see what kind of a monster would do something like this for no reason.”

But it gets worse. [After court fracas, man admits to killing former boss ** Philadelphia resident hired a detective to track Bucks man., Mcall.com, December 6, 2005]:

Berkeyheiser, a father of three, was the retired head of maintenance at the Baptist Home in Philadelphia, where Douglas was employed in 1998. After his arrest, Douglas told police that Berkeyheiser directed a racial slur against him, and that he harbored a hatred for his former boss for the past seven years. Douglas is black; Berkeyheiser was white. Douglas left the nursing home soon after the alleged incident, but in March, Douglas hired a New Jersey private detective to find out where Berkeyheiser was living. The detective located Berkeyheiser’s home in Washington Crossing. Douglas drove there on the night of the murder, stopping at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Washington Crossing to ask for directions. ORDER IT NOW Berkeyheiser’s widow, Viola, testified that Douglas knocked on the family’s door about 8:30 p.m. and asked her husband to step outside, into the pouring rain. She said her husband’s last words were, “Should I know you?” According to the coroner’s report, Berkeyheiser died from five gunshot wounds to the head, chest and arm. During Douglas’ plea, Gibbons revealed that Berkeyheiser was the first of what was to have been five murder victims. The four other men were also former co-workers who had also insulted Douglas, she said adding all four of the intended victims are black. Gibbons said Douglas hired the private detective to track down two of the former co-workers, giving the investigator the bogus story that he was related to them. One lives in Delaware County, the other in Colorado.

Have you ever encountered the name William Berkeyheiser before today?

No?

Ask yourself why that might be, considering his black murderer hired a private investigator to track him down so he could exact racial revenge years after an alleged racial slur was uttered by Mr. Berkeyheiser.

So there’s your final story for 2020 Black History Month.

Were the races reversed in this case, we’d never hear the end of this story, with it dusted off every Black History Month to remind whites of just how evil they are (imagine the movie that would have been made about this story!).

There is no double standard in America, only The Standard, dictating white people have no collective interests or concerns, and that violent interracial crime can only be reported if a white person (thereby all white people in the USA are guilty) is the suspect.

And remember: Their Lives Matter Too.