AB.com Guest Post - The UNC & Auburn Murders

[Editor's Note: AverageSisterInLaw goes in on this whole phenomenon of missing white women in the context of the recent killings of students at UNC and Auburn.]

Admittedly, for the last several months, I have been rolling my eyes (literally) and chanting "poor thing" (facetiously) whenever a TV show, in which I was thoroughly engrossed, was abruptly interrupted by a breaking news alert announcing the latest white woman to go missing. It's not that I didn't feel for the victim and their families. It's just that I resented the fact that the safety and welfare of white women, (and even that of Hispanic, Asian or anything-but-black women) makes for hours of national news coverage, while, in my thirty-two years of life, I can't recall ever seeing a national segment following the search for a black woman. So, in a word, I have been salty.

But that saltiness wasn't present when I heard about the recent murders of the white female students at Auburn University and the University of North Carolina. I automatically felt compassion for these victims and scorn for the perpetrators. Maybe it's because UNC is my alma mater and that I happened to be back in NC this weekend to personally witness all of the "isn't this such a shame"-ness that my friends and family were feeling about it.

Then my attention turned to the perpetrators, who I prayed were not young, black men, but deep down inside figured they probably were. Sorry. Just being honest. And then I learned that the alleged murderer in the Auburn case and the number one suspect in the UNC case were, in fact, young, black men. My initial reaction was a mild, typical "Not again". But I later became ENRAGED when I read that the Auburn suspect had kidnapped the victim then robbed and stripped her naked before shooting her in the head. And just days later, he attempted to rob or abduct an elderly woman in a parking lot. This time I shouted out loud, "WHAT THE HELL????"

And I now pose the same question to you- What the hell? What the hell is it going to take for us to heal our community? Who is most able to alleviate the situation? It's easy to point to causes of WHY we have suffered- racism, the economy, lack of jobs, the penal system, crack; the list goes on and on. But we need to move forward and figure out how to dig ourselves out of this miserable hole. Who is best able to accomplish this feat?

Well, at the risk of being called a Cosby-ite, I'm just gonna put it all out there: Do women need to insist on a ring before they get themselves knocked up because we know how much havoc the "absent father" epidemic has wreaked? Do men need to man-the-hell up, stop running and making excuses and take care of their daggone kids?? Do teachers in majority black inner cities need to obtain a degree in social work before stepping into a classroom? Do white teachers of black students in majority white suburbs need mandatory diversity/ sensitivity training to make them aware of the fact that they consistently overlook black students in favor or advancing the students that could pass for their own sons or daughters? What's the answer people because I'm running out of ideas.

Question: You got any answers for AverageSisterInLaw?

Cops Eye Break In UNC Student Slaying [CBS]