Monday, June 25, 2007

Current Events

Okay, y'all...I promise, I am going to say this one thing and then I'm going to go back to posting about my SLs and their progress. (Already I know this is not 100% true because after reading some of the comments left on my last two posts, I feel like I need to clarify some of my statements.)

But who else has been following the story about Jessie Davis and Bobby Cutts, Jr.? And by "following" I mean: if you turned on your television at all this weekend or today, you couldn't get away from it.

Brief summary: Evil black man kills innocent, madonna-like white woman.

Not-so-subtle warning to white women: Dating black men is dangerous. Having them father your children - even more dangerous. Potentially deadly.

It is a cautionary tale.

There are several elements to this story that the news media never fails to latch on to. 1)Missing white woman/girl. Think: Natalie Halloway. 2)Murder of pregnant wife/girlfriend by husband/boyfriend. Think: Laci and Scott Peterson.

And 3) police corruption. Too many examples to list.

It is tragic that she is dead. Really. I feel sorry for her family that she was missing for days and found murdered. It is exponentially worse that she was pregnant and so close to giving birth and also that she leaves behind a two-year old son who will likely never get the chance to know his father either. He is now essentially an orphan. But who else thinks this story would never have made the national news if both victim and suspect were black? No, back up a few steps from that. What about the search to find her when she went missing? Would so many people and resources been marshalled?

I really got sort of disgusted with the media coverage because it was so pervasive (on every channel all day long it seemed). I didn't even watch TV more than 45 minutes today and that was in 2 to 5 minute increments, because I worked all day, but it seemed like every time I walked by one this story was on.

And the media kept talking about the fact that he was a cop, but I feel like that was the angle they were using as an excuse to keep talking about it, when the underlying negative message was about the interracial relationship. Nothing was ever said on anything I ever watched about their respective races, but it's one of those hot-button issues.

Nothing needs to be said or implied. Just put the pictures of the murdered white woman and her grieving family in front of America. Then cut to the black man in handcuffs and an orange jumpsuit and people will react to it. Those of both races who are inclined to be against miscegenation will start talking about it without any further encouragement. It's a perfect incident to uncover latent racism and incite folks to speak out in anger about why the races shouldn't mix.

I do want justice to be done. I do want her killer to be punished. But I also want this story to go away. No good can come from keeping it in the public forum. I don't believe it will inspire positive change with regards to race relations, domestic violence, or police accountability.

We don't have any idea how many black women were killed last year by their black (or white or hispanic) boyfriends or husbands. Or how many went missing and were never found. (The same can be said for latin women, and asians - all other minorities, actually - that isn't even considering illegal immigrants from any and all other countries. Those women are 'invisible' from the start.) I'm sure there are statistics somewhere, but good luck finding them, even with the Internet at our disposal.

As upset as I am that this happened to a woman and a mother (because I feel very strongly about domestic violence due to experiences of women very close to me), I can't help but be (almost more) upset over the big deal that is being made over this particular case because I feel certain the story would not have been picked up outside the local coverage area if she had been black. And I know there are many rural news markets where it wouldn't have even made the local television news and perhaps not the local paper.

Sigh...we are such a long way from equality. Just when I feel good about the progress we've made, something like this happens. Is anyone else upset about this story and how it is being handled?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Nope. I'm jaded. All i know of the story is what a co-worker mentioned in passing. The last thing I watched on TV were two episodes of Entourage, on demand. I get my news online, where i can pick and chose what I want to read. You KNOW what happened the last time I turned on live TV... *shudder*

So... what's new about this story, different names, same plots. I refuse to focus my energy on such negative crap... and by negative i mean the biased media coverage/racially loaded shit. Death and murder of ANYONE is obviously negative... ok, you get my point. i'm rambling. I'll shut up now. :)

Ro~ said...

I’m numb. I mentioned to a young lady just Tuesday morning, while waiting to be seated a table, “When did it become popular to murder you wife/girlfriend/significant other?” Growing up I always had the mentality that………..if I see you cross a bridge and you come back across with bruises, bumps, cuts etc. I’M NOT CROSSIN’ THAT BRIDGE!!!

What in the world made Cutts think that he wouldn’t get caught? Did he not watch the news prior to his decision, Peterson, Hacking………hell even Brown(OJ)?

What the happened to just walking away, moving on? Absolutely crazy, absurd………this world we live in.

Detra said...

I agree compeletly with you that this story is race driven.

Brenda said...

This is the first time I'm commenting on your blog - but I'll be back to read the whole thing! Thanks for your comments on my blog.

You're not wrong, unfortunately. I think it was last year or the summer before when a young pregnant black woman in our area, Latoiya Figueroa, went missing and was unfortunately found murdered. It was determined that she'd been murdered by her black boyfriend who was the father of the unborn baby and another child with her. All the focus was on Natalee Holloway who went missing shortly before. While Latoiya did get a little (very little) national air time, it seemed it was only after folks brought up the fact that the coverage was strikingly different. Even the Mark and Lori Hacking case got more coverage than Latoiya and the circumstances were so very similar.

PAYLAR said...

My heart goes out to this woman and her family. But knowing how some people are, I can almost hear someone saying "See I told you....that could happen to you...Those people.." You know some father/mother has said that to their daughter. It's sad, just sad. And what makes it worse is HOW MANY BLACK WOMEN have suffered the same fate with no more than a blip from the media, if that. That's what makes my blood boil...

Funlayo said...

Very well stated. I share your sentiments.