Rhode Island survivors victimised again - because of musical taste

There's been no end of press coverage these last five years of the legal battles to pin blame for the Rhode Island nightclub fire. Less thought has been given to the people who got caught in the inferno, as a piece in the New York Times points out. The paper says that, for many, they're caught waiting for a legal settlement, still suffering from the effects of being trapped in a burning building - and finding a lack of sympathy:

“Most people don’t understand that a burn injury is a life injury,” said Ms. Fisher, 38, who gets a Social Security disability payment of about $1,000 a month. “If they think about us at all, it’s probably, ‘They must be all better, so why aren’t they back to work?’ ”

There's some suggestion that the nature of the band who caused the fire has reduced both the victims' visibility, and support for them:

Many believe the circumstances of their misfortune — that they were blue-collar folks gathered in a scruffy club to hear Great White, a has-been “hair metal” band from the ’80s — also help explain the lack of interest.
[...]
“We were waitresses, house painters, contractors, strippers,” said Victoria Eagan, who escaped the fire with minor injuries but whose two best friends were badly burned. “If it had been people at the opera that night, there would have been a big difference.”

Dee Snider is doing a benefit gig for the Station Family Fund, and he agrees that the heavy metal angle isn't exactly a help:

“I’ve tried to get this away from being about hair bands, about heavy metal, and to make this a people issue,” Mr. Snider said. “Since nobody else is going to do it, it’s got to be musicians, all kinds of musicians, taking care of their own and reminding people this could have happened to anyone.”

You can find the Station Family Fund online.

[Part of the Rhode Island nightclub coverage]