Emily's Worldview

A brief news blip last week...a man shot a woman at the CNN center, before being shot by hotel security guards. The woman died at the hospital, the man remains in critical condition. For a moment it was big news--the shooting disrupted the CNN newsroom and there was compelling footage of the victim and shooter lying bleeding as security guards held them at gunpoint. Breathless accounts by CNN employees dominated the stories about the shooting, including one CNN producer who recounted his close call--the shooter had shoved past him, dragging the woman by her hair. When the identity of the victim, an Omni Hotel employee, became known, police labeled the murder a "domestic dispute" and it dropped off the news pages. The fact that nobody famous, or nobody employeed by a famous organization, was further imperiled meant that it was no longer interesting. We didn't need to know anything about the victim other than her name, age, that her job was restocking hotel minibars, and that she somehow died in a domestic dispute in a public place after other people had watched her be dragged through a busy building by her hair.

The nice thing about terms like "domestic dispute" is that they make the rest of "us" safe. We only happen to brush up against the problems of "other people"--they don't really enter or affect our lives. Poor people are convicted of violent crimes more often than wealthy people, but they are also the victims of violent crime more often. The way this story was reported just underscored that divide. "Our" safety was compromised only by coincidence. But the truth is there is no safety until everyone is safe, even the 22 year old with a low paying job and a dangerous ex-boyfriend. We have to find a way to grieve her.