September 14, 2025

In the aftermath of a fatal stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train, President Donald Trump's law-and-order agenda is once again at the center of America's debate over the intersection of urban crime and race.

The killing of Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee who had fled the war — by a homeless Black man with schizophrenia and a long criminal record—has ignited a litany of political hot takes, social media outrage and renewed discussion about how Trump's tough-on-crime approach, widely condemned as punitive by liberals, might actually be welcomed in some of the communities it affects most.

Last week, before the assassination of Charlie Kirk subsumed national coverage, surveillance footage of the unprovoked attack on Zarutska spread widely on social media and, eventually, the national media. Billionaire Elon Musk, known for wading into controversies involving race and crime, and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reposted details of the incident, accusing mainstream media outlets of ignoring the story.

Read more:

https://www.newsweek.com/how-black-communities-stand-benefit-trumps-crime-crackdown-2127908