GUILTY

I don’t normally voice my opinion too much on what is going on in the world, but today I have a need to say something.  In 2009, Cleveland Police and other law enforcement agencies captured the city’s first serial killer in decades.

The Anthony Sowell killings stunned and sickened the residents of the Imperial Avenue neighborhood.  That area of Cleveland is not without its share of violence but to have a neighbor using his home as a death chamber to torture women, well, even that, will make the most hardened person shake their head.

Yesterday, July 22, 2011 the verdict was read and the monster, that I’m sure his parent’s did not groom him to be, stood to hear his fate. The eleven women that died so violently and left to rot like trash; got the last hoorah.  Anthony Sowell, found guilty of all counts—justice did prevail.

Newscasts carry almost daily, how women of other ethnicities are killed or gone missing.  When I say this, I mean women that are either wealthy, come from better neighborhoods or are not black, to break it down.

The eleven women, no matter what path they choose to take while on this earth, did not deserve to die at the hands of this man.  The local news stations here did an excellent job on profiling these women as human beings.  They have families who cared about them, children that will miss them and hearts that will weep even when remembering the good times they shared with them.

When reporting a woman or any person missing, it should be considered a serious matter.  Therefore, what if that person missing has a drug problem, so what if that person is poor, so what if that person is not a public figure—so what.

Some of those women had been missing for years and the families tried repeatedly to get help, only to have doors closed or the promise to look into it.  These procedures have to change so men like Anthony Sowell will not have an opportunity to kidnap torture and murder woman for years because they are not fortunate to have families with status or fit that certain profile to start looking for them immediately.

I am not going to bash the officials who handle missing persons, because I don’t have all the facts on how they operate. They most likely follow a protocol when opening a file to see who get priority; therefore, I can only voice my opinion on how I feel it should be handled.

This article is only my opinion.