Bear with me here….
It is possible to be a poor parent and never run afoul of the law.
It is also possible to be a decent parent and have to submit to the scrutiny of a caseworker.
But the stories that are the hardest to bear are the ones like Kevasia Edwards.
Little people whose whole lives have been marred by pain, hunger, violence, and the state walks into and then out of their lives only to do nothing.
Until it is too late and they have been murdered.
Tell me one more time why you don’t believe in hell.
And I will say,
well, ask Nixzmary, she lived there.
Little Byreon Hunter was an abuse and murder victim before anyone began to look for him.
The details of his abuse, torture, and slow agonizing death are more than any of us want to face.
But face them we must. Humans, parents, bad boyfriends do unspeakable things in our midst.
This is America. And if we don’t like what happened to Byreon Hunter then we must insist that his murderers face the full force of the law.
Knowing, as we do, even that would not be enough.
What we know is scant:
A little girl plays in the snow
In a trailer park
In Ohio
She goes missing
They look for her
Only to find
Her too late.
Years ago I lived and worked in a community where a little girl was found murdered and discarded in a dumpster.
This seems to be defining: how do we respond to any story of any child murdered and treated like trash?
Do we mourn? Do we demand justice? Do we search for answers?
Or do we distance ourselves from our poverty–moral or tangible, and say,
not my kid, not my problem?
It is and should be a popular cause to support cancer research for children and children who endure the shocking ordeal of cancer.
No child should have to endure cancer. Ever. It is a tragic function of our scary, broken world.
But what if there were “better” and “worse” ways to get cancer?
And what if some of the worse ways had to do with enduring other things that children should not have to be exposed to? Second-hand smoke? Meth labs in their homes? Physical abuse? Or sexual exploitation?
The terrible truth is that some people do get cancer from being sexually exploited and physically abused.
People like Robbie Middleton.
Kids you will probably never see on a poster for cancer research because our society systematically marginalizes child abuse victims.
Imagine. Imagine the hell of that kind of abuse–that it could result in a boy’s death.
Then imagine you and I were the ones who looked away because it was too hard to bear.
Too hard indeed.
I remember being shocked and outraged by the original story–an unsuspecting mama is accosted by a couple of African American teens and her baby is murdered .
Appalling, right?
When the story re-surfaced meme-style as a defense for racism and murder I left it alone. I thought–tragic, but the assailants were charged.
Then my fellow child advocate, Miranda Yonts posted very quiet updates on the story.
It seems that there are other suspects in the case–the baby’s parents. Both tested positive for gunshot residue.
When you go back to the original story something stands out–the original suspects were tagged based on truancy records. Mama says–two black teens and the system finds two black teens. They might be guilty of nothing more serious than skipping school.
Four suspects. A terrible story. Who do you believe?
Police have arrested Matthew Flugence in connection with the murder of Ahlittia North.
I went to the Vietnam memorial with my father once. He never said much about his time in the war but I knew it was a game-changer. He combed the wall in silence looking for a name, names…when he found the one he was looking for he touched it in silence. Memories of the dead.
This is my Vietnam memorial. Gizzell Kiara Ford is on it. Beautiful child. Lost.
I tried repeatedly to post the Amber alert for Alittia North. Facebook did not allow it. I can’t tell you why I did not blog about her other than a lack of information and a sinking feeling.
Now the information is grim.
No one should ever throw a child away. No one should ever treat a human life like a discarded gum wrapper.
Years ago I taught in a neighborhood where a little girl was found in a trash bin. There are no words to describe the pain of knowing a beloved child has been treated so abominably. It lowers the value of all human life and raises the haunting question–why?
It seems to me our modern record is becoming mired in the bodies of our children–young, defenseless, abused, and murdered.
Do not turn away. Do not pretend this is some kind of statistical inevitability. In every case like Alittia’s someone did something terribly wrong to a child and…a whole bunch of regular folk did nothing to stop them.
I maintain that it is a significant social crime–a matter of national injustice, that we are advocates for the extermination of the innocent to the neglect of our children.
This article about Chile seems to offer a window into our problem. A young girl is raped for 2 years at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend and…. it is a cause celeb for abortion?!!
First of all–no psychologist worth their salt should ever, ever focus on a “therapeutic abortion” over the profound emotional damage caused by 2 years of systematic rape.
And second–
If this little girl had had access to abortion there is a significant likelihood that her abuser would have pushed for the abortion and the abuse would have continued.
We are all to be shamed and rebuked if the hypothetical “right to choose” subverts the real right for a child to live in safety and get help when she has been raped.
We are worse than animals if we do not comfort, protect, and bring justice for children who have been raped.
And speaking from personal experience–we don’t.
(Where is that Wendy Davis?!)
Any nation should mourn for it’s very soul if it does not protect all the little children–mothers and babes together.
Carrying Light 