Every state has a justice system made to protect its people. But without citizens willing to obey and support these systems, we are left to watch society drown in disorder.
One in every five Louisianans live in poverty — a statistic that hasn’t shown improvement since 2000. We tend to ignore the fact that just a few streets down from our lovely campus, others are succumbing to their addictions and neglecting their children because they know nothing better.
It’s a vicious cycle that we sometimes forget about while living in our polite little college bubbles. Or maybe we do realize what is happening, but it’s become so common that we’ve built up a tolerance.
It’s a large problem that can’t be solved with one ethical revelation. But we have to start somewhere.
On Monday, Sept. 30, a Baton Rouge woman was arrested for one count of manslaughter in the death of her 12-week-old baby. The baby died three days after being brought to the hospital in critical condition. She had been left unattended and disconnected from her respiratory device for nearly three hours.
Both the mother, Kewanda Duncan, 29, and her baby, A’Mircle Parker, tested positive for cocaine and marijuana at the time of birth. Duncan was still given custody of her daughter despite test results — a fact that leads me to question the responsibility demonstrated by the practitioners involved.
The situation itself is tragic and upsetting. No one likes when drugs are a potential factor in an otherwise preventable death.
But what’s more upsetting is that the death could have been avoided, had observing citizens done their job.
The workers at Baton Rouge General Medical Center, where Duncan gave birth, had responsibility for the child they delivered. In the state of Louisiana, substance abuse during pregnancy is considered child abuse.
So who turned a blind eye to the situation? Someone could have stopped this ordeal before it began had they reported the fact that Duncan was using and therefore harming her child.
It’s not just this instance that demonstrates a lack of attention to underprivileged citizens in Baton Rouge. I think it’s safe to say that there are parts of our city living in a state of neglect with no one rooting for their redemption.
Justice is often overlooked when crime runs an area. Bystanders turn the other way to avoid responsibility, and in this case it resulted in a child’s death.
We can’t continue to avoid what we are afraid of — it’s a pathetic trait we are all guilty of possessing. We want to think that what goes on in our backyard is out of our control and that we can’t stop it.
But we can.
We can encourage programs that educate and support the people in these areas. Most importantly, we can hold people accountable for their actions. The actions, or lack of action, of one person can impact many others, and in many cases others who cannot yet defend themselves from harm.
It’s frustrating that people will watch Duncan go to jail for something she shouldn’t have been responsible for in the first place. She should still be held accountable for her actions, but it should be a wake up call for the people who saw this tragedy unfold.
I’m tired of seeing these things happen. Provisions should be set in place to stop crimes before they occur. Baton Rouge needs to focus on improving public education and training individuals that actually care about the well being of children with addiction-prone mothers.
It’s a cycle, but it can be broken.
If we put money into anything with our limited budget it should be for the betterment of the people that make up our city. Baton Rouge needs to focus on its struggling areas because bad things can happen when a city turns a blind eye to its problems.