Jennifer Sharpe
“It’s a common problem in Oklahoma,” I discovered myself saying to two non-Okie mates throughout a current lunch get-together.
These mates, each profitable, extraordinarily motivated ladies in enterprise, have by no means been to the Sooner State. They are intrigued by my job and my pulse on present occasions, and so they had been interested by what had been on my thoughts recently.
Thinking they may be accustomed to a narrative receiving nationwide consideration, I introduced up the Athena Brownfield tragedy and the newest news confirming that the physique discovered was hers.
Even in retelling an abbreviated model of the story, the small print are surprising and sickening.
In the small city of Cyril, about 65 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, a 5-year-old woman is discovered outdoors and unsupervised by a mail provider on Jan. 10 and introduced to the eye of authorities. She has been within the care of two adults, not her mother and father, alongside along with her youthful sister, Athena, who’s lacking.
The feminine caregiver is arrested and confesses a horrible fact – that her husband beat 4-year-old Athena to loss of life on Christmas night time, then disposed of her physique in Rush Springs. The male caregiver is arrested in Arizona.
The search transitions from rescue to restoration and a physique is discovered. On Thursday, the remains were confirmed to be these of Athena Brownfield.
The tragedy horrified my lunchmates who, to my shock, had not heard the news.
They requested questions: How might this occur? And why do I (and extra Oklahomans) appear to not regard this with extra urgency, extra indignant outrage?
Because sadly, circumstances like Athena’s occur all too typically in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma ranks among the many worst states for violence in opposition to kids. In 2020, 42 Oklahoman kids perished due to abuse and neglect, in accordance to the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Oklahoma additionally ranks among the many states with the very best charges of ladies killed by males, most frequently the results of violence by the hands of somebody shut to them.
Domestic violence is usually a silent assault and doesn’t discriminate amongst wealthy or poor, Black, white or brown. Potentially, everyone seems to be in danger.
These information fail to clarify why Oklahoma continues to be recognized for these horrors and why I, like many Oklahomans, are disgusted with the issue but not enraged sufficient to demand fast action.
Maybe it’s as a result of we don’t know what the following steps want to be.
It’s not that there hasn’t been legislative action – notables embody a May 2020 invoice reclassifying a number of home abuse expenses as violent crimes, adopted by a measure permitting victims of home or sexual violence to terminate a lease early with out penalty. Several payments championed by Sen. Kay Floyd and others have been geared towards helping the victims of rape.
But do we want extra legislative action?
It’s not that we don’t have sources – unimaginable teams like Palomar, the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, Oklahoma Women’s Alliance, the YWCA and extra – are working to present companies and assist to victims of home and household violence.
But do these teams have the funding and staffing to serve all?
Is the issue that the sources usually are not reaching rural areas? Or is there an inadequate consciousness of the issue and that sources are, in truth, accessible?
How will we bridge the hole between having the applications and launching a full-scale offensive to get them within the forefront of our collective conscience?
I don’t have the solutions, however I’m placing the questions on the market.
The horror and outrage of my non-Okie mates must be the identical horror and outrage that each one Oklahomans really feel proper now in regards to the loss of life of Athena Brownfield.
It’s time for action.
Jennifer Sharpe is deputy editor of The Journal Record.
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