Remembering Shawna Hawk, Latasha Norman and the Recent Victims of Violence

Shawna Hawk 1972-1993



Latasha Norman, R.I.P.

Today, Miss Shawna Denise Hawk would have turned 35 years old. Instead she was murdered on February 19, 1993. A victim of the sadistic serial killer who is still on death row after he was convicted in 1997 of nine murders of young Black women in Charlotte between 1992 and 1994. Miss Shawna would have been married with children and an accomplished professional woman today.

What I'm writing about today is the epidemic of violence against Black women in the past two weeks. The latest in the war against Black women is Latasha Norman of Greenville Mississippi.

Like Shawna, Latasha was an upstanding college student. Miss Norman attended Jackson State University in Jackson, MS and was on her way to success until her ex-boyfriend, who was stalking her for awhile after the breakup, murdered her last month. Her case didn't merited attention outside of Jackson where she was first reported missing in mid-November.

Her case drew national attention while she was missing for more than two weeks, especially after Hinds County Sheriff and Jackson Police Chief Malcolm McMillin scolded the media for, in essence, ignoring Norman because she is black.

Miss Norman was described by family and friends as a beautiful, accomplished student and a good all-American girl.

Another accomplished young woman, Stepha Henry, is still missing since April of this year. She was last seen at a club in Miami in mid-April. Although her story was nationwide, even meriting two pages in People magazine, the case wasn't as big as Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teen who was missing in 2005. The public is still obsessed about her since her disappearance.

Last month, they found Teresa Bunn's body in a dumpster in Chicago. She was one of two women killed in the same manner. Also remember Nailah Franklin, a young Chicago professional who was missing for a few days until her body was discovered in October. Fortunately, the local news covered it. Unfortunately, it wasn't national news.

Latoyia Figueroa's disappearance didn't register until her family and bloggers protested against the oversaturated coverage of missing pretty middle class white women at the expense of all other women by mainstream media.

Meghan Williams, Theresa Bunn, and the young Haitian women who was gang-violated by several men at Dunbar Village deserve our sympathy and help. We shouldn't ignore nor treat these ladies with less dignity and respect we accord to women of other races and cultures.

Miss Shawna would have been alive years ago had the police and society in general been up to their jobs in 1993. May God be with the family of Latasha Norman as they grieve the loss of their daughter, sister, friend and collegue.

May Latasha Norman, Latoyia Figueroa, Theresa Bunn, Shawna Hawk, Caroline Love, Vanessa Mack, Olamide Adeyooye, Cynteria Phillips, Michelle Stinson, Tynesha Stewart, Cherica Adams, Audrey Spain, Debra Slaughter, Betty Jean Baucom, Nixzmary Brown, Sherrice Iverson, Brandi Henderson, Valencia Jumper, Aaliyah, Tashanda Bethea, Jessie Davis, Nailah Franklin, Elisa Izquierdo, Tamika Huston, the three New Jersey College Students, Reyna Marroquin, and Imette St. Guillen rest in peace. They will always be remembered by those who care the most.