THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508040006
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 31 lines
So Charlise Lyles thinks if you're a white Virginia Beach housewife and you happen to be a murder victim, you can expect your murder to be solved (``Does silence mean brutality is expected, accepted among us?'' column, July 27). Wrong!
My mother-in-law was a white Virginia Beach housewife, and after eight years her homicide is still unsolved.
No one established a scholarship in her name. No one laid flowers on her Rose Hall apartment door. No one from any organization contacted us about a sit-in or a march to protest her unsolved murder. We, too, are living with no arrest, no witnesses, no trial and no conviction.
I can name at least two other white families who are living with unsolved homicides; one of them was a retarded teenager who opened the door to a stranger.
Ms. Lyles owes my family and all the white families of unsolved homicides an apology for her racist column. She needs to see that unsolved homicide victims come in all colors and socioeconomic backgrounds.
JUDITH S. PEREGORY
Portsmouth, July 28, 1995 by CNB