| WE ALL GRIEVE FOR SAMANTHA |
| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Thursday, July 25 2002 |
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| I have an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. My heart is filled with pain. I want to watch my daughters 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I want to hug them, protect them, and tell them over and over again that I love them. Like millions of people across this country, I grieve for a five-year-old girl with curly hair and a sweet smile. I struggle to understand the mind of the sick monster that kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered Samantha Runnion.
My sense of grief was compounded when I heard the sheriff of Orange County California describe Samantha's killer as a Hispanic man. A few days later, police arrested Alejandro Avila, 27, a production line supervisor from Lake Elsinore, California. Avila, who was acquitted of molesting two girls two years ago, bears a striking resemblance to the man in the police composite sketch. He reportedly had visited the condominium complex where Samantha lived, and drove a car the same color as the one witnesses say Samantha was forced into. There is reportedly DNA evidence linking him to the crime.
The authorities say they are 100 percent sure they have their man.
Before Avila's arrest, police described the suspect as an "Americanized Hispanic", someone who speaks English with a Spanish accent. That description may turn out to be accurate if Avila is indeed the killer, but it also raised troubling questions in my mind. Would all Hispanic men suddenly become suspicious? Would there be an anti-Hispanic or anti-immigrant backlash because of the actions of one deranged person?
During the intense manhunt for a suspect, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists urged reporters to focus on the actual description of the suspect, rather than on his ethnicity. After all Hispanics come in all shades and colors, and someone who a witness might believe has Hispanic features may not be Hispanic. To avoid racial profiling, the organization urged police and journalists to emphasize the description of the suspect's skin tone, whether or not he spoke Spanish or had an accent, and, of course, the widely distributed police composite sketch.
As the search for the killer intensified, my fear that immigrant bashers would come out of the woodwork became reality. On the Fox News Channel, host Bill O'Reilly raised the question about Samantha's killer possibly fleeing to Mexico. In which case, O'Reilly surmised, the murderer would not be extradited to the United States because Mexico has a history of not extraditing its citizens to face the death penalty. Mexico, like many countries, does not have a death penalty.
O'Reilly was fanning the flames of anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant sentiment by raising this issue when there was no proof whatsoever that the perpetrator was Mexican or that he had in fact fled to Mexico. On the night the cable show was televised, we needed to be focused on catching the killer, not on a hypothetical case that served only to criticize the Mexican government.
While I am concerned about people using this horrible incident to attack all immigrants, I must admit I have much stronger feelings at this time. My feelings are rage and anger that someone would victimize a child in this horrific manner. Because this column is published in both English and Spanish, I want to implore all my readers-Hispanic and non-Hispanic-to heed the advice of police. We all need to be vigilant in our neighborhoods. We all need to protect our children and teach them not to go with strangers. We must all cooperate with police to prevent the victimization of more children.
I have expressed concern in the past that police officers refrain from enforcing immigration laws so that police departments can maintain good relations with Hispanics. If Latinos fear police will report them or their family members to the immigration service, they may fear coming forward to help solve crimes. We do not need that type of fear when police are conducting important investigations like this one.
Samantha's death has impacted all of us. We all grieve for her and her family. |
