Bailey Houses Tenant Captain Carrie Rodriguez comforts 14 year old Nikki Ryan, a friend of 8 year old Eduardo Rosa, jr. who was allegedly strangled by his stepfather on Saturday. Monday, March 30, 1998

© 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press

Arriving a little early, I saw that the plaza outside the apartment building was filled with children riding bikes, running around, playing tag, simply being themselves. One young reporter remarked how surprised she was that things seemed to be so back to normal, so ordinary, that the kids didn't seem to be impacted by it.

The cynical side of me says that maybe we've seen too much brutality and are de-sensitized. The part of me that knows better says that these kids will never forget a little boy who was senselessly murdered and that they are simply "hunkering down" out of fear for their own safety and out of a growing sense of mistrust of even those closest to them.

There is safety in denial.

And there are questions in the aftermath: Why is the media drawn to such stories when, by all accounts, children are increasingly becoming vicitims of adults' anger and violence? Are we an effective vehicle to convey the dangers of child abuse? Children aren't really the ones who are reading the grisly accounts in the newspapers. And even if they are, what is their recourse?

What is it that turns daylight into demons?

9 year old Katherine Cruz and 14 year old Yomayra DeLeon hold candles in memory of 8 year old Eduardo Rosa, Jr. in a candlelight vigil held on Monday March 30 at the Bailey Houses in Kingsbridge Heights, Bronx. © 1998 Susan B. Markisz/The Riverdale Press