It seems like it’s open season for assault and murder on women and children these days. Even though I know assault and murder are not new, it just seems to be happening with more frequency, or maybe it just seems to be more brutal than ever. Whenever there’s a news report about a missing child I pray for their safe return. Sometimes that happens, but unfortunately most times it doesn’t.

I can’t call them all out by name, but some of them seem to stick out in my memory. Their beautiful innocence and the savage way they were taken from this world makes them stand out. Caylee Anthony, 3, Somer Thompson, 7, Elizabeth Olten, 9, and most recently Shaniya Davis, 5. They were all perfect angels with nothing but love, smiles and happiness to share in their short lives on this side.

Caylee Anthony, 3, was guilty of loving a mother who was jealous of the attention she was given by her grandparents. We don’t know it yet but I won’t be surprised when her mother is proven to be her killer. Caylee had the most beautiful eyes and smile.

Haleigh Cummings, 5, missing from her bed and while being closely monitored by her step-mother on February, 5 this year from Satsuma, Florida. The step-mother seems suspicious to me.

Somer Thompson, 7, walked home from school to tell her parents about her day only to be found a few days later in a landfill a few miles from her home like she was a bag of garbage. They haven’t found her murderer yet, but I feel strongly they will with time.

Elizabeth Olten, 9, who went missing on her way home after leaving a friend’s house after playing and having fun. A 15 year old girl led authorities to a grave that she dug a few days before she put the little girl’s body in it because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill somebody. Yes, she should be charged as an adult.

And then there’s the one that shocked, disgusted and enraged me the most. Shaniya Davis, 5, affected the country just as all the missing, exploited and murdered children in this country do. It hurt us all to learn of her mother’s request to be given another chance at being a mother just to find out that she gave her to a man who would be accused of raping and murdering her the same day.

After searching for Shaniya for 6 days, her body was found amongst dead deer carcasses in trash bags in the forest by the side of the road. The poor baby apparently was so decomposed that she had to have a closed casket.

I didn’t know this angel other than hearing about her on the news but there was something about this case that made me want to be there to mourn with her family and other concerned members of the community. Her funeral was less than 2 hours from where I live and I was determined to attend. Although the funeral started at 3pm, they locked the doors to the church at 2:30pm because it reached its full capacity of 2000.

I was among the 200 others who stood outside and watched the ceremony from a monitor with no sound. As we watched the monitor, we also conversed about how and why this angel was taken so viciously and early in her journey. I remember hearing a lady say, “I keep thinking about the pain she was in as this grown man was trying to enter her like she was a grown woman”.

That thought was one that haunted me as well. Even if the mother gave her away for that purpose, how could a grown man think of doing something so foul to a young, innocent, beautiful angel? Since Fayetteville is not that big there were people speaking as though they knew her captor; they commented that he had a daughter close to Shaniya’s age. There was also a comment made that they “just couldn’t see him doing something like this”.

Well, we won’t know all the details until the trial starts, but I know this for sure. I hope they put every and anyone who had something to do with this in general population so that they could get the type of justice that our judicial system won’t or can’t give.

I was reading an article from CNN iReport about another missing child in Florida that was extremely thought-provocative. It suggested inserting a GPS chip under the skin that could be removed at age 18 if desired. The article also mentioned that a child goes missing every 40 seconds, or, over 21,00 per day.

“In excess of 800,000 children are reported missing each year; 500,000 go missing without ever being reported.” (Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, November 23, 2009.)

There’s no way of knowing if some of the missing will ever be found, if justice will ever be served or if no other children will ever come up missing again. In fact the only solace we can all have is that at least we know all the angles are where they belong – flying high with no troubles, worries, or pain from the heartless people who can hurt them or take away their wings.

REST IN PEACE BEAUTIFUL ANGELS

Hotep

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 PM and is filed under Featured Writers!!, My Voice by Sallie Goode!!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.