The so-called McCain campaign mugging victim has recanted her story that a black man attacked her and carved a 'B' in her face.
I know that this has already been blogged about, but being from Boston, this story has particular significance for us. Nearly 20 years ago, Carol Dimaiti Stuart, who was 9 months pregnant, was gunned down in a fake 'mugging' engineered by her husband Charles - who blamed it on a black man.
Both Caroll and her unborn child were killed. And the fallout for the City of Boston was absolutely devastating. After the shooting of a pregnant white suburban woman in an inner-city neighborhood, the Boston Police went into that neighborhood (Mission Hill) and systematically stopped and searched just about every young black man they could find.
It was an extremely ugly chapter in the history of race relations both for the city and the nation.
But from all of the hate and horror that sprang from this horrible tale, there was a ray of hope. Follow me over the fold.
It was the night of October 23, 1989 when Charles Stuart drove his pregnant wife to the famous Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. After leaving the hospital to head home, Charles allegedly got lost and ended up in the Mission Hill section of the city, where he claimed that a 'black man' jumped into their car, demanded money, and then shot both he and his wife.
The aftermath of this incident rocked the City of Boston, as the Boston Police Department began systematically stopping and searching young black men and boys, reportedly as young as 13 up to men as old as 40 and 50.
It was one of the worst chapters of race relations in a city that has seen its' fair share of racial problems.
Eventually, Charles Stuarts story began to unravel, and he and one of his brothers were implicated in arranging Caroll's murder and inflicting a wound on Charles in an attempt to stear suspicion away from him and bolster his claims that a black man had shot both him and his wife.
After his brother Matt confessed, the police were set to arrest Charles Stuart. But on January 4, 1990 Charles Stuart was found in the Mystic River after apparently jumping from the Tobin Bridge above.
On a brighter note, the Dimaiti family was so horrified by the things that had been done, in the name of their daughter and sister, to the people and kids of Mission Hill that they started a foundation to raise scholarship money to help send kids from that neighborhood to college.
According to one report in the Boston Globe, the foundation has raised more than a $1.2 million and helped more than 200 kids from Mission Hill go on to college. You can read more about it here
There are no words to describe how utterly reprehensible this woman's actions are. And thankfully, her story came apart without any apparent incidents of racial violence or unrest. But notice I use the word apparent. Only time will tell.
In the meantime, if anyone would like to express their outrage in a more positive way, feel free to contact the Dimaiti Foundation and inquire about making a donation.
Here is the address that I found online.
Carol DiMaiti Stuart Foundation
238 Woburn Street
Medford, MA 02155
781.391.9534
mcdimaiti@comcast.net
UPDATE: As Vita Brevis reminds me/us, we should also remember the children of Susan Smith, the woman who murdered her own, Alexander and Michael, and then blamed the crime on a non-existant black man.