With the news this week of the death of Rodney King, the man whose beating by police sparked the LA riots in 1991 and the total exoneration of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain in the death of their daughter Azaria at Ayers Rock in 1980, it makes me think how these lives changed in an instant and they were innocent people, well Rodney was driving drunk but he didn’t deserve that beating.
The Chamberlain’s lives changed the night a dingo took their nine week old baby out of the tent. Meryl Streep was right ” A dingo took my babee”. They endured decades of what could only be described as a witch hunt by the media. She was tried and sentenced by public opinion before she even reached the court house. People were suspicious about the religion they practiced, they thought that the way they handled their grief wasn’t right but I remember thinking that it’s wasn’t right what they had to go through. I was 12 at the time. This story dominated the news in Australia for a very long time.
How do you live through that? Going to jail for something you know you didn’t do. Spending 5 years of your life there.Having a child while being incarcerated.Then the pressure of the situation causing so many problems including the marriage breakdown and some serious behaviour problems from the older boys.
I couldn’t even imagine having to endure such a thing on top of losing a new baby in such heartbreaking circumstances. The story had such an impact on me as a young person that I can bring back the feelings I had all those years ago. 32 years is long time to have to endure something like this.
I bought Lindy’s book tonight. It’s not much but I would like to hear it in her words and maybe she’ll make more money as well. Not from just my purchase of course but now she’s front page news again and cleared of all charges, people may want to read what she has to say. I do.
Here’s a link to Lindy’s Book on [amazon_link id=”B007C8K76A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]kindle[/amazon_link] or in [amazon_link id=”0975114530″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]print[/amazon_link].
The media has a lot to answer for, the way they sensationalise things just to get a story. They do it every day to countless people, destroying their worlds from that day on. Assuming without knowing anything. Human nature is like that. We’re so busy looking for the story, we forget to think of the people involved. The family, their grief. The world needs a great big helping of empathy. Just sayin’