mala linked to a story about a young autistic boy, Francisco Hernandez Jr, who went missing and road the NYC subway system for 11 days. her response to the story reallly struck me…
“I live in NYC and am angered that this is the first I am hearing about a Latino child missing for 11 days. I would have been on the lookout for real.”
and a commenter on the article…
“if only he could memorize skylines and drew them, then maybe someone would care.” -jacque mehoff
as well as Francisco’s mom…
“Maybe because you might not understand how to manage the situation, because you don’t speak English very well, because of your legal status, they don’t pay you a lot of attention” (on lack of support from police)
and Francisco himself…
“Nobody really cares about the world and about people.”
(if you are curious, this is what “intersectionality” really looks like. lives of disabled youth of color being structurally unvalued… or immigration status x disability x race x xenophobia x class… ).
*
intersectionality= idea that all issues (race, disability, etc) are connected and if people are going to be free, society has to address them all, not just one.
structurally= big picture, by the people with power
xenophobia= being scared and not liking “outsiders”, normally people from other countries.
that poor boy. and nobody noticed him. he just disappeared, even as he was apparent to the people around him… but what did they notice, if anything? did they scoff at poor parenting and turn away? did anyone see a little boy separated from his family, lost and alone? it breaks my heart.
Posted by amandaw on November 24th, 2009.
I’m surprised by the first comment. I’m pretty sure LOTS of Latino/a kids go missing all the time, with ZERO publicity. This went public because he has Asperger’s and his time missing was spent in an unusual way. So that someone would be angry that they didn’t hear it strikes me as unusual…isn’t it NORMAL that they wouldn’t hear it?
Posted by Meredith on November 24th, 2009.
i don’t know meredith, for me anger comes from the injustice of having a kid’s life be worth… nothing. (to police, society at large). it being so commonplace fills me up with more rage, it’s not something you can just disconnect from because it happens so often.
the little girl in the news last week, shaniya davis, is from my town. furious that there is nothing i can do, it’s all after-the-fact.
Posted by cripchick on November 24th, 2009.
*cries* That is just depicable. Did you hear about Oscar Guzman a few months back? Latino autistic teen brutally beaten by police for the “crime” of staring into space. Or Ronnie Holoway? Another man beaten by police for the “crimes” of being schizophrenic and black.
*sigh*
Posted by sanabituranima on November 24th, 2009.
Gracias Cripchick for explaining my anger at this much better than I could. I’m still pretty pissed about it, especially as I see local news coverage on it. Pero I am glad that he is safe and home with his mom.
It may be normal that we don’t hear about when young men and women and children of color go missing. And NYC is a big city. That doesn’t make it right. It makes me worry for my own children if diosa forbid something were to happen to them. Would they be left riding the subway for 11 days because it’s normal for Latino kids to go missing. At least time they found the boy alive, way too many times we don’t hear about it, like CripChick said, until that child is no longer here
Posted by Mamita Mala on November 24th, 2009.