Mara Gay Choose Bail Reform Over Reporting the Sexual Assault of a Bay Ridge Woman
Anyone who read the story of Kalief Browder would understand why bail reform was necessary. (See here) Yet, NYS politicians took bail reform too far. Progressives forgot to consider who would be harmed by bail reform. From what we have seen, it’s communities where residents or the police presence are considered weak.
Mara Gay, a reporter for the New York Times wrote about bail reform as if she wasn’t a New Yorker. Her careless reporting doesn’t mention that a woman in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn was sexually assaulted and had her pants pulled down in the 95th Street Train Station bathroom. The woman fought the man off herself, while a homeless man outside the bathroom banged on the door. (See here) The suspect had been in jail for almost a year, but was released in December 2019 because of reforms.
Why did Mara Gay leave out the woman who was sexually assaulted in my neighborhood? Because to Mara Gay, that woman doesn’t matter and her story doesn’t fit the narrative that Mara Gay wants to push. This story was in the news for days, so I am sure everyone knows it. Is that woman no one because she hasn’t spoken to a reporter and Mara Gay doesn’t know her name? Can you imagine the fear that 31-year-old woman had to feel as she fought off her attacker. And now that strong victim has to sit by as educated journalists ignore what happened to her and politicians point the finger and fail to correct the law.
When did reporters think writing opinion columns were okay? When a well-known reporter does an opinion column, people consider it the truth, even when they have left out key information. Jumaane Williams, the NYC Public Advocate, spread Gay’s article on social media, even though he knows what happened to the woman in Bay Ridge. Who is Williams advocating for if he isn’t speaking for the victim? Corey Johnson did the same, but Johnson doesn’t know Brooklyn.
Mara Gay also wasn’t isn’t entirely correct in stating that Andrea Cousins was protecting Democrats in swing districts. My senator, Andrew Gounardes, is up for re-election and he doesn’t seem to care that a woman was sexually assaulted in his district. He mentioned it once on social media, but then pushed the blame at the judge for releasing the young man. As we have seen in Brooklyn, the judge can only do what the law allows him to do. We were shocked to see that Senator Gounardes was not part of the group of senator who was working to overturn bail reform. It’s not Gounardes’ mother, sister or wife who was assaulted, so it isn’t important to him.
Prior to this incident, I highly regarded Mara Gay as a talented writer. Sadly, she’s become one who has stopped printing the truth and now pushes a political agenda. The agenda for most New Yorkers is clear: fix the bail system so young men like Kalief Browder aren’t caught in it and give first time offenders of low level crimes a chance. Gay should have written how our NYS representatives are too lazy to edit their bill even though it’s obvious what needs to be rewritten.
Hugs,
marlene
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