02 April 2009

People sure do grow a massive pair of balls when posting comments on the web and that reminded me of something I had posted on facebook a couple of weeks ago about these folks...





A teenage girl goes for a solo jog around her home during the mid afternoon hours. When she didn't return home that evening, her parents called the police and filed a missing persons report. Tragically, young Esme Kenney's nude, partially burned body was found in the woods near her Winton Hills home. The police also found 40-year-old Anthony Kirkland, a man with a seedy past, asleep near Esme's body. Kirkland had Esme's i-pod and watch in his possession. He has since confessed to killing her.

Kirkland served 16 years in prison for burning another woman alive in 1986. There are also reports of possible evidence connecting him to two other homicides that resulted in the victims being burned. One of the possible victims is a 14-year-old girl killed in Avondale a few years ago, a story that hasn't received much public outcry from the posters (or lack thereof) on the web.

This case of Esme being killed the way she was is very sad and disturbing. The Greater Cincinnati area has weighed in heavily on this homicide as evidence by the number of comments readers posted following the story on every local media website. But as much as Esme's death bothered me, some of the readers comments got to me almost as bad.


Here are some of them:

"It's simple.
We have the most morally bankrupt system in the world.
What a shame that the life of this girl was taken by a piece of scum like Kirkland.
As offensive as this may sound, Hitler had a way of dealing with these kind of people. No appeals, no 20 year waits, no coddling!

Tried, convicted, killed!"--webthedog, poster at cincinnati.com

"this is a hate crime ...plain and simple....a black man kills a white girl in cold blood.....i am so tired of this crap in my society.... kill the f@ck now"--sirlouie, poster at communitypress.com

"Blacks make up 13% of the population, yet are responsible for 54% of all murders? And 94% of blacks murdered are killed by other blacks... What is wrong with black culture to produce these monsters? Look at the heroes of Black "culture" - pimps, Scarface and misogynistic rappers... "--Hang em High, poster at wcpo.com

"love and peace mu butt. Yes this is about black and white. Reverse this and we would have a riot on our hands. But we cant reverse it because whites do like to go to otr. Hell whites are being targeted just for being white. You kill each other but leave our children alone. stay in your hood and get out of ours."--boredatwork, poster at wcpo.com

"Now, now, folks... we've all collaboratively agreed that it's never the African American's fault. Well, at least you Cincinnatians agreed..."--bandaid36, poster at local12.com

"Another beautiful white girl gone, the victim of black savagery. This girl is yet another victim of forced integration. A return to strict segregation would go a long way in preventing blacks from preying upon whites. Don't believe blacks are dangerous? Move your family to a black apartment complex."--Joe G, poster at fox19.com


So very very sad...sad...sad...sad...sad...

You'd be hard-pressed not to read a thread on any of the stories of Esme and not find this venom of racial hatred. People sure do develop a big pair of balls when they have the anonymity of the web to hide behind. This horrible crime that proves our legal system is way off kilter. And I am reminded (as if I need anymore reminders) of how dumb people can be.

We all grieve the same. Pain hurts us equally. We all hate to see children victims of such vicious violence or any violence, for that matter. Our blood is red, our tears are clear, and we all wish that we could live in safe communities where we can rasie our children to be the best that they can be.

This shouldn't about race. This should be about a man who has a history of attacking women and burning his victims being on the streets. This is about a system that allows a person who has repeatedly committed the same crime to be free but you'll find yourself behind bars quick over weed. Now I believe that everyone should be given a chance at redemption. However, I don't feel the same for this man. My conscious won't allow it.

I would just hate to see that one of the legacies the death of this child may leave behind would be one of further deepening the chasm of black/white in Cincinnati. That just might be the biggest tragedy of all.


It seems like ignorance will always have a fighting chance in our society. Tsk tsk...

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