Judging from everyday events surrounding each and every one of us, it appears that instead of progressing into more evolved and more civilized beings, humans are regressing into a state of savagery and hate. It does not only happen on television, to the people we do not know and who live miles and miles and away, but it happens in our towns and neighborhoods, even, or maybe especially, in schools. The case of 10-year-old Joanna Ramos, a normal girl attending Willard Elementary School in Long Beach, California, ended up dead at a local hospital, mere several hours after she engaged in a fight with another girl from the same school. What really happened and who, if anybody will be blamed, is a question on everyone’s mind. Because, if a 10-year-old can kill for a reason as frivolous as a boy’s affection, then the world we live in has definitely had its values turned upside down.
The whole story commenced harmlessly enough: two girls fighting over a boy (Vives, Gold and Blankstein). Despite the fact that girls should be less prone to violence than boys, from whom such display of problem solving should be all too common, these two girls decided to meet up after school and resolve this whole affair with their “bare knuckles.” The fight apparently lasted barely a minute, without either of the girls having fallen down as a result of a hard blow, but on coming home, young Joanna told her mother about having taken a blow to the head, and started feeling “nauseous and vomiting” (Manzer). The frantic parents took their child to the hospital, but after surgery during which her heart stopped, they realized it was already too late.
The blow to the head which killed Joana turned out to be the last one, when the opposing 11-year old “grabbed her on either side of her head, by her hair, and yanked Ramos’ head down while slamming her knee into the 10-year-old’s forehead, above her nose” (Manzer). Stories such as this one keep circling the haunted school and the friends and family of the tragically deceased girl are crying not only for her, but for the truth as well. As Joanna’s mother says: “We heard she was bleeding from the nose after the fight, that she was hit multiple times in the head by this other girl. We just don’t know what happened. The only one who could have told me what happened is gone” (Vives, Gold and Blankstein). Most certainly, the case will die in silence, and no charges will be made. There will be no justice for the mother who had to bury her own daughter.
The fact of the matter is that very few people actually care what happened. Some are even satisfied with the outcome, such as the caller of the Geraldo Rivera radio talk show, whose hateful words were : “It’s one less illegal alien to worry about” (Rivera). It appears that the world has become such a cruel and unaffected place, unable to mourn even the tragic death of a child. This is exactly why very little light will be shed on this tragic affair, except for the publicity it bears for the time being. The girl who was fighting Joanna has remained nameless in the press, though her identity is all too clear to students, teachers and parents. All the sources state she will most likely not be charged with anything, despite the fact that notable doctors said that “Punches to the head can often lead to delayed bleeding if a vein is torn, and that can lead to a clot when blood collects of the surface of the brain” (Flaccus). However, the hand of justice seems to be blind in this case, as it is in most of them.
The tragic case of young Joanna Ramos seems to be only one among millions of others, gaining attention for its oddness, and slowly, but surely being pushed back into public oblivion, remaining only in the minds of those who knew and loved the girl in question. Who is to blame for this death is a question with a difficult answer. Is the child herself at fault, simply for not refusing the fight? Or, is the other girl guilty of manslaughter, and should be sentenced to prison for a certain number of years? The law is shaky on this one and appears to be favoring the first answer. Still, it is only a mirror to the wild times we live in, with a metaphorical gun in our hands, abiding by the law of the Wild West.
Works Cited:
Duerson, Meena Heart. “Death of California fifth grader Joanna Ramos ruled a homicide after fight with classmate over a boy?” New York Daily News, 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 April 2012.
Gillian Flaccus. “Joanna Ramos, 10-Year-Old Who Died After School Fight, May Have Been Brawling Over A Boy.” Huffington Post, 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 April 2012.
Manzer, Tracy. “What charges, if any, will be filed in Joanna Ramos case?” Press-Telegram, 28 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 April 2012.
Rivera, Geraldo. “Geraldo Rivera: Joanna Ramos’ Death Highlights Need for Immigration Reform.” Fox News Latino, 1 March 2012. Web. 18 April 2012.
Vives, Ruben, Scott Gold and Andrew Blankstein. “Schoolgirls’ fight ends in death, leaving haunting questions.” LA Times, 28 Feb. 2012. Web. 18 April 2012.
