Gabby Petito, Grace Millane, Lena Zhang Harrap, Jamie Kaiwai. Why do some events grab our attention more than others?
Lena Zhang Harrap's precious life was cruelly stolen on 22nd September 2021 while taking her morning walk up Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand.
A 31-year-old man has been arrested and appeared in court for a first hearing.
Lena was a caring, loving 27-year-old who enjoyed dancing. She also had Down Syndrome and visual impairment. Her parents commendably wanted to give her a sense of independence and freedom and that included walking around the neighbourhood. A vulnerable member of our community, she deserved all of our protection.
A case that hit me hard
I heard about the incident from discussions on the Mt. Albert Community Facebook page and then news articles.
Her death hit me hard. I live in Mt. Albert and also grew up here. Every Saturday, my mum would interrupt my Saturday morning sleep-in to drag me for a walk to the summit. I took this simple exercise for granted. As a fellow Asian, I grew up with racial victimization from people who believed we were soft targets. Lena also reminded me of a neighbour who had Down Syndrome who would spend his days cycling around the surrounding suburbs.
I felt sad, distraught and angry.
To me, Lena’s death was a tragedy. "Can't we do something about this?" I asked. "Protesting, writing petitions, donating to causes, marches down Queen St?! I don't know, even social media is better than nothing!"
Should there have been more social change ignited from this case?
And it seemed like I wasn't the only one asking questions:
The question that has been repeatedly asked is: "Why isn't Lena Zhang Harrap getting the attention of the likes of Gabby Petito?" (who dreadfully disappeared, but whose case has garnered international fascination).
You could substitute Gabby Petito's name for the likes of Grace Millane or, for those of a previous generation, Olivia Hope.
And you could substitute Lena's name for Jamie Kaiwai, Leonie Emery or Mataamua Tawaroa; three names that turned up as I dug deeper.
I didn’t even know about these cases. Was this because the media didn’t cover them as much? Was this part of the under-reporting of brown lives; repeated instances of "Missing White Woman Syndrome".
Undoubtedly, the media does have a huge role to play in framing how we see our world and shaping whether we choose to empathise. Journalists aren't immune to publishing and following stories which personally interest them or drive an unfair agenda. We do need to hold those sections of the media accountable for misleading click-bait. But I think it's overly simplistic to blame everything on "MAINSTREAM MEDIA!!!"
Because it's also our clicks that influence what newsrooms publish.
It's possible that I did see these stories in the news and I didn't pay attention. And since learning of the cases of Jamie, Leonie and Mataamua, I've asked why I haven't shed a tear for them. Maybe the reason lay in why I cared so much about Lena:
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“Her death hit me hard. I live in Mt. Albert and also grew up here. Every Saturday, my mum would interrupt my Saturday morning sleep-in to drag me for a walk to the summit with my family. I took this simple exercise for granted. As a fellow Asian, I grew up with racial victimization from people who believed we were soft targets. Lena also reminded me of a neighbour who had Down Syndrome who would spend his days cycling around the surrounding suburbs.
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Part of the answers is that I felt closer to Lena because she was like me, an Asian living in Mt. Albert who regularly climbed the mountain.
But we need to care equally
We tend to feel stronger when there is a personal connection; and that makes sense, you’ll always grieve more for a family member than you will for someone you never really knew. It’s a survival mechanism. But we have to understand that our interests can be vested:
Quantity of interest: theoretically, if we all only feel closest for those who are like us, then by sheer numbers, those who look more like the majority will get more attention, while minorities and those on the fringes will receive less empathy
Quality of interest: those who are in power to decide (e.g. newsrooms, police stations, voices on social media and community leaders) will lend their authority to solving what touches them over what doesn't.
Throw on top of this our complex racial, demographic and socio-economic biases and you have the quagmire we find ourselves in – that we work harder to save some lives more than others.
So what can we do?
I don't have all the answers but perhaps:
Pay attention to the struggles of those from a different world. This could be a different religion, culture, race, language, mental/physical ability, gender, sexuality, geography, political opinion. You don't always need to agree, but try to feel what they feel.
Build bridges with people who are different. Invite them for a meal.
Realise your viewpoint is not the default for everyone else around you. In researching this blog, I've learned so much about the challenges faced by people with disabilities (even learning to address them as "people with disabilities", not "disabled people").
Educate yourself on how the world isn't fair for everyone
Get involved, donate, attend rallies, give your time. Organisations need all of our support to stay afloat.
If all that is too much, just click the links and read the articles that you didn't used to. Show our media organisations that you care about diversity in reporting. Many of them want to do right, but the ad revenue keeps the lights on and that indirectly comes from us as the readers.
Lena's death, like those of all other victims, was a tragedy. But sometimes, tragedies can bring new perspectives, or even groundswells of support. As the world looked on following the tragedies of George Floyd, Eve van Grafhorst, or Christchurch's mosque attacks, we saw other sectors of humanity differently and gave more grace to those who lost their lives. They became us.
There are so many crises that don't get much attention: the plight of refugees, those struggling with mental illness, those living in makeshift accommodation in our housing crisis, the rural poor or those being displaced from their homes due to climate change. We can't change all these issues over-night, but we need to give each of them a fair shot - even if they don't personally affect us. And that starts by simply caring.