THE JOURNAL OF STEFFANIE RIVERS: Another Sad Story

      *The story out of Cleveland, Ohio about the ten dead bodies and a human skull found in and around the home of Anthony Sowell is gruesome. Sowell, who pleaded guilty to attempted rape in 1990 and served prison time for it, was found to have been living among the rotting corpses of his victims possibly since last April. That’s the earliest that one of the four dead women identified by police was reported missing by her family.

      It’s a given that Sowell had some unresolved psychological issues. But it’s the actions – or inactions – of those around Sowell that leave the biggest unanswered questions: First, the neighbors who must have known that something didn’t look, sound or smell right. Although I’ve not had the displeasure of smelling rotting human flesh I’m sure I would know the difference between it and that of the usual smells that emit from the nearby sausage factory.

      Secondly, the family members of the missing victims who got little to no help from police because the missing people where not considered as model citizens. As tax paying members of Cleveland their requests for help to search for missing loved ones should have been given some level of priority regardless of who they were. And when it wasn’t telephone calls should have been made and complaints should have been filed with the mayor’s office, the city council and with whoever would listen, because the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Even one woman who told police she was the one who got away from Sowell after he recently attacked her in his bedroom, said she didn’t immediately report the assault because she feared her prior arrest record would have kept her from being taken seriously.
 
      One of the reasons that some segments of society habitually get overlooked and underserved is because of their own inaction in the face of the aforementioned. Until people demand for themselves the same quality of service and respect that others receive they will continue to be overlooked and underserved. It seems an unending battle, but one worth fighting.
 
      Third is the ineffectiveness of some law enforcement officers who want to choose whom they protect and serve. The same story has been retold in countless cities across America. Milwaukee is the city that comes to mind. That’s where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer tortured, murdered and cannibalized at least 17 boys and men of mostly African and Asian descent before he was arrested in 1991.
 
      At least once Milwaukee police and Dahmer’s neighbors witnessed what turned out to be a young Asian boy running outside naked near Dahmer’s apartment. But officers, who didn’t bother to check Damhmer’s police arrest history at the time, took his side of the story and chose to believe the boy who was bleeding from his rectum was Dahmer’s willing adult sexual partner. It was a blatant case of police bias against the minority residents they were supposed to protect and serve.
 
      We know what became of that sexual predator who later was killed in prison by another inmate. And although two of the Milwaukee officers who left Dahmer’s victim behind (Dahmer later murdered him) and made homophobic jokes over the police radio later where fired, they appealed their terminations, were reinstated with back pay and went on to be named officers of the year by their police union.
 
      Yes, it’s a sad story in Cleveland. But until people there demand answers from their leaders, the firing of those officers who didn’t do their jobs and neighborhood alliances that make stories like this a near impossibility, the worst part of this story could be that it is bound to happen again.