homeless man rapes woman -- she gets no sympathy (Seattle: sex offender, crime)

[Cinema Cat]

https://www.city-journal.org/seattle...homeless-crime

A year ago, in Seattle, a man living in a city-funded homeless encampment raped a woman in the bathroom of a Volkswagen dealership in the city’s Ballard neighborhood. Christopher Teel had arrived from Texas as a transient and was evading multiple warrants, but the city-sanctioned encampment welcomed him without conducting a criminal-background check. ...

Nearly a year later, the victim, Lindsey, contacted me. After being raped, she had approached city leaders and met with the sitting councilman for nearly an hour but was received, she says, with dismissiveness. Teel’s crime against her did not fit the preferred narrative of compassion for the homeless, so the political class downplayed it.

Lindsey asked me to create a short documentary so that she could tell her story in her own words. ... We edited the film together and posted it to Facebook on April 22. That evening, it was the lead story on all four local Seattle news networks and had reached more than 35,000 people on social media. The public renewed its call for warrant checks at city-sanctioned encampments. Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan condemned the assault and commended “the courage of a survivor of sexual violence to speak out.”

Then came the backlash. Progressive activists launched a counterattack against Lindsey on social media. Local journalist Erica Barnett claimed that the story drew attention because Lindsey is an “attractive blonde woman” and dismissed the victim’s “many tears” as theatrics serving a false narrative that the homeless represent a danger to the community. She demanded that the media temper its reporting and be mindful that “graphic descriptions of violent rape may be triggering for survivors.”

Barnett’s message was amplified on left-wing Twitter; Councilwoman Lorena Gonzalez claimed that Lindsey’s story would create fear and cause harm to communities “that may already be triggered.”

[Montezia]

This is digusting and sad. It's almost as if the homeless are a protected class in spite of criminal background. And how does the city allow encampments anyway?

[jakebarnes]

Unfortunately, this is not surprising. I'm frankly tired of the street disorder and dealing with mentally ill people nearly daily. (To be fair, I work on 3rd avenue downtown, so I am at ground zero). I'm serious considering looking for a job on the Eastside and making the commute, so I don't have to deal with this both at work and at home (I live in central Seattle)

Also, Erica C Barnett is not a great journalist. There's a reason she runs her own blog and isn't at any local papers.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Disgusting

[Returning2USA]

Seattle is run by idiots.

[rjshae]

I'll just suggest not over-generalizing based on a few ludicrous social media posts. Most people find this behavior abhorrent.


P.S. I thought she (the victim) was very courageous for coming forward like that.

[Ruth4Truth]

People in positions of authority, civic leaders, law enforcement, whoever, are nutty, if they think there aren't dangerous people among the homeless. A homeless encampment would be the perfect place for a wanted criminal to avoid detection, in fact. Or a sex offender. This is common sense. However, I don't know that running criminal background checks could be effective; do the homeless all carry ID?

[Transmition]

So the phrase in the title "she gets no sympathy" actually means "two people give her no sympathy but everyone else does"

[musicfamly5]

I remember when the attack happened; I used to live down the street in Ballard and the increasing number of crimes, violent homeless cause us to leave (before the assault). The homeless in that area were not just down on our luck or homeless families...these were people who clearly committed crimes (most would stash stolen merchandise and carts full of stolen detergent all over the place), would maintain their drug use and drunkenness 24/7, and never attempted to receive any kind of help; even turn down church dinners and supplies, all they want is cash for their habits. It's ridiculous how the city not only doesn't care about these sick people; they protect them while throwing any and everyone else under the bus. Including the homeless that truly are looking for solutions or attempting to stay safe, they get tossed aside since they aren't "high risk" enough.

Councilmember M. Lorena González posted this in response to the situation:
‏"When reporting on #sexual #assault and #violence, “The responsibility of the media is to ask what does this illustrate and what solutions does this point to?” says @ericacbarnett. And to “not sensationalize or create fear” in communities that may already be triggered." https://twitter.com/CMLGonzalez/stat...63566372818944

So it's alright for us to tear down and shame a survivor of sexual assault that you failed to protect by creating measures and delegating resources to ensure the safety and health of the citizens you promised to serve? Her use of the word "triggered" is so nauseating as it denounces one person's right to fear and feel at risk due to traumatizing events simply because it doesn't align with Gonzalezs' need to be seen as a "protector" to the people she's chosen deserves more support because "they've had a bad time longer". So since this woman was the wrong socio-economic level she doesn't get to be heard and her experiences and trauma is invalid? Is this even real life anymore!?!?!

[CharlesRamon]

Seattle coddles its rich corporate daddies and homeless junkie criminals while screwing over the normal, middle class people who hold the city together. Good job, Seattle City Council. Thanks for that. Maybe you can increase our taxes even more to help you kiss up to Jeff Bezos and give free housing and other goods to people who not only refuse to work or get help but also commit crimes to fund their addictions.