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January 29, 2006
Requiem
It's not often that I stumble across a story in the news that actually brings a catch to my throat -- you know, curmudgeonism isn't just a blog persona, it's a way of life. So when one comes along, it sticks with me. And in this case, it also makes me mad.
Sean Keel was a 34 year old man living in San Francisco. He had a wife, and two young daughters, one four and the other five months. Sean hadn't had an easy run in life -- he had spent some time in a court-ordered rehab program -- but he had completely turned his life around, sobering up for four years now to focus on his wife and daughters; he and his wife just bought a house, and he was even able to buy his wife a used-but-tricked-out BMW for Mother's Day. By every report, he was a gentle and loving father who doted on his wife and daughters.
Unfortunately, last week a couple of thugs decided that car was more important than a good man's life. Sean was shot and killed in a carjacking at 2 am last Saturday night as he left his job at a valet parking service. That's sad enough, but what takes this story from tragic to heartbreaking is the reaction of Keel's four year old daughter to her daddy's death. Coping and grieving in ways that make sense to a four year old, the little girl has been calling her father's cell phone and leaving messages for him... messages he'll never return.
Dan Abrams of MSNBC covered the story in his program on Thursday... and it was quite possibly one of the most emotional segments I've ever seen on the news. As the girl's cell messages aired, Abrams was visibly shaken, and it looked very much like he didn't want to be dragging the widow onto national television; this was one instance where the media actually looked like it had a conscience. I warn you... if you click on the link and launch the video instead of just reading the story, be ready to have tears well up. If Vanessa Keel's messages -- and both the pain and the strength of his wife Rosa -- don't reach you and break your heart, then you don't have one to break.
I have two reactions to this story, the first being somewhat primal. I know there are a number of good, convincing arguments against the death penalty -- it's used arbitrarily and far more frequently in cases with minority defandants, DNA evidence is revealing that in some cases, the law gets it wrong and innocent people are jailed for crimes they didn't commit and one day soon we're going to execute someone innocent -- and I admit to being swayed by many of them. But it's for cases like the Keel murder that the death penalty was invented. If anyone has ever deserved to die for their crime, it's the punks who chose to end this man's life for a set of expensive rims. Seriously, I don't care that it's suspected that the murderers are teenagers; there's nothing in those "kids" worth saving. Fry them, with extra juice.
Secondly, I have to wonder why this isn't front page news -- why Sean Keel's photo isn't on the front of every newspaper and every cable news network isn't devoting hours of nightly coverage to the latest developments in the case. Outside of the Abrams report and the Bay Area media, it's slid quietly under the radar. Maybe it would help the media if Sean Keel were a young, rich, blonde like Natalee Holloway, and not a black man.
See, this is what I don't understand; Natalee Holloway's case, while sad and certainly tragic, is one in which a rich kid was allowed to go off with no adult supervision, got herself drunk and ran off with some total stranger late at night in a foreign country without telling any of her friends where she was going; what happened is hardly unexpected and might have been prevented by better judgement in any of a half dozen places along the timeline of the case. Sean Keel went to work, worked hard, and was trying to come home. Why is the Holloway case considered so much more newsworthy? I'm not one to read racism (either subtle or overt) into every circumstance, but I have to think this is a prime example of a subtle form of it. It's not right, and the national media ought to be ashamed that the Keel case isn't even a fraction as prominent nationwide.
Anyone reading from California who should stumble upon information that could be of any use to the police, please call 415-575-4444.
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Comments
One of the things fathering a litte girl does to you is make you into a complete and utter sap when it comes to anything father-and-daughter related. As a result, I'll have to take your word for it on this one, Mudge.
Posted by: Pete at January 30, 2006 12:30 AM
Couldn't have said it better, Pete. I don't think I'll be clicking the link either, for double the reason you mention.
If Schwarzenegger were really The Terminator governor, he'd terminate the low-life scum in public who murdered Keel.
Posted by: The SpinMD at January 30, 2006 09:45 AM
ug, so hard to weigh in on stuff like this because sometimes I feel like if my boyfriend killed my dad... I'd still love him. So imagine a family with a son who kills some dude. They have this love for their son and its family and unconditional and as parents or brothers and sisters maybe you just hope they'll be reformed. And your thoughts are clouded by your love for that person. Know what I mean?
ACK!! I have a heart! Please don't turn this into my advocating car jacking or anything.. I just always think of both families involved and it's so tricky.
Posted by: thebeav at January 31, 2006 08:13 PM
