by Diane Dimond on May 13, 2012
But Not For All Mothers
Happy Mother’s Day to all the other Moms out there! Your children have likely bought you a nice card and a gift, maybe some flowers or perhaps they plan to take you out for a fancy meal to show you how much they love you. Sweet. And just the way it should be.
My mom is no longer here and this holiday is one that makes me sentimental and nostalgic.
But for tens of thousands of American mothers it is just another day behind bars. There are no flower or PajamaGram deliveries allowed in prison to mark this day.
It is hard to find current and trustworthy statistics about exactly how many women are incarcerated in the United States or how many of them are mothers. One of the causalities of our lousy economy is up-to-date research on such things, but I think it’s safe to say the number of female prisoners lies somewhere between Amnesty International’s figure of 148,000 and the American Civil Liberties Union’s tally which put the number of American women and girls in lockup at 200,000. A documentary released last year by the University of Pennsylvania put the number of incarcerated mothers in 2007 at 65,600. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on April 30, 2012
Who or What Do You Trust?
“With liberty and justice for all…..” are the last six words of our Pledge of Allegiance. I’m just sappy enough to still hold on to that sentiment as the creed for my country. But to achieve a true feeling of justice you have to have faith, right? So let me ask. How’s your faith holding up? Mine is a little shaky lately.
I’m not talking about a religion-based faith. I’m talking about the faith and admiration we need to have in our government, our social institutions, our communities and our fellow citizens.
An article in the National Journal entitled, “In Nothing We Trust” got me thinking. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on April 16, 2012
Annie McCann Was Just 16
How did 16 year old honor roll student Annie McCann die? Her parents have been agonizing over that heart wrenching question for too long. Definitive answers have been few but these determined parents refuse to give up asking.
On October 31, 2008 Annie left a note in her bedroom which mentioned suicide but she had also added the hope-filled line, “But I realized I can start over instead. . . . If you really love me, you’ll let me go.” Then, she inexplicably ran away, taking $1,000 in cash, jewelry and the family Volvo. It was a shock to Dan and Mary Jane McCann whose daughter was a devout Catholic, quiet and studious – a child who had never given them any trouble.
Two excruciating days later the McCann’s got a phone call informing them Annie’s body had been found at a housing project in Baltimore, Maryland about seventy miles from their home. They were dumbfounded. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on April 9, 2012
Like a Free Four Day Get-Away?
What if your boss decided to reward you and your fellow workers with an all-expense paid get-away? Wouldn’t that be great? You could stay in a nice hotel, spend some quality time networking with your colleagues and in the evening you could enjoy cocktails, special entertainment and indulge in expensive dinners.
Think in these economic times your boss would spring for that? Yeah, not in a million years, right?
Well, if you pay federal income taxes you’ve already helped foot the bill for just such a bash. Sorry, you weren’t invited. This four day event was arranged by the General Services Administration and after learning the details I think someone there ought to be arrested for misappropriation of funds – more than 820 thousand dollars of our funds! [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on April 2, 2012
Do We Really Know All the Facts Yet?
There are two sides to every story. So, why do the media sometimes run whole hogged with the most sensational version of events and why do we eat it up like candy?
It is time for some critical thinking about a widely reported crime story currently in the news.
More than a month ago a tragic incident occurred in a gated community in Sanford, Florida when a Neighborhood-Watch volunteer shot and killed a 17 year old young man. The teen was black, the man with the gun was mixed race Hispanic. The teen was walking back from the store, the adult was in his car going to the store.
When I read the first accounts of how young Trayvon Martin died I was outraged! Seemed as though a 28 year old, gun-toting man named George Zimmerman – a guy who had called 9-11 dozens of times over the last year – was one of those modern day gunslinger types who went around his neighborhood hunting for suspects to bully. Several news accounts called him a, “cop wanna-be” who likely targeted the hoodie-wearing teen because of his race. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on March 19, 2012
Proving Who You Are to Get What You Want
Welcome to the 21st Century. In this day and age you can’t write a check, use a credit card, set up a bank account, get on an airplane, rent a hotel room or a car or even get a library card without first showing your photo identification – usually a driver’s license.
It is a pain, but we dig into our wallets and pull out the old ID card (with the photo we wish we could change) because, well… because that’s the way it is. Today, we have to prove who we are to get what we want.
So, why are some people so aghast at the idea that when we vote we should have to show a photo ID? [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on March 12, 2012
Original 10 Most Wanted Captivated Me
In the unlikely event they make a movie of my life story a good place for the opening scene would be the post office in Albuquerque where my Mother used to take me as a child.
Scene one, act one, would be me making a bee-line to the bulletin board displaying the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. The future crime writer transfixed.
“So that’s what a murderer looks like,” I always thought to myself, leaning in to the grainy black and white photos. I would peer deep into the eyes of the fugitive bank robber or kidnapper to try to find a clue as to what made these men turn so bad. (Back then, the list was all men) I admit it – I was a strange child.
[click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on March 5, 2012
Equality For All People, Right?
I have never written a column about the state of North Dakota, a state from which my parents hailed and where I still have close relatives. The state’s motto is, “Liberty and Union Now and Forever, One and Inseparable.”
But that’s not necessarily so if you are a Black American.
North Dakota has no anti-bias or hate crimes on the books, no independent Human Rights Commission** (as most states do) and no easy, reliable system for those who feel they have been wronged to seek relief. The issue is important because minorities are pouring in to the state to work in the newly lucrative oil fields. The industry’s six-figure salaries have trickled down to create many more jobs in the housing, restaurant, hotel and home furnishings sectors and people of color are responding in droves. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on February 27, 2012
Prolonged Isolation Destroys the Mind
Americans were once riveted by the horrific news of U.S. soldiers and military contractor’s treatment of enemy combatants at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. Media reports beginning in 2004 made us cringe with shame when we realized Americans had humiliated, raped and even killed prisoners of war – and casually taken snapshots of their own crimes.
Today, I believe there is another atrocity taking place inside our own American prison system. Oh, it doesn’t involve naked inmates being paraded around on a dog collar as happened in Baghdad but the end result is just as appalling – if not more so. [click to continue…]
by Diane Dimond on February 20, 2012
Teachers Can Be Sexual Predators Too
This is not a column you want your children to read unless you are prepared to have a very important and personal discussion. Then again, maybe that’s why I think it’s important to write this column.
Recent events underscore the need to talk to our kids (again) about the sanctity of their own bodies.
In Los Angeles County, California an elementary school teacher named Mark Berndt was arrested after a clerk reported developing disturbing photographs for the 61 year old man. The clerk showed police photos of blindfolded young school children with their mouths covered with tape and some of the children had “large, live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths,” according to the Sheriff’s Department. Other pictures showed [click to continue…]
