The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Laken Riley’s death made me more afraid at UGA, but women must live with fear every day
Dangers are a front-burner concern only when they push political narratives.
The day after Laken Riley’s murder, I went out to walk my dog. It was daylight, but before I left I made sure I fully charged my phone and was ready to be watchful of my surroundings.
Laken Riley’s death is reported to be the first homicide at the University of Georgia in more than 30 years. However, every woman including my peers at UGA can tell you it wasn’t the first time we have felt unsafe for doing something as simple as walking or running outdoors.
When I started walking, I noticed the fraternity house in front of my apartment had hung a “Pray for Athens” sign on its roof. Just that sign alone reassured me that perhaps even a fraternity full of men had the compassion to sympathize with what women were going through.
As I walked further, I went into a nearly empty parking lot in a quieter area. Only one man was there, halfway sitting in a truck with its front door open. I, like many women, have a hypervigilance of the possibility of violence and how something can quickly go from one to 100.
I looked over my shoulder a couple of times before he stood up and calmly told me, “I am going to get out of my car, but so you know, I am not following you.” I did not reply until he continued, “I live right there. I can show you my keys and wait to walk in front of you if that would make you feel better.” It did. I watched him walk to his house, and I walked back to mine.
Just those few words alone made me feel safe. Sometimes, I consider whether those few days were perhaps the safest I have felt as a woman. Men were conscious of how they came off, who they were around and what their behaviors might be communicating to women around them. That quickly changed when investigators released information that the suspect was an undocumented immigrant.
Then, many folks and politicians started to push a narrative that this was one instance relating to a singular perpetrator of violence. They continue to say that Laken Riley’s murder would not have happened if it were not for the suspect’s immigration status. That is simply not true.
The United Nations reports one in three women worldwide have experienced physical or sexual violence. One in four experiences completed or attempted rape, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In almost all the cases, the perpetrators are men. On feminism, scholar Catherine Rottenberg writes, “Inequality between men and women is thus paradoxically acknowledged only to be disavowed.”
The lingering danger that every woman faces is seemingly only acknowledged when it can provide politicians a reactionary basis to push their agenda. The Georgia House passed House Bill 1105, which allows law enforcement officials to arrest and detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally and mandates that local officials coordinate with federal immigration authorities.
Lawmakers said they were acting to protect women, but apparently never considered the plight of immigrant women or girls, even though we know displaced and marginalized women are at risk for sexual and gender-based violence, persecution, social exclusion and detention.
Laken Riley’s death is a call to support all women. Anything less is perpetuating the discriminatory targeting that has overtaken our communities for ages.
Each day reminds me of the dichotomy of it all. Flowers underneath the arch that Laken Riley never had the chance to walk through. A nation watching women’s worst nightmares continuing to perpetuate on a global scale. Others watching, ready to exploit our pain for the worst.