Dear Hopkinsville,
The week of October 12, our city was presented with an
opportunity. It was a chance to rally
behind a young victim who was brutally attacked while unconscious at a house
party. In the aftermath, this town came
together and raised support and money for the young victim to help with his
medical expenses. We prayed for him and
his family and worked to make sense of it and to bring comfort to the family. It was a moment to be proud of our town as
dollar for dollar, we attempted to take the sting out of the horrible wrong
that was done; not to erase it, but to announce that we were not going to stand
by and allow this kind of thing to define us!
“We care about our kids,” we declared, “When they hurt, we hurt.”
In all of our rallying to support the victim--and rightly
so, we hollered a battle cry against the rest of the young people involved in
the incident—arguably still just kids themselves. From the same mouths that
rallied to support the victim, spewed verbal vitriol that demanded the
perpetrators pay. Not only did we want them to pay, but in the worst possible way. I watched my newsfeed as graphics of gallows
and snickered comments about what happens to “guys like that in jail” assaulted
my eyes and all I could think was that if the first victim didn’t deserve it,
then how can we justify the same treatment for the suspects? There is no comfort for anyone from the
victim to his family to the suspects to their families who believes similar
treatment will in any way make things right, and yet few people have stepped up
to say that this is just plain wrong. So
let me be the first to point it out; this is wrong! Fully supporting the victim and his loved ones while supporting the suspects and their loved ones are NOT mutually exclusive and we need to quit perpetuating the lie that we can't do both!
It’s nothing unusual, though. This kind of reaction is typical and exactly
what is to be expected, but that is the point of this letter. We rose to the
challenge to help one child in need; but are perfectly willing to throw four [at
present count] “children” away to rot in prison in order to pay for their
crime. It’s totally to be expected; this
kind of reaction. I’m not picking on
you, Hopkinsville, because it happens in every town following this kind of
shocking event. But this is why I’m
writing you. I wanted you to consider
another opportunity.
What if we rallied behind all the people involved in this incident? What if we quit the usual diatribe and libelous remarks against
young people like the suspects in our community?
What if we declared that we weren’t okay with the likely treatment they
may receive in prison? What if we
promised that we would be there for them while they pay their debt to society
and prepare to receive them again when the time comes? What if we supported them as they prepare to
face the music; a burden that is likely too heavy for any of them to carry
alone? Any one of our kids could have found themselves in the same situation. I'd like to think that mine would know and behave better--but I just can't look you in the eye and promise you that!
Who could blame you for saying no? I wouldn’t.
It would make you no different than any other community that’s been faced
with a similar shock. But that’s the other
thing about which I’m writing this letter.
What would it cost us to rally behind ALL of our young people? Not just the good ones who always follow the
rules, but the lost ones too? It might
cost us our pride because nobody wants to go to bat for anyone who doesn’t
deserve it. We want to look intelligent
and at least a little careful—not foolish and naïve. It might cost us our opportunity to see the
bad guy get what’s coming to him. It’s
the ending to every good movie we’ve ever seen—the bad guy always gets his
comeuppance. We might experience a huge
loss of satisfaction if we don’t get to take part in the fullness of the derelicts' deserved
penalty. It might cost us some friends,
because let’s face it, only a fraction of people are capable of reconciling the
awful thing that was done and showing compassion upon those who caused it to
happen. You’d be outnumbered if you
chose love over “the usual.” It’s a
concept that works much better in theory than in practice.
But what would it look like to be known as the town that
chose love over libel? The town that chose redemption over retribution? The town that determined not to throw away any of its children? The town that said, “Justice must be served and we accept that,
but while justice is having her way, WE will rally together on behalf of all
those involved and provide the support necessary to ensure the rehabilitative
portion of the penalty.”
This calling is not for the cowardly: those who prefer to
stay silent when words need to be said or action needs to be taken, can’t help but declare loudly their opinions before
knowing the facts, or spew hatred from behind the safety of a computer screen
things they’d never be brave enough to say in public. Only those who understand the nature of
redemption and how it applies in this situation can fully get behind an
audacious move as this one. Is there anyone in this town who has experienced redemption?
As a community, only a handful of people are cognizant of
the events that took place on October 12 and they are not at liberty to
divulge until called upon to do so in court. So let’s make a new commitment.
Let’s allow the suspects the most fundamental tenet of the law—the one that
states that they are in fact innocent until proven guilty (regardless of what you heard was distributed on social media). Let’s speak up when outsiders, or insiders,
speak hatefully about these young people and the things they hope or think
should happen to them and at least get the message across that Hopkinsville
citizens are not okay with the
violence—any of it. Let’s try something
different and new and unique and come together to support the victim, his family and friends, the suspects and their families and to educate each other to prevent anything like this
happening again.
#WeCareAboutOurKids
#RedemptionIsGreaterThanRetribution
#SolidarityInHoptown
#RiseAboveItHoptown
Am I alone here?
Sincerely,
C. Arnold
