Ariel Anthony Castro, the son of convicted rapist and kidnapper Ariel Castro, wrote a piece for the Cleveland Plain Dealer about his struggles to come to terms with the father he never knew.
"I am not my father, and I can't explain his actions or be held accountable for something I never knew he was doing," Castro's son wrote.
Ariel Castro Sr. pleaded guilty to 937 counts in July, "including the hundreds of charges for the kidnapping, rape and assault of Michelle Knight, 32, Amanda Berry, 27, and Gina DeJesus, 23," Reuters reports.
Castro's son recalled his experiences after his father's crimes made national headlines. He also talked about reporters knocking on her door, wanting reactions from him in regards to his father's death; he was found hanged in his prison cell:
"It took awhile for the reality of it all to set in. I steeled myself yet again after my father's death. It was all I could do. I had reporters, in revoltingly poor taste, seeking me out for a knee-jerk reaction, wanting to know the whereabouts of my father's remains, waiting for me outside the Franklin County coroner's office. I just wanted to get through those horrible days without NewsChannel 5 breathing down my neck."
Castro's son wrote about how shocked he was when he learned what his father was capable of, but how hating him won't "do anyone any good." He wants his father's crimes and death to bring about the conversations necessary to make changes about how the United States deals with them:
I learned long ago that it's not worth the effort to actively hate someone who will always be in your life. An uncle told me at my mother's funeral, barely a year before we found out with the world what my father had done, that I shouldn't hate my father for everything he had already put us through. God would take care of him, he said. Both of my parents are gone now, and my father's punishment is between he and his Maker. Hate isn't going to do anyone any good.
Instead of bidding goodbye and good riddance to Ariel Castro, the question should be, now what? If my father's life and death can lead to changes in how we deal with sexual predators, domestic violence, mental illness and, yes, prison safety, then we should have those discussions. If we can prevent a repeat here or anywhere, then justice truly will have been served amid all the broken pieces my father left behind.
You can read Ariel Anthony Castro's full article here.
