5/19/2004 An angry white mom's open letter to Channel 9
Haddayr Copley-Woods
Dear News Director,
It's happened again: I came home to see that familiar rolled-up flyer wedged under my door handle with the scales of justice logo. Another Level III sex offender‹the most dangerous kind‹has moved into my neighborhood. I believe this is the eighth or ninth one I have received in the six years I have lived in the Minneapolis Powderhorn Park neighborhood.
I assume you'll be sending out a big van with cameras and lights and reporters with expensive hairstyles right away, just like you did earlier this year when a Level III sex offender moved to Lakeville. Despite many opportunities, you've never covered this type of story here before, but I'm sure it was an oversight.
I know it's sweeps month, and I like you guys, so I'll come clean about one tiny problem: I can't promise you a room full of angry, frightened white people. Many of my neighbors, like me, are getting a little numb in the face of the endless parade of Level III sex offender flyers they receive. I fear the police-sponsored informational meeting may be sparsely attended. And I confess that of those who do show up‹well, some of them may not be white.
But, wait! I'm a white lady; I could do a self-righteous, pursed-mouthed interview with you. I'm practicing my speech: "I just don't know what to do anymore. He could be driving his car past our door this very minute! These days, you just never know if your kids are safe." I could sex it up by holding my young child close to my swelling, pregnant belly while choking back tears.
The voice-over won't be able to say in hushed, dramatic tones, as you did in the Lakeville story: "Mrs. Copley-Woods moved her family to Powderhorn Park to get away from inner-city crime, and now this." But you could say: "Haddayr moved to the city to get away from the acrid smell of chicken droppings and that creepy guy who was always trying to flash girls at her remote bus stop, and now this."
You could even do some shots of children laughing innocently at the playground, unaware of the lurking terror. I can't promise that all of them will be well-dressed and blond, but perhaps you could frame the shot to encourage this impression.
I know this goes against your journalistic instincts. You're not used to covering stories like this in my neighborhood‹stories that affect families. You only seem interested in shootings (and then, only if certain people are killed) or stories about The Gang Problem, with the occasional coverage of the May Day Parade thrown in to show how with-it you are. Perhaps some of you don't realize that an army of parents who care about their kids live in my neighborhood and are just as upset as suburban parents‹although less shocked‹by these men living amongst us. Perhaps you don't realize that our children deserve safe and happy childhoods as much as the children of Lakeville.
Now don't get me wrong. Unlike many of my suburban counterparts, I have never lived in a fantasy world where everyone is always safe, and I know that car accidents hurt far more children than predators. Still, I hug Arie a little harder than necessary each time I get one of these notices.
I am also aware of economic reality: when you get out of jail, you need cheap rent, and most suburbs have done a great job of making sure there's none to be found there. While I wish this didn't lead to the warehousing of sex offenders certain neighborhoods, that seems to be how it is. I wonder sometimes though: what might happen if you actually covered stories like this? Would there be an outcry, or even an accounting of how many perverts per capita my neighborhood has compared to yours? Would there just be a collective shrug?
Let's find out! I'd appreciate it if you could send some hysterical wild-eyed reporters here to cover this story. Probably something that affects such an unimportant population can't be milked for a week's worth of coverage and picked up by the other networks like the Lakeville story was, but you might at least get a 30-second news segment out of it. Maybe even two minutes, if it's a slow news night.
Thank you so much. I'll be watching the news each night eagerly to see when the story hits!
Sincerely,
An angry, frightened white mom
Haddayr Copley-Woods is a writer and graphic designer.
Who's living in your neighborhood?
The Minnesota Department of Corrections website allows the public to search for Level III sex offenders living in their neighborhood by zip code at www.doc.state.mn.us/level3/Search.asp.
