Sunday, January 28, 2007

DISCOLOURATION - Part 11

Listening to Cross Country Checkup, thoughts are streaming through my consciousness. I have not been exposed to any of the English Tabloid Press coverage, but it is said that it is being disrespectful to the victims and their families.

But then i am also reminded of when i was 9 years old. We were playing in the veld and we came accross a young man lying in the dry brown grass, moaning. We all tentatively drew closer and could see that he was bleeding from several wounds over his body. One of the boys ran home to get his dad (a tailor who worked out of his home); the ambulance was called and we all gathered around him watching helplessly as he lost consciousness, as the blood coagulated in bright red pools around him. I remember being mezmorized by his face, which, unlike the rest of his black body, was a strange pasty greyish yellow. I squatted there in the blazing sun, wondering why the ambulance was taking so long to come, and eventually when it did, about an hour or two later, the young man was dead! For weeks after i puzzled with the question of WHY the ambulance had taken so long, because just weeks before, when my dad had suffered a fatal heart attack, it was said that the ambulance had arrived 15 short minutes after the first call. It was explained to me that the ambulance had had to drive from one of the Townships, (a long way away) but i still did not understand. HOW DID WE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN?

For years i pondered this question, and as i grew up, and when we moved to Canada, i started to understand the apartheid system, and the fact that because the man was Black he could not be transported to the hospital for Whites (where my dad had died) and soon the proverbial penny dropped, and i became very angry. Angry because the man had died, angry because he could not be taken to the hospital for Whites. All i could think about that this young man had a mother somewhere - i wondered if he had a wife, if he had children who, like myself, would never see their Dad again. I was sad and angry all at the same time.

Now, the memory surfaces again because the only reason these women are dead is because they were sex-trade workers, and they were women, and they were First Nations women. The only reason it took so long for this to be acknowledged by the Justice System, and for an arrest to be made, is because these individuals were part of a group who are hugely margenialized. These women were daughters, sisters, some of them mothers. They have family who grieve their deaths. This makes me angry and sad. HOW DID WE ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN?

But tears are not enough! What are we going to do to make sure that this does not happen again?

[see below for Part 1 of DISCOLOURATION]

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was a really thoughtful blog, and I couldn't agree with you more. So, what do we 'do' about it? One suggestion is to not only legalize prostitution, but to also open Mustang Ranch equivalents, as in Nevada. That way you get rid of the scum of the earth pimps, and the girls are kept safe.
The blog just before was quite chilling. I did a story on date-rape about a year ago, with a former victim, and it brought back some of her comments. Both of those must have been quite emotianally draining to write.
And thank you for visiting my blog again. Haven't chatted with you in a long time. So nice to see you.
Cheers,
Ian

dragonflyfilly said...

hi Ian,
thanks for stopping by, and for your comments.

Yes indeed, Part 1 took me all day to write, and when i was finished i looked out into the darkening day and saw flashing lights accross the street. There was an ambulance and fire engine in the complex accross the road from me, and i had not even heard the sirens, so engrossed was i in my work. And i was in fact drained, but the next day i was quite surprised that my dark mood had lifted, and i was able to put a positive spin on this horror, and to that end i am going to work hard at bring MORE public awareness to the plight of young men and women who are caught up in the cycle of poverty that brings so much dispair. Again, thanks for your insightful comments.

Now, i have had my shower and i am off for a walk around Dragonfly Bog!

cheers for now,
pj

Thousand Faces said...

Thanks for commenting. I like your blog. It was a deep read.

Seven Of Nine said...

An excellent well written post here.

Anonymous said...

Ian is right; until the stigma is removed (by legalizing what should never have been illegal) things will never change!

Thinking of you...

alan

dragonflyfilly said...

Hi;

Thousand faces: - thanks for the comment, hope to see more of you here; i shall stop by your blog soon.

seven of nine; thanks for stopping by, and for your comment. i shall have to come over to your blog, i don't think i have been there before.

Hi Alan, yes, i think you are both right, actually it has only been in the last 40 or 50 (maybe even less) years that prostitution has been treated as a criminal offence, and i am not even sure if that is really the case; correct me if i am wrong but i think only "street walking", i.e. public solicitation is actually illegal, if one operated a "baudy house" i think that is still allowed, but i may be confused.

Anonymous said...

Here I believe even that is illegal at this point, otherwise the "massage parlors" that used to be prevalent wouldn't have been driven out of town...

But then, this is the "Bible Belt" so even thinking about sex is illegal!

:o)

alan

dragonflyfilly said...

LOL - that's funny, alan!

Anonymous said...

when will the world just get over themselves :O People are people no matter who when or why, this stuff makes us mad also

dragonflyfilly said...

hi JIP,
YEP, sometimes this it is hard to understand what we are supposed to be learning in this Earth School!

Thanks for stopping by, hope y'all are all well,

love and Light,
pj

Anonymous said...

Hullo pj,
A very disturbing tale, these murders, that has filtered to the remote antipodes as well.

And the latter...I know that it is many years past, but that unecessary death would make anyone who would consider themselves human angry.

Kind regards
Dork

Anonymous said...

just stopping in to say hello...
i simply do not have the intestinal fortitude to read this..but i am thinking of you
:)

dragonflyfilly said...

Hi Dr. Dork,
thanks for stopping by; and thanks for you empathy.

Hey there Kath;
i completely understand; i will let you know when i have posted something a more palatable. You yourself have your plate full i know. love and Light!

cheers for now,
pj

dragonflyfilly said...

WHAT A MESS MY BLOG IS IN - POOP!

alan said...

Silly thing did that the other day on another blog, I just don't understand. I can't log in to check mine on my phone anymore, either. I miss being able to do that on the awful nights at work like tonight!

My address used to show until I updated to "the new", apparently. It is showing again...

Quite flattered, btw!

alan

Viamarie said...

Hello! Thanks for dropping by my blog. Enjoyed reading your posts. Will be visiting more often.

Cheers to another wonderful week!

dragonflyfilly said...

hi alan,
hi viamarie,

Thanks for stopping by, will check back with you soon,
cheers for now,
pj