I am so appalled as I write this that I can barely contain myself. A 15 year old girl was brutally gang raped at Richmond High School in California by at least 4 males for TWO HOURS. As she was being raped, the word got out and more and more people showed up… to WATCH! In the end, there were reportedly FIFTEEN bystanders who stood by and watched her be sexually assaulted so bad that she had to be life-flighted to the nearest hospital.
Can you imagine this poor young girl being gang raped and hoping and praying for someone to see what was going on? People start to come and she thinks “Thank God, they’re going to save me!” The next thing she knows some of those hopeful “saviors” become her rapists. As more and more people come, she realizes that she is on show and not one person out of the 15 bystanders is going to do a damn thing to end this. They watch for TWO HOURS. They WATCH for TWO HOURS…without a word to stop it; without a call to the police; without a text message to a parent; WITHOUT A THING!!!
Every single boy who raped her, as well as every single accomplice who watched, should be arrested and sent to jail. When they sat there for TWO HOURS watching that crime, they took part in committing it. There will now be a thousand articles about the bystander effect to explain this horrendous incident. I’m sure the parents of the teens watching will cling to this as an excuse for their son WATCHING FOR TWO HOURS while this young girl was being brutally gang raped. There is no excuse. Every single parent, whose son watched this crime and did nothing, should be walking their son to the closest police department and putting his butt in jail. There is NO excuse for becoming a spectator to gang rape as though it was a sporting event.
Can you imagine this poor young girl being gang raped and hoping and praying for someone to see what was going on? People start to come and she thinks “Thank God, they’re going to save me!” The next thing she knows some of those hopeful “saviors” become her rapists. As more and more people come, she realizes that she is on show and not one person out of the 15 bystanders is going to do a damn thing to end this. They watch for TWO HOURS. They WATCH for TWO HOURS…without a word to stop it; without a call to the police; without a text message to a parent; WITHOUT A THING!!!
Every single boy who raped her, as well as every single accomplice who watched, should be arrested and sent to jail. When they sat there for TWO HOURS watching that crime, they took part in committing it. There will now be a thousand articles about the bystander effect to explain this horrendous incident. I’m sure the parents of the teens watching will cling to this as an excuse for their son WATCHING FOR TWO HOURS while this young girl was being brutally gang raped. There is no excuse. Every single parent, whose son watched this crime and did nothing, should be walking their son to the closest police department and putting his butt in jail. There is NO excuse for becoming a spectator to gang rape as though it was a sporting event.
I send my deepest condolences to this girl’s family and to the girl herself. I am so sorry for the evil that has touched your family. I encourage everyone to keep this family in their thoughts and prayers.
CHALLENGE: Have the courage to get involved when things are happening right in front of you. If you know of any of the boys who did this—call the police, tell your parents or tell a teacher. Do not be silent. Implicit in your silence is acceptance. Your inaction--IS ACTION.
For more information follow the link.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/27/california.gang.rape.investigation/index.html
My understanding of the brain and memories is that the brain records and stores everything...that poor girl may not currently have conscious memory of the horror but subconsciously, she always will. I don't have any children by conscious choice - I have many nieces and nephews instead...but if I had a son who was involved in such an act...I would kill him. Simply put, he would be such a mark to humanity that I don't see how his life would be of any value after committing such an act....we as a society are entirely too soft on such crimes. I don't condone violence but there are acts that must be met by equally harsh punishment - prison is not enough for what was done to this girl. It would never be enough. My heart goes out to her and may her family support her in every way she needs.
DEAR LIZ: I'm sure many people feel this. I'm glad however, that it's just a feeling, not something that any parent would literally act upon. Violence in response to violence is also part of our culture's problem. We need to set strong limits without being abusive. Perhaps if this was done more often we'd have less incidents of such evil and callousness.
Thanks for writing in-Lisa
Posted by: Liz | October 29, 2009 at 03:52 PM
The only thing I cling to in reading about this inhuman event is remembering that some psychologists say that victim's minds shut down during trauma so that they don't have memories of the full horror. If only this will prove to be true in this case.
While it is true that California does not have laws that make it a crime to observe a crime without reporting it, many other states DO have bystander laws that make them complicit if they tolerate a crime and don't report it. So, those laws are possible. Let's start a letter/email/phone campaign to California law-makers to quickly write and pass such a law. Maybe someday this poor girl will take a small measure of pride in our collective dedication of the law to her.
DEAR ML: What a great idea! Anyone who wants to draft that letter I will post it and pass the word on to a many people as possible via my blog, twitter, facebook etc.
Let's start the ripple!
Lisa
Posted by: ML | October 28, 2009 at 12:50 PM
I was appalled when I learned that there are no laws that prevent people from "watching" and not reacting to this kind of crime.
I have 2 daughters and a son, and agree that every person that was aware of this horrific event and did nothing should not only be in jail but prosecuted as a sex offender!
Posted by: Glen | October 28, 2009 at 10:54 AM