Enough with the gorilla, already
Enough with the gorilla, already.
It has been five days since Cincinnati Zoo officials killed a 17-year-old silverback named Harambe after he dragged around a 3-year-old who had slipped into his enclosure. Yet the sickening cavalcade of outrage and blame continues.
Worse, it grows: At this writing, close to half a million people have signed onto a petition titled “Justice for Harambe.” Apparently, justice for the dead gorilla comes in the form of a living hell for the boy’s family. The petition calls for Hamilton County Child Protection Services to target the family’s home to see if they should be torn apart - for their own good, naturally.
“We . . . actively encourage an investigation of the child’s home environment in the interests of protecting the child and his siblings from further incidents of parental negligence,” the petition reads.
Here’s what outrages me: that so many people get apoplectic over the death of a gorilla in Ohio - or a lion in Zimbabwe - but seem unable to muster the same righteous, massive passion over the suffering of actual humans.
Over nine years in this job, I’ve written plenty about kids whose only crime was being born into the wrong circumstances, their lives lost or ruined because of abuse and neglect. I’ve gotten a pretty good sense of what inspires people to act, and what doesn’t. The stories of neglected kids - black or brown kids, especially - barely register compared to the columns I’ve written about animals. A couple of years ago, I wrote about a woman who tends to colonies of feral cats. My inbox was flooded, with readers writing for months afterward to offer donations. That was lovely.
But compared to that, the stories of kids in danger - Jeremiah Oliver, Kenai Whyte, the children imprisoned in a squalid horror show of a house in Blackstone - sank like stones.
Why doesn’t the anger over a 4-year-old shot in Dorchester’s Harambee Park come close to the furor over Harambe the gorilla?
Maybe it’s because we don’t have the same prejudices about animals as we do about people: The innocence and helplessless of animals are indisputable, evoking the kind of sympathy that moves us to action - especially when they’re rare and majestic. (Though, it’s worth asking whether a creature this magnificent should be kept in captivity at all.)
That’s not to suggest the death of an endangered gorilla isn’t tragic. But the animal was dragging the child around like a rag doll, the toddler’s little head hitting the concrete. Sometimes, awful things happen and there’s nobody to blame.
It’s not like the 3-year-old’s mother paid thousands to travel to Africa for the pleasure of shooting the animal dead. She lost sight of her toddler for a few seconds.
Anybody who believes it’s impossible for a little kid to disappear that fast either is not a parent or is fooling themselves. We’ve all been there. About five years ago, when my son was 4, he bolted into the street not once, but twice, when we were on vacation. Only luck separated us from tragedy. I still feel sick thinking about it. But it happens, all the time.
This mother was caring for a bunch of kids. One of them got away from her, clambering through the barrier and falling into the moat. The video is chilling, not just for the sight of the 400-pound gorilla dominating the child, but also for the sound of the terrified mother’s voice trying to reassure the child with cries of “Mommy’s right here!” And, “Mommy loves you!” And, “Be calm!”
But now, after that terrifying experience, this woman must now contend with a mob hellbent on holding her responsible for the gorilla’s death. They’ve named her and tried to shame her. Her partner’s history has become fair game, even though he wasn’t even at the zoo that day.
In the time it took to write this, 12,000 more people signed the petition. Imagine what they might do for a cause more noble than separating that child from his mother again.
So much power. Such a waste.
Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham can be reached at yvonne.abraham@globe.com.
Source
Tragedy, all around. :(
It has been five days since Cincinnati Zoo officials killed a 17-year-old silverback named Harambe after he dragged around a 3-year-old who had slipped into his enclosure. Yet the sickening cavalcade of outrage and blame continues.
Worse, it grows: At this writing, close to half a million people have signed onto a petition titled “Justice for Harambe.” Apparently, justice for the dead gorilla comes in the form of a living hell for the boy’s family. The petition calls for Hamilton County Child Protection Services to target the family’s home to see if they should be torn apart - for their own good, naturally.
“We . . . actively encourage an investigation of the child’s home environment in the interests of protecting the child and his siblings from further incidents of parental negligence,” the petition reads.
Here’s what outrages me: that so many people get apoplectic over the death of a gorilla in Ohio - or a lion in Zimbabwe - but seem unable to muster the same righteous, massive passion over the suffering of actual humans.
Over nine years in this job, I’ve written plenty about kids whose only crime was being born into the wrong circumstances, their lives lost or ruined because of abuse and neglect. I’ve gotten a pretty good sense of what inspires people to act, and what doesn’t. The stories of neglected kids - black or brown kids, especially - barely register compared to the columns I’ve written about animals. A couple of years ago, I wrote about a woman who tends to colonies of feral cats. My inbox was flooded, with readers writing for months afterward to offer donations. That was lovely.
But compared to that, the stories of kids in danger - Jeremiah Oliver, Kenai Whyte, the children imprisoned in a squalid horror show of a house in Blackstone - sank like stones.
Why doesn’t the anger over a 4-year-old shot in Dorchester’s Harambee Park come close to the furor over Harambe the gorilla?
Maybe it’s because we don’t have the same prejudices about animals as we do about people: The innocence and helplessless of animals are indisputable, evoking the kind of sympathy that moves us to action - especially when they’re rare and majestic. (Though, it’s worth asking whether a creature this magnificent should be kept in captivity at all.)
That’s not to suggest the death of an endangered gorilla isn’t tragic. But the animal was dragging the child around like a rag doll, the toddler’s little head hitting the concrete. Sometimes, awful things happen and there’s nobody to blame.
It’s not like the 3-year-old’s mother paid thousands to travel to Africa for the pleasure of shooting the animal dead. She lost sight of her toddler for a few seconds.
Anybody who believes it’s impossible for a little kid to disappear that fast either is not a parent or is fooling themselves. We’ve all been there. About five years ago, when my son was 4, he bolted into the street not once, but twice, when we were on vacation. Only luck separated us from tragedy. I still feel sick thinking about it. But it happens, all the time.
This mother was caring for a bunch of kids. One of them got away from her, clambering through the barrier and falling into the moat. The video is chilling, not just for the sight of the 400-pound gorilla dominating the child, but also for the sound of the terrified mother’s voice trying to reassure the child with cries of “Mommy’s right here!” And, “Mommy loves you!” And, “Be calm!”
But now, after that terrifying experience, this woman must now contend with a mob hellbent on holding her responsible for the gorilla’s death. They’ve named her and tried to shame her. Her partner’s history has become fair game, even though he wasn’t even at the zoo that day.
In the time it took to write this, 12,000 more people signed the petition. Imagine what they might do for a cause more noble than separating that child from his mother again.
So much power. Such a waste.
Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham can be reached at yvonne.abraham@globe.com.
Source
Tragedy, all around. :(