Dark Angels: Victims of Crime Devalued Because of Race

Janice Webb, Tonia Carmichael, Nancy Cobbs, Tishana Culver, Crystal Dozier, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Leshonda Long, and Michelle Mason. These women are  victims of a serial killer from Cleveland, Anthony Sowell. You may have heard of them, you may have watched Nancy Grace shed about ten tears for thirty seconds for them before returning back to her regularly scheduled ranting about Balloon Boy or Caylee Anthony. Your local news may have mentioned them or if you live in Cleveland, it's a big deal(rightfully so).

It seems now though, these womens' brutal rapes and murders have been reduced to barely an update glip on the news bar that runs along the bottom of the major cable news channels. Why? Well, one reason was that this past week was one of shooters running amok in both Fort Hood and Orlando. However, the memorial has been had, the killer has been charged(at least in the Fort Hood case), and justice will prevail. So, now  the media can return it's attention back to the eleven bodies found in the home of Anthony Sowell, right? Not quite. On the front page of CNN.com, the big story of the day is how to properly raise eight kids. Fox News? Swine Flu and some guy in Norway bakes a friggin cookie. Ok, a big cookie but seriously? That takes the front page and not one blurb about the Imperial Avenue Eleven.

This seems to be an epidemic in our society. It's not a tragedy worth mentioning, even ad nauseum, unless the victim of a heinous crime is white and preferrably young and pretty, Natalie Holloway is an example of just how our media values people. Despite the fact that  thousands of teenage girls are missing or have gone missing, Natalie's disappearance recieved unprecidented amounts of attention. Would she have been noticed had she not been young, white, and blond with big blue doe eyes? Perhaps if she had come from a poor neighborhood instead of a wealthy one? That she had gone missing while coming home from the mall in her town instead of Aruba's white sand beaches? 

Had I needed to mention that all the aforementioned women allegedly killed by Anthony Sowell were all poor, African-American women?

Shakira Johnson was an eleven-year old black girl found dead in a field on the east side of Cleveland. The only suspect charged in her death was aquitted for "reasonable doubt" despite the physical evidence against him. It was a big tragedy that gripped Northeast Ohio from start to finish. From the moment of Shakira's reported disappearance to her body's discovery through the murder trial. However, no one seems to really remember her but they all remember Natalie Holloway or Caylee Anthony. Natalie even got a Lifetime movie for her disappearance. Why has Shakira been so forgotten? Why did't her kidnapping, murder, and lack of justice dominate the media the same way so many white girls did? Was Jon-Benet Ramsay more important than Shakira? They still talk about Jon-Benet. They are still spending enormous amounts of tax money to keep her case open whereas Shakira's was allowed to be stashed away into the cold case files.

Lacey Peterson. We all remember her. She was the pregnant woman slain by her husband. According to statistics, the number one cause of death for pregnant women is murder. The number one suspect? The husband or boyfriend. I found news article after news article dating all the way back long before Lacey of pregnant women murdered by their significant others. Why did the media treat Lacey as if she was the only one ever? Why the sensation?  Tonya M. Johnson was just found eight months pregnant and shot to death by her boyfriend. Will she get a movie and her justice delivered on a media silver platter like Lacey did? Jilani Platt found dead in a pond, killed by her husband. One recent case was a 20-year pregnant woman the media didn't even bother mentioning a name. Was she not pretty enough to merit even a name?


How is this possible in a day and age when we elect an African-American as president, where so many non-white celebrities are handed their just accolades, where a poor African-American girl can literally claw her way to billionaire status(Oprah Winfrey for those living under the perverbial rock), how are non-whites still getting so overlooked when it comes to heinous crime? Is a murdered black or hispanic woman worth less than a murdered white woman? When will they finally be seen as just women in the eyes of the media and justice system?

Perhaps if the eleven women found dead had been white, they would be on the front page of CNN.com rather than more mentions of Jon and Kate Gosslin.

In another round of Ultimate Irony; race aside, Anthony Sowell has the makings of becoming a very prolific addition into criminal history. He'd be the first(I believe, I haven't been able to find a definitive answer on that) black man to recieve the official stamp of serial killer and if they are able to connect him to all these unsolved murders of the same MO back to seventies and eighties, he'd be more deadly than Jeffrey Dahmer; the media is ignoring this and continuing on their quest to prove that that Heane guy is the worst father ever.