Where's the social media outrage and march for Lena Zhang Harrap?

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

OPINION: In March, the murder of Sarah Everard in the UK made global news. You might remember the social media movement spurred by her death: “Text me when you get home.”

This month, a young woman, Sabina Nessa, was allegedly murdered in London as she walked from her home to the pub – a five-minute wander.

The story of travel Instagrammer Gabby Petito, found dead in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest, captured the world last week as the hunt for her partner continues.

Grace Millane has been a household name since December 2018.

* Down syndrome community 'shocked to the core' by death of Lena Zhang Harrap

* Mt Albert homicide: Lena Zhang Harrap walked same route daily, this time she didn't come home

Lena Zhang Harrap was known for her independence and loved walking in her neighbourhood.

* Mt Albert homicide: Man appears in court charged with murder of Lena Zhang Harrap

* Auckland woman, 28, found dead after going missing during walk

Sabina Nessa, a primary school teacher, was killed as she walked in a London park.

I know about these alleged murders because I read about them not only on local and international media, but all over my social media feeds.

Each of these deaths (and many, many others) resulted in viral campaigns. They found life beyond TV coverage, newsprint and online articles. With each of these cases, I saw friends, influencers, brands and others I follow post their anger, their hurt, their overwhelming sadness at another beautiful, young, female life lost.

Police at the scene where Lena Zhang Harrap was found dead.

They posted hashtags, they posted photos of each woman, they posted screenshots of the message“text me when you get home”.

This week, a young woman was allegedly murdered as she walked through one of her favourite Auckland parks. She left home for her regular morning walk, but this time she didn't return home. That afternoon she was found dead. A man was arrested two days later and charged with her sexual violation and murder.

The Grace Millane ‘Peace March’ up Queen Street in Auckland in 2018.

I waited for the same outpouring of outrage on social platforms for the young woman in Mount Albert. I waited for the Instagram stories, the photos of her enjoying her life, the words deploring the violence towards her, the female safety social-movement hashtag.

Gabby Petito, 22, vanished, and was later found dead, while on a cross-country trip with her boyfriend in the US.

I’m talking about my social world here, a place where people usually post about the deaths of young women at the hands of men. And yet I’m still waiting. I waited for homegrown social success S… You Should Care About to post about her. But instead, to the frustration of a number of followers, it posted about Sabina.

Here's what we know about the young Auckland woman. She was found dead in a walkway of Ōwairaka/Mount Albert. She loved to dance. She was 27 years old. Her name was Lena Zhang Harrap.

Of less importance (but I would suggest of crucial significance when it comes to our usual social media outrage at missing or murdered women) is that she was also these two things:Chinese and had Down syndrome.

She was also vision impaired, making her an unbelievably vulnerable member of our community.

I know Lena’s death has completely devastated the disabled and Chinese communities. I know the Mount Albert community has been deeply impacted and rallied together to find Lena, and are still shocked, angry and grieving. Yes, news outlets have posted about this and there's been an outpouring of upset on their social posts.

I appreciate the differences between the cases of Lena and Grace Millane. Grace was a tourist visiting our country; she was also a missing person for seven days before her body was found. But both Grace and Lena were young women going about their lives – one off on a date, the other going for a walk through a park. Different cases but similar in that all women should be safe to walk wherever they please, at any time of day or night, dressed however they want.

I personally spend more time walking through parks like Lena than I do going on Tinder dates as Grace was on the night she died – so why was it that I could identify more with Grace Millane than I could with Lena?

I knew the answer. So did many of my friends.

I posed the question through my social channels. I asked friends why it had been so very, very quiet. Many wrote to tell me they’d noticed the lack of noise too. And many were honest enough to say they believe ‘it's because she's Chinese and has Down syndrome’.

It’s compounded by the role traditional media plays. Missing White Woman Syndrome was coined in 2014 by American news anchor Gwen Ifill, who observed missing white women disproportionately lead media coverage given to those of colour and lower social class.

Inconsistent outrage, or picking and choosing which bandwagons you jump on, is disingenuous – and unhelpful. I want to see the fury at all female lives lost at the hands of another.

It shouldn’t be young, white women but not those from lower socioeconomic communities. It shouldn’t be only people of the same ethnicity as me. It shouldn’t be able-bodied people but not those with disabilities. It shouldn’t be people who are ‘just like me’. It shouldn’t be.

And here’s why this is important. More than ever in 2021, we consume our news and views from within a social environment – from influencers and content creators, our friends and brands we follow. When unconscious bias is driving your social contributions, you become complicit in driving the belief that some lives matter more than others. And the challenge is in exactly that – it’s unconscious. You need to work at that.

This column isn’t intended to decry the shocking statistics of violence against women (although it’s worth noting recent research that found 40 per cent of disabled women experience violence at the hands of their partner, compared with 25 per cent of non-disabled women. The Ministry of Justice’s Crime and Victims Survey released in June found disabled Kiwis were 52 per cent more likely to be sexually assaulted in their lifetime).

I’m not saying people aren’t angry. I’m simply saying I haven’t seen the social media attention given to Lena’s case as given to other similar cases. I'm here asking us to consider why we’re more outraged about some cases over others.

So a few questions. These should be pretty easy questions to answer, but confronting if you go deep enough.

Where is the wall-to-wall global media coverage for Lena?
If you made a post about Grace/Sarah/Gabby any time over the past three years, why didn't you make a post about Lena?
Did you post about the 16-year-old girl murdered in South Auckland last week?
Beyond social media, is anyone organising national post-lockdown marches in the name of Lena? Are SkyCity and Auckland Harbour Bridge to be lit up in the shape of a white ribbon as they were for Grace?
Do you stand for the safety of all New Zealand women? Or just the pretty, white ones?

I’m not the first person to ask this, but by God I’d love to be the last.

– Sarah Moore is the community director at Neighbourly.