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The Accidental Hate Response From: R A Miller To: William Bersey Sent: Friday, February 04, 2005 1:58 AM Mr. Bersey: I am the writer of that column, and I appreciate your comments. However, I think you have gravely misinterpreted some of my statements. In no way do I condone Mr. Filoma's actions, and in no way do I make light of the harm brought upon Grabowski or your son. If you cast aside my views on the "wardrobe malfunction" -- which seethe with sarcasm because that incident deserved it -- the rest of the column is as serious as a heart attack. In fact, my anger in that column is that the entire country focused on Janet Jackson and hardly at all on the case of Filoma, Grabowski, and your son. Allow me to illustrate with quotes from the story: "Grabowski's death, at 21, is certainly the most tragic result of the post-game depravity, but the lot Filoma drew in life isn't much better." These statements are both true. Grabowski's death is the most tragic result of anything that happened at last year's Super Bowl. By far. (The other injuries caused by Mr. Filoma, while not called out specifically in the article, are only slightly less tragic, but tragic nonetheless.) But Filoma is not looking at a picnic. None of the facts as presented by the Boston papers immediately following the incident indicate that Mr. Filoma emerged from a Super Bowl party with the intent to harm anyone. However, because of the way things went down, Filoma will face a homicide charge. I believe he will be convicted, and I believe he will do long, hard time for it. But is that really fair? Filoma should be punished for hurting your son and for killing Grabowski. I believe that. But our sophisticated legal system has codes to separate stone-cold evil people from those who are merely stupid and negligent. Filoma was stupid and negligent, but I still have read nothing that indicates he was evil -- but facing a homicide charge... well, evil is how he will be treated. Should he be punished? Absolutely. I would even go so far as to suggest that after he serves his time, he should be put on a charter flight back to Haiti. But should he do 25-to-life? I can't recommend to my reading public that he should. Even if you consider the mitigating factors you present in your letter below, the .09 blood alcohol content and the prior traffic violations, I still don't see Filoma as evil... again, mostly just stupid. And again, our legal system has means to punish stupidity. I thank God that your son turned out okay. It is senseless that he had to spend a year of his life -- especially at his young age -- recuperating from the incident. But I can't apologize for the tone of my piece... because just 8 months later a similar situation occurred. Only in October, the team was the Red Sox; the overwhelmed-and-under-thinking agent of destruction was a Boston cop, and the victim was 21-year-old Victoria Snelgrove. If editors don't write scathing pieces about these incidents, more parents will endure evenings like you did last year.
R A Miller
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