News:
  • Peter Campbell-Kelly Plays Biber's Mystery Sonata No. 16 ‘Passacaglia’
  • Moon and the Animation
  • Bura-Bari Nwilo: "This Is How I Have Imagined You"
  • Favorable Restrictions
  • Katherine Koch: Eight Watercolors from 2020
  • "All My Thoughts": Interview with Katherine Koch
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Contact us
  • About
    • What is Cultural Weekly?
    • Advertise
    • Contributors
    • Masthead
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions: Write for us
    • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
Cultural Weekly logo
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Film
  • TV + Web
  • Poetry
  • Art
  • Architecture
  • Literature
  • Theatre
  • Music
  • Dance
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • Food

Caylee Anthony or Alexis Glover? Race and the Murder of Children

By Ulli K. Ryder, Ph.D on July 7, 2011 inOUR WORLD

3

Click Here To View Comments

 

Everyone seems to be upset about the outcome of the Casey Anthony trial. Given the media circus – and what has been divulged about the facts of the case – the outrage seems justified. What we know is that Caylee Anthony is dead and it appears that her mother must have had something to do with her murder. The murder of a small child is a horrible act.  It is even more terrible when a parent or guardian – whose duty it is to protect that child – is responsible. But the lesson of the Casey Anthony trial is not just one of a (possible) miscarriage of justice or a murderer who beat the system.  It also tells us a lot about the value of some children in our society and the lack of value of others.

In 2008, the same year that Caylee Anthony was killed, Banita Jacks murdered her four daughters and left them to rot in her home. She claimed the girls were possessed by demons and therefore she decided to starve, beat, strangle and stab them.  Also in 2008, Mya Lyons was found brutally stabbed to death in an alley in Chicago.  Her father was charged with her murder. The following year, Alexis Glover – a mentally disabled young girl – was killed an dumped in a river by her mother.  The common denominator between these murders is the race of the children. They are all black. There are also hundreds of missing black children. While we continue to watch updates on the Natalee Holloway case, and watch made-for-TV movies about her story, black girls (and boys) barely make the news.

The lack of attention to the murders, abuse or kidnappings of black people is not a new phenomenon.  In fiction, Richard Wright’s Bigger Thomas murdered two women (Native Son, 1940). The brutal murder of Bessie (black) is only mentioned in court because the prosecutor uses Bessie’s body to prove the much more important – and shocking – rape and murder of Mary (white). Scholars have also been discussing disparities in mediated racial representations for decades.  We know that African American males are over-represented in news stories about violent crime.  We know that black suspects are more likely than white suspects to be shown in handcuffs.  Even Time magazine came under fire during the OJ Simpson trial for darkening his mug-shot on their cover.  We also know that murders and disappearances of young, white and (often) blonde girls are media events and the girls themselves become well-known, household names: Natalee Holloway, Caylee Anthony, JonBenet Ramsey, Elizabeth Smart.  We all know their names.  How many of us have heard of Mya Lyons or Alexis Glover?

In our Internet world these disparities reach beyond the evening news or our local papers.  A Google search of “black girl murdered” turns up “hits” for two African American girls killed recently by police.  But the first “hit” is of Latasha Harlins – murdered by a Korean shopkeeper in 1991.  While we should all remember Harlins I find it disturbing that the first “hit” is of a 10 year old case.  Have no other young black people, no black children, been murdered, abused or gone missing over the last decade?  Searching “black child murdered” is even worse – it starts with Emmett Till (murdered in 1955), then gives us The Atlanta Child Murders (1979-1981). Scrolling down, we will find the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church murders (1963). But we also find stories on blacks who have committed murder – or are accused of doing so.  Doing a search of “girl murdered” isn’t really that much better. The Casey Anthony trial is, unsurprisingly, the first “hit.” There are then some general sites devoted to missing and murdered children.  One site gives the story of a girl murdered while undergoing an exorcism.  None of these “hits” are for children of color.  Apparently, we have to ask specifically to find information about black, Latino or Asian children who have been killed or abused.

Why is this important?  Because the assumption (in Google at least) is that those searching for children who are missing or murdered are looking for white children. We have to ask to find information on non-white children but we are automatically given information on white children.  This problem is compounded by the lack of coverage in traditional news outlets.  We can easily find information about Natalee Holloway, Caylee Anthony or even Martha Moxley because their stories have been told, over and over again, by local, national and international news sources. We know their names.

But how do we Google search for children whose names, if they are reported at all, are gone from the television and newspapers after one or two days?  What about the hundreds who are never reported in the media?  When Bigger’s girlfriend Bessie was beaten and thrown down the air shaft, no one cared. No one missed her.  No one looked for her.  She was only found because the police were looking for Bigger – the murderer of Mary Dalton.  And Bessie’s body was simply evidence, like a knife or bloody glove, used to prove Bigger’s guilt in raping and killing Mary.  A murdered young black woman, absence any connection to whites, would not receive scrutiny nor investigation. Wright was criticized for writing a story full of propaganda and racial stereotypes. But perhaps Wright was not so far off.  Though it’s been more than 70 years since Native Son was published, the bodies of black girls (and boys) are still less worthy of attention than those of whites.  Caylee Anthony deserves justice.  Her murderer(s) should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. But so should those responsible for all the dead and missing black children.  And we deserve to know those children’s names.

Click Here To View Comments
Previous Story

Internet English (from The History of English in 10 Minutes)

Next Story

R.I.P., Cy Twombly

About the author

Ulli K. Ryder, Ph.D

Ulli K. Ryder, Ph.D

Ulli K. Ryder, Ph.D., is an award-winning scholar interested in racial and gender identities, media representation and visual art of all kinds. She is a full time faculty member at Simmons College and Visiting Scholar at Brown University.

Related Posts

  • Favorable Restrictions

    By Mia Morales
    “For too long politicians told most of us...
  • Synchronous Vaccination Tale

    By Eric Trules
    So I'm driving home past Dodger Stadium,...
  • In Loving Memory of CPAL: An Obituary for COVID-19 Relief

    By Olga Garcia Echeverria
    DECEASED: CPAL TERMINATED December 31,...
  • Shakespeare on Despots, Power, and Finally… Transition

    By Jerry Kavanagh
    The timeless words of Shakespeare might have...

Support Our Friends

Follow Us

Join Our Mailing List

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @CulturalWeekly

Comments

  • Lisa Segal Lisa Segal
    Valentine’s Day Redux: a Second Chance at True Love
    Marvelous!!!!!!!
    2/14/2021
  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    Shakespeare on Despots, Power, and Finally… Transition
    Timely and educational this post Your scholarship...
    1/31/2021
  • maurice amiel maurice amiel
    Abigail Wee: “Growing Home”
    A first place well deserved While the particular...
    1/24/2021

New

  • Protecting Your Home with Foundation Repair
  • General information about Spent Convictions in Australia
  • How to Remove a Spray-On Bed Liner
  • 5 Keyword Research Tips For SEO Success
  • You can get paid to play video games, eat Doritos and drink Mountain Dew

Tags

art dance film Los Angeles music photography poem poems poetry tomorrow's voices today

Like us

Please Help

Donate

Who are we?

Cultural Weekly is a place to talk about our creative culture with passion, perspective and analysis – and more words than “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” Our mission is to draw attention to our cultural environment, illuminate it, and make it ... read more

Site map

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • Contributors
  • Cultural Weekly Style & Formatting Guide
  • Food
  • Home
  • Masthead
  • Privacy Policy/Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Submission Form
  • Submissions: Write for us
  • Subscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Thank You

Links

Adam Leipzig
Entertainment Media Partners
This Is Crowd
CreativeFuture
Plastic Oceans Foundation
Arts & Letters Daily
Alltop
Alexis Rhone Fancher
Jack Grapes
Ethan Bearman
Writ Large Press

Mailing List

* indicates required


  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy/Do Not Sell My Personal Information
  • Contact us
Cultural Weekly is the digital magazine and public platform of Next Echo Foundation. DONATE HERE.
Copyright © 2010-2020 by Adam Leipzig. All Rights Reserved.