black…MYstory

Over the last few weeks, in Cincinnati, the world’s turned upside-down. We have seen two cases which, once again, call into question issues of race and class as they pertain to law enforcement in this area.

On August 23, Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby, a school Vice-Principal, left her 2-year-old child in her car while she went to work. According to Nesselroad-Slaby, she broke from her normal routine and stopped to pick up doughnuts for her staff. She stated that the child had fallen asleep and that she simply forgot that her child was in the car when she went into work. The child died in a hot car where the temperature exceeded some 100 degrees. Interestingly enough, while she didn’t remember leaving her child, she did remember the doughnuts she left in the car. Video shows her going back to the car for the doughnuts but leaving her daughter in her car seat.

Nessleroad-Slaby was not charged in her daughter’s death.

Now, Some might say that this is just an accident. I would counter that this was an accident waiting to happen. Nessleroad-Slaby had previously left her daughter unattended in her vehicle on three separate occasions. Prior to the child’s death, the most recent had been the same week in which the child died — Nessleroad-Slaby left the child alone in the car for 10 minutes. In fact, she had been warned by a former administrator of her other daughter’s preschool about the dangers of leaving the child alone in the car when another parent saw the child had been left alone in the car this past winter.

To contrast this, let’s look at the case of Lavonn Smith. Thankfully, today, she was released from jail. Who did she kill? A better question would be what did she kill or, better yet, what died in her yard?

Well, a pit bull that was tied up in her back yard died after being hung up on a tangled chain. So, Smith was convicted of animal cruelty and failure to register the animal. However, it may very well be the case that it was her 14-year-old nephew that tethered the dog in the yard, which he says was a stray animal that just wouldn’t leave. It is very likely that Smith did not even know the animal was there. In fact, Judge Russell, herself, said that she did not believe that Smith left the animal but, that she was still responsible as the property owner. The dog had been there about four days before it was discovered.

Prior to today’s release, Smith had been in jail for nearly 3 weeks after being denied bond by Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Heather Russell. However, heat from family, community activists and the local NAACP must have swayed the opinion because now she will not serve any more jail time (she was facing up to six months in jail and a $1000 fine). Smith is a single working mother of two-year-old twin boys who could still lose her job and the place she rented.

If you haven’t surmised, Nessleroad-Slaby is white and Smith is black.

So, they question is — why send a mother to jail over a dead dog but not over a dead child, particularly when the latter had a history of leaving the child in a dangerous situation?

UPDATE: I see that I am not the only person who believes that Brenda Nesselroad-Slaby should have faced charges.

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