Dear Rapists and Mute Onlookers,
My rage consumes me. There are no words powerful enough to gauge my reaction to the 2 1/2 hour gang rape of a 15 year-old girl outside of her high school homecoming dance while ten or more looked on and did nothing.
Nothing.
They found her barely conscious and medflighted her away where, they say, she’s gone from critical to stable condition.
Stable Condition. I don’t think so. There’s not enough money in the universe nor jailtime extant to erase those 2 1/2 hours. Her condition will never be stable again.
The rapists will be tried as juveniles if they’re young. A couple are old enough to learn about rape themselves behind bars, which they certainly will. Nothing will happen to those who chose to watch and keep silent.
I understand a few even recorded the event on their cell phones. A few pictures of the homecoming dance, a few more of the gang rape just outside. Just another Saturday night.
Animals.
The news cycle is thick with various explanations of gang mentality and brain development in teens and I say bullshit. Bullshit. Our young people don’t need excuses, they need consequences. The girl in the hospital, she deserves justice.
That is all.
Monda
No Telling 
Watch, those accused will pull the “asking for it” card.
It's just sad. Dudes suck.
Amen, Sister Monda. Preach on. I just cannot comprehend any of it–especially the “spectators”. Makes me sick too.
My heart is aching for that poor girl. What kind of people raise kids that grow up to think something like that is okay to do, let alone watch?! Ugh! I can't even find the words to say how frustrated and angry this makes me. Thanks for doing it for me, Monda. The thing that truly pisses me off is that whatever punishment these sickos get will not be long enough. I'm a firm believer that sex offenders should receive life sentences. No possibility for parole. No release. Just keep them in a cell (away from the rest of us) and let them stay there for the next 60+ years!
Anger is understandable, perhaps justifiable. But it won't help that poor child.
It saddens me to think that such a thing can happen in ourt world. By “our world' i mean, of course, the so-called civilised Western world. I doubt that we'd be surprised if we heard of such evil being visited upon a child of 15 in Sudan: that's what we expect.
But when it hits our suburbs, we have to stop and ask “why”? And “how”? And what the hell are we going to do about it?
The rapists deserve all the justice systrem can throw at them, and more. The rapists parents need to be brought to book, as well. As fior the onlookers – our contempt is too good for them. If they're ever identified, spit on them. Then, let;s look to ourselves: we've allowd a culture to grow that saw it happen.
Anger is good. Shame is better. A determination to see that such a foulness never happens again on our neighbourhoods is the best. Lewt's work at it, folks.
And send our love to that child, while we're at it. She needs it, more than our anger.
I could not agree with you more. I had tears rolling down my face as I read about this last night. My stomach felt sick and I just wanted to reach out to that poor, dear girl. This is disgusting and there is something seriously wrong going on here, that so many would stand and watch. This is a simple matter of right vs wrong and they all chose wrong. This has weighed heavy on my heart today and I thank you for expressing exactly what I was feeling. May this girl have the loving support she deserves around her.
oh Monda….
and thank you for posting this…
WE cannot afford to join- in any way shape or form- the mute onlookers. We must be outraged.
So many of today's youth sucked their pacifiers and ate their animal crackers while TV screens in their homes blared rapes and murders into their young brains. So many seem so desensitized.
yet, there are those of their generation who are also outraged- and horrified…
I think we must speak up in any way we can- thank you again for bringing this to the table…
Well, if the ones who recorded the gang rape on their phones have their phones confiscated with those images still on them or if – as is frequently the case with such filth – they send it to friends, they can all be prosecuted for having and disseminating child porn. So perhaps there will be some measure of satisfaction for those of us so appalled by such moral indifference.
As for those who spectated, may the scenes haunt them the rest of their lives. May their horror at their own depravity grow exponentially. May it fester and make them sick at themselves. And I hope they are publicly named and shamed. Otherwise, I doubt there will be any measure of peace for those of us who cannot imagine doing such a thing and cannot abide the fact that it happened.
I'm the same age as the girl. This is disgusting. It actually brought tears to my eyes.
It also reminds me of this: http://community.livejournal.com/customers_suck/28134129.html
What is it with people today that means they can just…stand around and watch?
I say bullshit also. Who is the friend who led her to the back of the school? Alcohol, drugs? Where were the school officials, police? No surveillance cameras on the campus? This child's life is in ruins. The people that watched have given up their right to childhood protection. They also should be arrested and tried as adults. These children are animals not human beings.
here on the farm we have a handy implement called an elastrator. it's a plier-like device used to apply very small and tight rubber bands to the gentleman's parts of lambs in order to emasculate them.
i think it could find an application in regard to the perpetrators of this ghastly event.
if this sort of thing can happen outside a school dance, how much worse will it be for women who have 'won' the right to fight on the front lines in times of conflict?
Just up the road from me. Between this and the Bay Bridge trying to wipe out tourists (search for “Bay Bridge cable snap”) this is a Bad News week around here. And don't forget the Duggard case, practically next door to this one.
If only our police logs were filled with hogs on the highway and feminine-product pilferings.
I agree Monda. I was reading the stars n stripes today and when I got to this story I had to put down the paper. Sometimes people disgust me.
OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! That makes me physically sick. Absolutely, physically ill.
Tears are streaming down my face, and my stomach is churning with disgust and anger.
Though the girl is mending, she will never be well, never be whole, will never forget this ordeal–ever.
Human nature causes me to hate those who did this, and those who watch but did not help. Human nature causes me to be more than angry that many of these people will never get punished. Human nature causes me to wish for these people to endure the same or worse.
As humans we have evolved quite nicely, but yet not enough when it comes to issues such as this.
Honestly, I wish I hadn't read this. I will be stewing about it for days, worrying about my own daughters, feeling terrible for the girl and her family, and wanting justice in their behalf.
This sort of shit angers me to no end. I too do not want to hear explanations, I want to see consequences.
This takes me back to a story that was just recently in the news here. 10 tenneagers had terrorized a mom and her 12 year old son in a housing project in Florida. The event was too crazy for me to get into here, but the defense and the parents of some of these kids are asking the judge and courts for a second chance because they were young and stupid. . .Makes me wish they could lock up their parents with them
http://newsone.com/nation/men-accused-of-forcing-mom-to-have-sex-with-son-go-to-trial/
I am so sad.
What I want to know is where are those kids' parents? They should be flogged for failing to teach their children the difference between right and wrong, not to mention that forcing themselves upon someone falls within the “wrong” category. What kind of parent teaches their son that its okay to rape a girl or to stand and watch their friends rape a girl?
And for those of them who stood around and watched: shame. SHAME! Whatever happened to peoples' sense of standing up for someone who was being hurt? Are we all too cowardly? All it would have taken in ONE person to make a difference. ONE person to run for a teacher or a cop. ONE person to call 9-1-1. I am sickened.
Again, for shame.
You should come to India and see what happens here Monda. People are turning more and more into cowards than you would like to believe. Infact when I protest against simple things like traffic rule breaking, I am “ADVISED” not to get into arguments with SUCH people. This is the mentality that makes a crowd or person not realise their own potential to hold against wrong and nip it in the bud. But I havent given up yet and hope to survive it all
A friend linked me to this post when I tried to blog about this and was too angry and sickened to find words.
Thank you for saying it.
I did see on CNN this morning that a friend of the victim got up at the “community safety meeting” and basically ripped the “responsible adults” a new one for their failure to act. The Assistant principal even saw “a gathering” of young men loitering outside the dance, and did nothing. Did not check IDs, did not have the security officers (and where the hell were they?) break them up. He. Did. Nothing.
Speechless.
I cannot find the words.
…
Amen!!!
Thank you. This is SO right on.
I can't shake this story. There is a Lord of the Flies comparison, but that was a novel about evil imagined. This happened at a homecoming dance last weekend.
If we have lost our innocence, what is it these teenagers have lost?
I feel like we need a new language to talk about what this means. The old words aren't strong enough.
On my way to maybe sleep moments ago, I read your post Monda and logged out…I just couldn't have that be the last thing I read today about the outside world. Then I came back and read every post to this article. Usually I only glance at a few, but tonight all the responses mattered. I hoped to find just one thought that could settle this horrible event in a safe place in my mind. There is no safe place for this thought.
I'm horrified and angry at those people who did/let this happen… but what of this girl? I hope her mind protects her and forgets everything that happened from the moment she walked out of the dance and I hope no one tells her what happened. But if she remembers it at all I hope there are people to help her.
I had not heard this story, so I clicked your link and read it with horror. To be raped, in itself, is horrible. Add several rapists, is unbelievable. Add spectators to the event is just uncomprehensible. What a sad, sad story. I hope every one is duly punished for this awful, awful crime. We should all pray for this young girl, so that she may heal both mentally and physically, although we all know that she will NEVER be the same again.
After this horrible gang rape that happened a few days ago (not the first, I can only pray it will be the last) all I could think about was why women didn't go out in the street with signs and candles and chants and shouting “we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it any more”! I watched “Milk”, the movie about Harvey Milk who fought so hard for equal rights for gays, for people of color, for disabled, against any gender bias. He inspired equal-rights riots, the Vietnam war type protests. That's what women need to do. If those friggin' Republican nuts can organize their stupid selves to protest the smartest president we've had in decades, why can't women finally get together and get outraged about the violence that happens to us everyday, every where, at all ages, even to our children!
There are just no words for what I'm feeling. The girl and her family are definitely in my prayers. It is so hard for me to believe that not 1 person – NOT ONE – called 911. The whole thing just sickens me.
what can we do to support this girl? can we create a virtual/online candle lighting for this girl?
This is the first that I've heard about this story, and it makes me feel ill inside.
The problem with the justice system is that they always want to “rehabilitate” and release these offenders back into the public. I say the consequences to such individuals are not heavy enough. They should be punished. Not released and allowed to re-offend as we see happen so many times.
that poor girl is going to need a lifetime of psychiatry to get through this ordeal. Her life is ruined because of these people. And as for those who just watched? Disgusting.
Unfortunately, Monda, thanks to postmodernists and cowardly parents, I don't know that we'll ever live in a world of true consequences again.
When did we move from action to inaction in the history of this 'forward-thinking' nation of ours? I tend to believe that there is a serious degree of separation that occurs when an instrument of technology is put between the user and the even. Especially in the younger set. Moments such as they are beyond terror, beyond terrible, surpassing tragic.
Beasts. No. That demeans beasts.
This made me sick when I read it as well. I would like to mention that the girl was drunk and on several illegal substances, though. I am in NO WAY saying she is to blame, nor the criminals any less to blame, but I just thought to bring it up, since I believe the full story should be told.
I still firmly believe what happened was disgusting and hope the girl manages to find some semblance of peace from the events.