MTed: I've been the first to say on this thread (perhaps literally the first) that this sort of abuse occurs throughout our culture, not JUST among one group. And I'd agree that our rage at her is partly rage that this behavior does exist among us.

But the "efforts to portray her as a transient, petty criminal?" She IS a transient, and it seems very likely that she is a petty criminal as well. The news media are merely reporting what's there. What else do you expect them to do? If she were a corporate executive, they'd report that, and if she was the PTA president they'd report that too. If she was a waitress...not so much. Because they ARE driven by "what makes a good story," but they are ALSO limited by the facts of the case.

Also, I don't think anyone else out there in the world is focusing on her being a traveller to make it feel or look like this only occurs on the margins either. It is WE on this forum who are focusing on the fact that she's a traveller, largely because of Larry's advocacy for the community! The major media used travellers as a "hook" because it was an unusual community people didn't know about--a "good story"--then dropped it. USA Today did one story on travellers and pretty much ignored her ethnicity the rest of the time.