Tragedy in Springfield

As our nation mourns the tragic death of 10-year-old Hailey Owens, we look for lessons in the loss.  Perhaps there are none, but we look even so.

Perhaps the speedy resolution to this horrifying incident points to the nature of our communities.  Two neighbors unwittingly became heroes by seeing Hailey’s abduction, noting the license plate, color and make of the vehicle, and even giving chase to the perpetrator for as long as was safely possible.

Perhaps what we see of the support that has been offered to Hailey’s family – especially her mom – over the last weeks demonstrates a bigger, more encompassing community.  Columbia held a “Porch Lights for Hailey” night – offering long distance support to her family.  We stand together against this kind of violence.  We join hands against the violence that robs us of our most precious treasure – our children.

Perhaps we are reminded once again, of the inadequacies of our mental health system in the nation.  Over and over again, whether school shootings or abductions of children, suspects invariably seem to be those who have fallen through the cracks in our society.  Twitter, Facebook, news outlets rage against the suspect in Hailey’s murder, calling for an end to his life in the most heinous of ways.  Would we not be better served by examining this individual for the clues that will lead us to find treatment, prevention, maybe even elimination of this kind of tragedy?

And, finally, what lessons do we learn from the media coverage of this tragedy?  National media chooses about 4 or 5 cases per year to turn into media circuses.  Don’t those cases always seem to be adorable, white girls?  Roy Peter Clark, Vice President of the Poyter Institute has written about this:   in the bygone days of journalism, reporters talked of “good murders” versus “bad murders.”  Good murders always have an attractive, white victim and got you a front page story.  Bad murders encompass everyone else and ended up on page 4. The US Department of Justice estimates that since 2002, 20,000 children between the ages of 0-17 have been abducted by non-family members.  In the same period of time, 38,000 non-white children (nearly double) in the same age range were abducted by non-family members.  So why do we so seldom hear of them?

We don’t’ have answers, but we need to start looking harder.  In the meantime, we hold Hailey and her family and friends close in our hearts and send thoughts of peace and healing.  Think “we” not “me.” #LiveUnited #BuildingHope