What gets lost in the Waldo Rapist coverage.......

I chimed in on the Waldo Rapes when the count was at 4. Now it stands at 5, and the story dominates the news, it has become fodder for blogs, advertisement for gun shops, a boon for the security and self defense industries, everyone has an opinion or a hand in it. Short of being killed, rape is the beast every woman fears more than any other. If you are old enough to remember the heightened sense of fear and barely controlled panic during any of the Westport rape sprees, then the cases coming out of Waldo give a sense of Deja Vu. We have been here before, and it's an ugly place to be. Cases like this drive the news, the tail wags the dog. As if the crime itself weren't bad enough, the waters have been thrown in to a muddy tumultuous frappe, because race has entered the equation. So let's talk about the 250 pound pock marked elephant standing in the room.


The rapist is black, the victims have been white, the race is on. Anyone who thinks that race isn't a part of the equation is naive at best. This is a city that is divided along racial lines, always has been, and it always will be. The way you view these crimes depends upon what side of the line you reside on. If you happen to be black and living in one of the city's war zones, you probably feel some resentment toward the media coverage and the police response to the waldo rapes. If you reside on the white middle class side of the line, you probably are of the school of thought that says, black on black crime is usually a case of one thug killing another, just another causality in an ongoing war that has nothing to do with you and yours. Both schools of thought have some validity, how much depends on which side of the line you are on.

The most important part of the equation in the Waldo rapes gets lost in the media hype and the racially charged squabbling.

The victims.

The 5 women who have had the safety of their homes forever compromised don't care about disparity in coverage. They aren't concerned with the perceived racial disparity. The fact that 5 rapes by the same perp makes the odds astronomical of ever even crossing paths with rapist, doesn't matter to the 5 women who have. They have crossed paths with him, and it will impact the rest of their lives. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to check their self. For the people decrying the disparity in coverage, comparing apples to oranges, just ask yourself one question. What if it happened to my wife, my mother, my sister, a friend? Would I be appalled over the media beating this dog to death?


Let me answer that for you. No. Of course you wouldn't. The odds of meeting up with the Waldo rapist are a moot point where the 5 victims are concerned. They have met up with him, and for a very long time to come, they will continue to meet him in their nightmares, in the dark hours before dawn and in the light of day, he will always be there. The friends and family of the victims are now focused on the impossible task of trying to restore some sense of security to a person they care about. Nothing else matters, nothing else should. It's easy to lose sight of how crime effects us, until it lands in our own yard. We are a clannish people, despite our claims to the contrary. We will always care more for our own, than for someone we share little in common with. Sure, there will always be exceptions to that rule, but by and large, we only care about those we share a commonality with. People who are just like us. We will continue to fain concern for others, but it's only a way to make ourselves feel like we are a little better than the guy next door.


Five women have found themselves to be in danger, in the one place they should be safe. Their lives have been irrevocably changed for the worse. It happened to THEM. And it's the only thing that matters now. It consumes every second of every day. They didn't ask to be in the place they find themselves in, they didn't get to choose. All of the odds, the media hype, and blogger babble, including my own, might as well be taking place on Mars. Five lives have been reduced down to one terrifying moment in time. It's all there is, nothing else matters. We would all be well served to remember that fact, and if we find ourselves about to inject our own baggage, prejudice, or opinion, we should ask ourselves, what if. What if it was someone I cared about? My wife, sister, mother. What if ?