They thought he was homeless: "Stabbing death shakes up L.A.-West"

[EFerrari]

She'd tell him, time and again: Don't walk at night. The place has changed. It's not safe. They'd been married, though, for 44 years. After a certain point, it wasn't really a conversation; it was like a song they'd played a thousand times, enjoyed more for routine than anything else.

"Ne perezhivaitye," he'd tell her. "Don't worry."

He left their little apartment in West Hollywood at 9 p.m. March 9, a Sunday, walking out past a bookshelf full of all the dictionaries required of a Kazakhstani in L.A.: one in English, one in Russian, a Russian-to-English, a Spanish-to-English.

Katan Khaimov was a 70-year-old diabetic, but he was in great shape. He often walked for an hour or more, so his family didn't worry at first. But when 11 p.m. passed, his wife, Tamara, went looking for him.

On the west side of Poinsettia Park, below Santa Monica Boulevard, she pulled her car next to an intersection that had been cordoned off with yellow crime-scene tape.



http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-outthere9-2008may09,0,5637282.story

[bobbolink]

1. Yes, it's OK to off us. Many of us have come to expect that may be our end.

Rest in peace, Katan.

You chose a very sick society to live in.

:cry:
:cry:
:cry:
:cry:

[liberaldem4ever]

2. Bless his heart-that is so very, very sad

I can't imagine laying for an hour and crying for help and nobody even has the decency to call 911 to help me. Two of my four sons lived kind of close to where this happened and I really worried about them the whole time they lived there. They said it was kind of scary where they lived, but they wanted to live in California for a while to see what it was like. There are so many bad things happen and you hear about them, but this story really made me cry. He sounded like such a good person. It makes you wonder what the world is coming to. :cry:

[EFerrari]

3. It's a horrible lesson in reciprocity. None of us are exempt

from the injustices we discount when other people -- the "homeless", undocumented workers,convicts -- suffer them.

One of my best political friends lives in that neighborhood. They all must feel so badly but, at least she took the step to send out the story. :(

[riverdeep]

5. The article explains why.

One resident said they hear screams all the time and if they followed up on every one they'd be glued to the window. A needle exchange program, higher prices in other parts of town, more loitering enforcement in the other parts, and some new nightclubs are what attracted bums and junkies to the neighborhood. So people got desensitized after a while.

He should at least have been carrying a cell phone so he could call 911 himself. He really should have been carrying something else but I'm sure they don't allow that there.

[EFerrari]

6. What are bums and junkies?

They are dispossessed people we are taught to be afraid of and to dehumanize. My ex was homeless for a time. He sure was human. My mom was a practicing alcoholic for years. She's one of the finest people I know. :shrug:

[juajen]

8. How true.

My son was homeless for over a year. He refused to come home and, with our limited income, the best we could do was keep him in minutes on his cell phone. He was over a thousand miles away, which is another story.

Finally, he's home and working again. Still drinks too much. Unfortunately, sometimes beer is the only balm for a worried and lonely soul. We are all too judgmental. He is a precious man and very special to me.

[EFerrari]

9. That you're still in touch with him is an achievement

that must have been hard won, juajen. My best wishes to your family. :hug: :grouphug:

My ex would become paranoid, take all our money, sometimes destroy property and / or hurt me because he thought I was a threat. And, he'd wind up doing coke or crack in some horrible place. Trying to surf his mental illness felt like Mission Impossible for many years. We do what we can.

The last time I called 911 because I found a disoriented man out here near the beach, the first responders seem to resent the fact that they'd been called. Maybe that's because there is so little they can do and they get so many calls.

[riverdeep]

13. That was the terminology used in the article.

So I used it here. No offense.

[EFerrari]

14. Oh, none taken. But it's good for us to examine the language

that is pushed at us.

[bobbolink]

7. "more loitering enforcement in the other parts," Oh yes, thank GOD for those laws criminalizing

Homelessness!

Hurrah!!!

:sarcasm:

[liberaldem4ever]

10. I think older people still just trust people won't hurt them

I know my elderly relatives still kept their doors unlocked up until they passed away. Nothing on the news could make them change their ways. I was always so scared somebody would just walk in and rob and kill them. They didn't live in a high crime area, but you never know who might do that. But still, even in a high crime neighborhood, if you hear screams for someone to help, you don't even have to look outside to call 911. I still can't understand how desensitized you would have to be to ignore anyone crying for help. Maybe I'm naive, but I can't imagine myself getting to the point where I wouldn't make that call.

[EFerrari]

12. The thing about being desensitized is that you don't feel it happening.

:(

[tblue37]

20. Read about Kitty Genovese. There were many psychological

analyses after that happened.

[Clovis Sangrail]

4. godspeed Katan

:cry:

[flashl]

11. RIP

[varkam]

15. I think it's less about people thinking he was homeless...

and more about the bystander effect.

[EFerrari]

16. They may dovetail?

If you are in or relating to one group, it may be harder to relate to or to feel empathy for someone who seems to be outside of that group. That's where the "even if he was a bum" -- aka, "not me or my kind" -- comes in.

/oops

[varkam]

17. Or people saying that they thought he was homeless...

might be a post hoc rationalization for their inaction. Either way, though, it is still simply tragic.

[EFerrari]

18. My friends in that neighborhood are trying to put a community meeting

together. They all seem very shaken.

[varkam]

19. I would imagine so.

Peace to you and yours :pals: