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Sunday, March 05, 2006
SO LONG AS I GET SOMEWHERE: DARREN, WHITE RABBIT, RUSSELL, AN AMERICAN TEACHER MURDERED IN CHINA  I have had the strangest week: After my post on the death of the American teacher, known to his Chinese friends and students as the "White Rabbit", I feel like a character in a Charles Lutwidge Dodson tale. Charles is better known to us as Lewis Carroll. The White Rabbit was Darren Russell who lost his life less than one year ago in Guangzhou, China. His name is as unknown to you as Lutwidge's is to all but literary scholars and historians. It started out as a a simple blog entry and has morphed into a tale of intrigue, lies, betrayal, new friendships and absolute certainty, on my part, that something went terribly wrong and a lot of people have gone to great lengths to cover up the truth. Here once again are links to the stories I implore you to read. I beg you to familiarize yourself with the case of the White Rabbit in hopes that no teacher in China will suffer his fate and that his family will find solace after a bizarre year of misdirections, riddles and lies. The site erected by his mother, who has refused book and television contracts, only wants justice served and future Americans in need protected. The site can be found here: WHITE RABBIT'S MOM WHITE RABBIT'S MOM. Please sign her petition. Watch an NBC report here: NBC And the discussion of his tragedy on a Chinese website: CHINA DAILY FORUM POSTS. Just today it was announced that the death of professional football player Pat Tillman, killed in Afghanistan two years ago, was not an accident but, more possibly a negligent homicide. Tillman's family, after pressing for months, may get real answers to what is now clearly known to have been a cover-up. I wish the same for the loved ones of Darren Russell for I think the same is true in his case. This week a member of the American consulate staff in Guangzhou, an entity under scrutiny for the handling of Darren's case, placed a comment on my site (sent though a private email box but, traceable by IP to the Embassy computers) that would lead you to believe that Darren was a substance abuser and that his death was part and parcel of his dealings with the same. The consulate employee works in the Public Affairs office in the Guangzhou consulate: Don't believe this lie if you see it in print. I refused to print a second harsh comment from the same source. I received a cryptic email from a "foreign expert" in China asking me to secure information concerning elements of Darren's death. He said that he was working in concert with White Rabbit's mother. He went on to print information against the wishes of Darren's mother that might jeopardize an ongoing investigation. It seems he was more bent on self promotion and publicity than he was on help. My computer has been hacked, my site has been monitored by a government entity and more. To what end? There has been more but, I am not yet at liberty to share. I will not until it is clear such disclosures will wholly benefit only Darren and his family's wishes for dissemination of that material. This isn't America's Most Wanted or the Drudge Report. I hope the name Darren Russell stays with you for many years and many important reasons beyond his murder: He was beloved by family, friends and students. He gave of his meager salary to augment materials in his school and to assist others in trouble in Guangzhou. He was a devoted son and an American to be proud of as a teaching ambassador to another country. You would have been privileged to know him. He was a dedicated teacher working impossible hours for about $300 U.S. dollars a month as the result of an unscrupulous recruiter who kept control of his schedule. He was initially, and unwittingly, employed by an unlicensed school that did not honor his contract terms. He was extremely ill at the time of his death and received, like the majority of us, inadequate/inappropriate medical aid from his recruiter. I am out of Wonderland and seeing much more clearly now. I hope you are too. He was let down by the recruitment agency and the American and Chinese governments-- in life and in death. He deserves a better epitaph. 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' 'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. 'I don't much care where --' said Alice. 'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat. '--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation. ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland China politics TEFL TESL ASIA cartoons Human Rights Health Care Discrimination Teaching Abroad State Department Murder Guangzhou American Consulate Health Care Discrimination Teaching in China Lonnie Hodge Blogs at: ONEMANBANDWIDTH Blogger News Network is advertiser-supported, and your visits to our advertisers help BNN to meet its expenses. Help keep us afloat! posted by Lonnie at 1:38 AM |
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