An open thread for discussion of the murders of sex workers Angelia Magnum and Tjhisha Ball in Jacksonville, as well as any other topics that might benefit from having no interruptions from misogynist trolls, victim-blamers and other derailers.
Needless to say, this is a no troll, no MRA, no victim-blamer thread; bans will be handed out freely to anyone who violates this rule.
I just read the article that you linked to above. I am horrified that these young women and their murders are being treated as if they “deserved” what they got. This nightmarish monstrosity is made even worse by the racist cruelty of both the killers and the media/public that acts as though the young women somehow are the criminals themselves.
Great country, where you are a criminal for being female and even worse for being BLACK while being female. I feel sick. There is an evil rot working in the heart and soul of humanity, and right now it looks as though it is winning.
What can we do to stop this? I ask this and I am really looking for answers/suggestions.
This really struck me from the Gradient Lair post:
Two young women are murdered, and are literally portrayed as criminals by the media. No thought for their loved ones at all.
I felt that story in my bones. My thoughts are with the family & friends of Angelia & Tjhisha. I can only imagine, given the murders and the victim blaming, what they’re going through. This is heart breaking on so manny levels.
Serial killers that target prostitutes count on the police not caring enough about them to investigate their murders.
This is horrible news.
I wish their families all the best, and I hope the killer(s) are brought to justice swiftly.
But they probably won’t be.
These two poor girls… my heart breaks for their families. Nothing anyone could do would “deserve” such a terrible death, the fact that the media and people are suggesting so is disgusting and shameful.
This is so sad, must not cry at work…
This is part of why serial killers frequently targeted prostitutes. Society would just let them get away with it, because no one cared.
I could not agree more. Sad thing is that women, regardless of race or sexual orientation, are almost always thought to deserve whatever they get. For women with darker skin, it is ramped up to even more grotesque levels.
I am a mother, and I cannot – and shy away from – even imagining what the parents of Angelia and Tjhisha are going through right now. I hope, with all my heart, that they have a wide circle of friends and family to support them.
Makes me think of this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/media-black-victims_n_5673291.html
More death and pain, legacy of Jim crow. The only way to try and turn the tide is to keep talking about incidents like this and never be complacent or neutral in the ongoing war of women and POC
The more I think about this, the more troubled and angry I find myself. On the one hand, we are supposed to be sexual for men. On the other hand, though, when we are, and ESPECIALLY when we are the ones who profit monetarily from being sexual, we are punished and, sometimes, killed for it.
I am sick and tired of the lives of my gender being treated as if we are through-away commodities. I am sick and tired of the young women, around the world, having their lives, hopes and dreams shattered by men who Don’t.Even.See.Us.
Sorry for ranting. I have to go cry and scream a little now.
My heart really goes out to their families and friends. What an awful, awful situation.
The fact that the media is using their mugshots is really upsetting to me. The only other time I’ve seen that for people who are in the news as victims is occasionally with lost or missing persons, if that’s the only recent picture available. In that case, it makes sense. In this case, no. IF they couldn’t track down a more recent photo (which obviously isn’t the case, given the photos on this very post), then the better option would be to just not run one. They’re victims here; while I think it’s important to humanize victims of violence especially when they’re from marginalized communities, we also don’t really need to know what they look like and plenty of murders are reported on without including pictures of the victims.
AK, I agree completely. Even relatively liberal spaces can tend to get bloodthirsty in calls for justice, and callous in the treatment of convicts. Using mugshots of the victims is an open invitation to the worst instincts of people. The media needs to be held responsible for this.
My deepest sympathies to their families. I hope the police take the violence against these women seriously. (An admittedly thin hope, given the region…)
So how do we make the media accountable for their criminalisation and minimisation of murdered POC? The fact is that we don’t hear about these murders *until* POC are screaming them at us. This is where “solidarity is for white women” comes from. On one hand we don’t hear the stories about black people, and on the other, when we do hear, the facts are so twisted it’s almost impossible to make sense out of them.
I also want to know *why* the media feels empowered to systematically do this specifically to POC, and I am including First Nations in that. The only reason we even talk about missing and murdered First Nations women in Canada is Pickton. Thousands of women are dead unremarked because they are WOC and/or sex workers, and men are literally getting away with murder. If our media is based on the expectation of what we want to know and see, how do we let them know that our expectations have evolved?
I recently saw Nick Broomfield’s new film Tales of the Grim Sleeper, about the serial killer Lonnie Franklin. He raped and murdered countless black women, some sex workers others not, in South L.A. over a 25 year period. The story is told mainly through the voices of people acquainted with the killer and/or his victims, and tells us of both the hopeless poverty that drives women into prostitution, and the shocking neglect of the mainly white police and prosecutors who failed miserably to do their sworn duty to protect and serve the community.
The most jaw-dropping moment comes when the narrator mentions that some police reports concerning murdered sex workers had the odd notation “NHI”, which turns out is cop slang for No Human Involved.
I think this states what I was trying to say somewhat more eloquently.
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/25/grisly_murder_ignored_how_we_failed_angelia_mangum_and_tjhisha_ball/
Remember people, we don’t have problems with race or sex in this country. Racism and Misogyny are just minorites and women being too uppity and wanting special privileges. Not wanting to fucking live without fear of being god-damn murdered for the crime of being black or being women (or both). -_-
Shaun: This is where the old activist adage, “Think globally, act locally” really comes to the fore.
The fact is, unless the victim is very noteworthy in some way, national media is going to ignore it, in any case. It’s the local media that will decide both whether the stories are run and, if they are, how they are portrayed.
And this, therefore, is where pressure must be applied–on a local basis. Step one is getting in touch with community organizations. This can be difficult when dealing with sex worker victims, precisely because our society has demonized them so badly, and because in many areas, these organizations have a religious bent–they are often uncomfortable calling for justice for a dead prostitute. But they’re the ones who have the numbers and the notoriety needed to get the attention of the local media’s senior staff.
When talking to the local groups, then, you need to frame this as something that ultimately affects their constituency. That how cops treat dead sex workers of color affects how they treat ALL people of color, and ALL women. (With Christian organizations, in particular, I recommend arming yourself with the applicable Bible verses about the woman at the well and the adultress who was about to be stoned.)
These groups should then approach the media with specific requests–first and foremost, that more coverage be given to those areas suffering the greatest degree of violence, and secondly, that the coverage be compassionate in dealing with the victims. Start with easy, straightforward rules, such as, “Only use a police mug shot of a victim if no other image is available, and if it is necessary for the story. If another image is available, use that.” News organizations LIKE straightforward rules like this–it makes them feel like they can at least get a basic grasp of the principles involved.
I get angry that people who engage in sex work are somehow seen as less than human, because the former and current sex workers that I’ve talked to online have been some of the kindest people I’ve encountered.
Not that it’s ok to kill assholes, mind you.
I get so angry when people find lame-ass excuses to exclude other people from human compassion, like the color of their skin, or gender, or what they do for a living, or the consenting adults they have sex with.
…OTOH, they tend to make excuses for monsters who HAVE earned that lack of compassion.
What the fuck ever. GRR.
…I can’t.
I just can’t.
Jesus. NHI? So just… oh well, who cares?
I AM WRITING ABOUT THE STALINIST PURGES AND THIS IS STILL THE MOST DISTURBING THING I’VE SEEN ALL DAY.
I’m making myself a burger for dinner. Already made Big Mac special sauce to go on it. Maybe that will make me feel less disgusted with the world.