The Rocky Mount 10

It's time to Break It Down!

Because I was born, and grew up in Eastern North Carolina, primarily, I am inclined to be interested in news from that area. In recent months I have read and heard about a story revolving around 10 missing women in Rocky Mount, NC, about 75 miles from Kinston, my birthplace.

The compelling aspect of this story for me is its relative obscurity. It is not a story that greets you each hour of the news cycle on all the cable channels. While it is not uncommon for major media outlets, cable channels, and even bloggers to take a story viral in a matter of days, sometimes hours, this is not one of those stories.

The story of Michael Jackson’s death, which occurred June 25th, is still resonating four months later, as “This Is It” premiered last night, and is scheduled to open nationwide today. Of course Michael is the Elvis of our time, so the fact that news of his untimely demise spouted legs, and has demonstrated staying power is not so surprising.

Of course one does not have to have lived a life of celebrity to gain notoriety in death, or unexplained absence. Chandra Levy and Laci Peterson were not household names, but their stories dominated the airways and news reports for weeks on end.

Make no mistake, this is no bitch and gripe about the coverage afforded either Ms. Levy or Ms. Peterson. Rather it is proverbial written throat-clearing admonishing not just the media, but all of us to slow down and take a closer look at some of the horrific atrocities that occur within our midst, or at least within our state, if you happen to be a North Carolinian.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, were in Chicago a few weeks ago to draw attention to the slaughter that is going on in the streets of Chicago, one of America’s great cities. But before their arrival, Chicago’s mean streets had been the backdrop for a record number of murders of school-age children. In fact many argued that Mr. Duncan, who was CEO of the Chicago Public School System before assuming the post as Secretary of Education, was at least partially at fault for the dismal school-age murder statistics.

After enough clamoring, the Chicago situation found a champion in President Obama, who dispatched highly placed emissaries to intervene in the matter. A couple of poignant questions of the day are:

• “What level of agitation will be necessary to rise to the point when
there has been enough clamoring in the Rocky Mount cases?”
• “When the threshold is reached, to whom will we turn to find a
champion?”

“The Rocky Mount 10" is not comprised of blue bloods or patrons of the arts; they were neither white nor wealthy. They were not highly educated; not well-known. They were human beings, they were Americans, they were a part of the Edgecombe-Nash County and Rocky Mount Community, cited by Forbes as on of the 10 Most Impoverished Communities in America, and they were themselves, poor. But poor does not mean worthless. They are entitled to due diligence in determining the causes of their death, as well as the culprit or culprits. And even though, their stories are not steeped in idyllic Fairy Tales, they do merit being told.

I’m done; holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com . A new post is published each Wednesday. For more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post, consult the links below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinston,_North_Carolina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mount,_North_Carolina

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/6255724/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218911

http://kaleidoscopelyfe.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/rocky-mount-murders-go-unsolved-and-unpublicized/

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/authorities-match-reward-in-missing-murdered-women-case-863866.html

http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/news/suspect-charged-with-murder-of-one-of-five-local-women-807508.html

http://www.fayobserver.com/Articles/2009/09/05/931188

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112704643679417975004.00046fcba0914d40f3e85&ll=35.970227,-77.801743&spn=0.097251,0.180244&z=12&source=embed

http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/story/5675790/

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/6172163/

http://www.witn.com/edgecombeandnashcounty/headlines/63054807.html

http://www.blackpower.com/lifestyle/possible-serial-killer-murdering-black-women-in-nc-gets-no-media-attention/