If you’ve followed my column for a while, you should know what’s coming. Even if you’ve read a few articles here and there, you probably know what I’m about to discuss. Only this time, the anger and sadness I feel while writing this have reached new heights.
On Tuesday, at 8.54am I got a notification on my phone from a news site reporting that a woman had been shot dead next to Corradino. It was like a bucket of ice had been thrown over my head. I instinctively knew what was coming but nothing prepared me for the social media barrage that was about to be unleashed.
As the hours rolled by and more information came to light, I was gripped with rage at what I was seeing. As it turned out, and as it usually does, 40-year-old Bernice Cassar wasn’t just a random victim that was at the wrong place at the wrong time: she was a woman that had filed multiple futile reports at the police station against her husband. The same husband that was now holed up in the house they had once shared, updating his Facebook status and heartlessly messaging the victim’s brother.
As the police waited outside the house and attempted to persuade him to come out with the kind of restraint they usually only seem to save for their fellow countryfolk, the people that weren’t callously asking what she must have done to deserve this (because, apparently, you can earn being shot in the street in a supposedly civilised country) were choosing to focus on her poor children.
There was little to no talk about the fact that a young, healthy woman had been cut down in her prime and, instead, the spotlight was passed straight to her offspring. Because, of course, what other role could a woman have in our society other than being a mother?
Here was an example of a woman who had used all the proper channels and resources she could, and this was the result- Anna Marie Galea
Yes, it’s heartbreaking that her children will grow up without a mother, or a father, for that matter, but what of Bernice, the woman? What of her dreams? Her aspirations? Her hopes for the future?
The way that we view women is right there in the language we choose to use; nothing gives you away like words.
Of course, once it emerged that she had made multiple reports and asked for help dozens of times, the usual trolls couldn’t even ask why she didn’t leave. Here was an example of a woman who had used all the proper channels and resources she could and this was the result. All those times she had gone to her lawyer and waited to speak to the police had still led to this horrific outcome. And then we ask why more people don’t speak up.
No, Bernice, today I don’t weep for your children, though the road ahead for them will be a hard one full of unthinkable challenges. We can cry for them tomorrow and the day after that.
Today I cry because our country couldn’t protect you despite your courage and resolve. Today I cry because another needless death has happened. Today I cry because today’s news will line tomorrow’s bird cages and people forget far too soon.
Today I cry because someone’s tomorrow has been taken and even that won’t be enough to change anything.