The saying “ignorance is bliss” means that it is better to not know about a thing, situation or event. It means it's better for someone to not know what a person really thinks about you or your circumstances. Some people feel that it’s better to be unaware, and thus ignorant of unpleasant situations that cause them stress or would in some way hold them accountable for what they have now become aware of in their safe, blissful world. If we don’t know about a thing, we can’t help, support or change a thing. If we don’t know about it, we can’t care about it. 

Currently there is a “Me Too” campaign going on across the nation. It seems that now is the time for people, especially women, who have been sexually harassed to have their voices heard. If women have been raped in the past they are now speaking out about it in the present. Men are going to jail, they are being fired from their jobs, they are being made to step down from high political offices, a few women have also been accused of sexual harassment. Now is the time for people to speak out and demand justice for the sexual crimes committed against them. 

Well, maybe not here in Columbus, Ohio because there appears to be a video deposition with Lt. Mark Gardner, under oath, testifying that reports of all child abuse reports go “directly to my junk file ...” According to State Representative Bernadine Kennedy Kent’s media release on April 2, 2018 “child victims as young as 8-months old” who have been the victim of assault and rape are in Gardner’s junk file. Kent sent Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs “127 pages; and no less than 40 reports detailing both horrific child abuse and serious police misconduct.” Kent reports that none of the allegations were entered into the Internal Affairs Department (IAD) system for investigation. Once again, the plight of young black girls that are raped seemed to be of no concern to the justice system in Columbus. 

Many African American organizations, community, political leaders and parents of two rape victims have written to Jacobs asking for reported cases to be investigated. They began asking for this in 2015 and are still waiting for justice and someone to care about these girls and boys too. Is it the fact that the children in question are Black? Is that the reason? Why are victims in Columbus not as important as the victims that have been given national attention in the Me Too Movement? Are they not as important as the white women who are raped? 

We know that when a Black man rapes a white woman, and kills her, in Ohio, especially if they are college students, that he’s gonna be hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest. We’ll read it in the Dispatch every day, we’ll see it on the local news every day, during the trial we’ll read about it and see it every day until he’s put away in prison for life. But that same Black man can rape and kill a black child or woman and what do you read and see? One paragraph in the Dispatch (if she’s lucky) and a 30 to 60 second report on the local news for no more than 24 hours. That’s it and that’s all folks. You can go on with your life of “bliss” and be ignorant of the fact that there is a clear distinct difference in the way the Columbus Police Department and media handles white rape cases versus black rape cases. 

Could it be that deep down inside there are just too many “Roseanne Barr’s” that see Black men and women as “Apes?” If we dehumanize a person then we can easily disregard a person. We can see them as not victims of crimes, because animals don’t have rights. Wait a minute, animals do have rights, more rights then it appears Black people, especially Black children who are defenseless have in Columbus. These children are helpless and unable to stand up against those that could help them but won’t help them get justice. Instead their cases are being put in the “junk mail file” which leaves them voiceless. 

There are some people who continue to be “ignorant in bliss” as they go about their lives, only becoming aware of their surroundings when reality is shoved into their faces and they can’t ignore it. ABC knew who they had when they brought Barr back on the air. They counted on people who live in “bliss” to overlook her racism for laughs, just like the Columbus Police Department under the leadership of Jacobs has counted on the residents who live in “bliss” to overlook the rape and abuse of Black children.