So I was reading the New York Times National section and came across this article by Ian Urbina titled, Neighbor Says Police Did Little About Reports of Violence at a Rapist’s House. Yes you guessed it, Anthony Sowell. It appears that there were multiple reports made about this registered sex offender and his possible ties with assault and rape reports within the neighborhood. But, surprisingly, nothing was done. Shocked? I’m not.
Anthony Sowell, arrested October 31st after six bodies were discovered in his house, lived in a Cleveland neighborhood that was “predominantly black and very poor.” The article reports that one neighbor, recently, spotted Mr. Sowell “in the bushes alongside Mr. Sowell’s house naked and standing over a woman who was bloodied, beaten and also naked.” The same neighbor was then later approached by a woman, bruised and bloodied claiming to have been attacked by Mr. Sowell. Even as far back as December 8, 2008, “another woman filed a report accusing Mr. Sowell of stopping her on the street in front of his house and forcing her to the back door, where he punched, choked and tried to rape her.” Did the neighbor and the women make police reports? Well of course they did! Did the police do much about it? Well, that is where it gets a bit ugly.
Where were the police? According to Lt. Thomas Stacho of the Cleveland Police department, they were doing their job. The neighbor went to the police, but did not hear about a follow up or even if the police had did anything. The others also made reports with not much justice, if any at all, served. The Cleveland neighborhood where Mr. Sowell lived wasn’t even aware of the fact that a registered sex offender lived amongst them and their children. It wasn’t until a September 22, 2009 report of a woman accusing Mr. Sowell of rape finally moved the police to investigate which then turned up six decaying bodies.
Now let’s put our thinking caps on for a second and assess the situation. Mr. Sowell lived in a predominately black and very poor neighborhood, multiple reports were made against him, the community knew very little about his residents within their neighborhood, and police did little about the accusations. It also took several weeks “to assign an officer to the case and to obtain a search warrant” that eventually turned up the six, now ten, decaying bodies. This is so obvious and disgusting that it hurts. All bundled into one story we have the lack of police work on missing reports of minorities and neglect of protection by police within predominately black neighborhoods.
While watching the news in Sacramento, I occasionally hear a story about outraged residents in Carmichael or Elk Grove protesting the registered sex offender moving in. Police are interviewed to secure safety and flyers are passed out to all the residents. They express their fears and eventually, convince, or squeeze, the registered sex offender to leave the neighborhood. If not, the sex offender is watched around the clock by volunteers and men in cars painted with signs. What made their encounter unfold so much differently than that of the Cleveland neighborhood? These are predominately white neighborhoods with a higher socioeconomic status. Also, why is it when a white woman goes missing, we have a story on the Today, CNN, and Fox? There is publicity and the whole shebang about her life and how tragic the situation is. Granted, it is always horrible to have a person disappear, but why is there more energy put into finding a white woman as opposed to finding a Black woman or even a Mexican woman, or Latina?
The fact that there were multiple reports against Mr. Sowell is what makes this so scary for the Black community. If Anthony Sowell would have moved into a predominately white neighborhood, would we be hearing about ten bodies being found in his home? We have to remember that Mr. Sowell is a registered sex offender meaning that he had to make all his check-ins with police. According to the article, he followed all the rules and did all he had to in order to remain from under heavy radar. Also, the man charged with kidnapping in California and keeping the young woman prisoner for years also checked-in regularly with police. There is obviously something wrong with the system here. Two huge issues that could have possibly saved the lives of the women found in Mr. Sowell’s house if they were addressed. If the women were white and lived in a better socioeconomic status neighborhood, maybe the police would have paid more attention and would have saved some lives. Maybe the police would have acted upon the cries of the neighborhood and somehow preserved the lives of those women. Regardless of their skin color, occupation, level of education, gross income, or address, these were not only women, but humans that deserved the same protection and humane treatment of any other. How dare they?!
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