Once again, OUR politics supersedes racial pride
Accounts of the March 9 attack at Mifflin High School in Columbus sound like something out of Abu Ghraib. A group of boys took the girl behind a curtain on the auditorium stage, where one punched her in the face and threatened to have his friends beat her further if she cried out. Then at least two boys forced her to perform oral sex on them while others watched.
More than a dozen other students came running when they heard what was happening - not to help, but to watch. One is said to have recorded the assault with a video camera brought to school for a class project. He allegedly used the light from a cell phone to illuminate the scene. That means he had to be very close to what was going on. Other students viewed the assault from a window overlooking the stage.
The victim reported what happened to a special education teacher, who took her to the school office. There, school officials called her father, but not the police. The father later reported that administrators said they wanted to avoid media attention, and asked him not to call 911. He ignored them and called police…more
The above was an editorial, what follows is an excerpt of the actual news story:
Witnesses said several students saw a girl being punched and forced to engage in videotaped sexual acts with several boys in the Mifflin High School auditorium.
According to witness accounts given to school investigators, a 16-year-old developmentally-delayed student claimed she was dragged into the auditorium and was forced to perform oral sex on at least two boys, while more than a dozen other students were called to watch.
One student reportedly videotaped the sex acts, NBC 4’s Colleen Marshall reported.
“If you scream, I’ll have my boys punch you,” one student witness reported hearing an attacker warn the girl…more
Let me give you a hint: these boys and the school administration are not white.
Another report mentioned that when school officials walked in on the scene, this young girl was naked and a student was on top of her.
I normally do not blog on Saturdays, but this story really got me hot for several reasons:
# The mere fact that this girl was raped
#The mere fact that this special needs girl was raped
#WHERE ARE THE FATHERS OF THESE BOYS?????
#The attempt of the school administration to cover up the whole issue.
#The silence of teacher’s unions
#The lack of national outrage amongst most blacks
As we all know, had this been a case of a black girl being gang-raped by a bunch of white boys, all hell would have come loose amongst most black leaner-ship. Even groups like the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, etc. would have called for a federal investigation into this matter. What is even more obvious is the fact that the media never identifies the race of the victim and the assailants. Normally, the media will go all out of its way to identify the race of individuals when it is a white-cop-kills-black-kid case. Why is race all of a sudden not relevant? If you think that I am about to break into a anti-Liberal-media-bias rant, think again. Mainstream media has already proven to benefit both sides of the political spectrum, so I do not concern myself with any political slant in this story.
What I am greatly concerned about is how we as a people have demonstrated over and over again our outrage against racism and destructive behavior when it comes from whites, Koreans, etc. But when it comes to stories like this case involving this child, most of us just skip over it while looking for the next white-cop-kills-black-kid case to use to bolster our claims of injustice in this country.
The more recent developments of this story mentions how community leaders are planing on getting together for (you guessed it) another summit to address the issues of violence in their community. In earlier days, I would have commend these individuals for trying to fix the problem. Today, I almost totally dismiss these actions as another way we use situations as a means to grandstand our own agendas. Granted, some summits do produce results, but a vast majority of them are nothing but show while the kids continue to shoot and rape each other in the streets. Holding the feet of Sharpton, Jackson and others on this case is pointless. It is time now for us (all of us) to shoulder the blame of these kind of incidents.
Until we adopt the mindset that these are OUR kids and not Bey-Bey’s kids, things like this will continue to happen while we continue to demand for justice in this country.
**Hat tip to both Samantha Pierce and Michelle Malkin
I’m not sure how the teacher’s union plays into the story but it may be involved in the legal aspects of the case and cannot make any public statement at this time. Obviously, no one condones this type of behavior and would agree the school administrators deserve at least to be fired (… how is it these hoodlums think they can do this on school property and get away with it?).
I’m sure the child’s father now has at the ready a list of attorneys for a lawsuit against the school system and perpetrators.
Comment by EG | April 24, 2005
The fact that the race of the participants was not mentioned has more to do with the media then with the “black community’s lack of outrage”. “We,” because when it comes to things like this we are a collective group, can only know what the media shows us. But why is the race of the children important here? Unless this was a racially motivated incident, I am not sure why the race of the participants is relevant. A similar incident occurred with a group of white teenagers and a mentally disabled student years ago. The race of the participants were not reported. They were white and it wasnt racially motivated. (the young lady was white as well). I suppose you are saying that the fact that the boys were black should be brought to the attention of black america so that we can have a discussion about it and actually do something about this behavior? And if so, whose fault is it for not knowing the children were black?
Comment by Black Ambition | April 24, 2005
If you were providing legal counsel to the teachers’ union, would you allow your client to speak on this matter? Despite the emotional aspects of this issue, the legal issues for any party involved in this case would be very deep.
For example, have these administrators been reprimanded earlier for other issues? Have other parents complained about the school’s lack of discipline? The teachers’ union may have been involved in these issues with these administrators. And may be called as a witness by the father.
The same problem exists for the Supertindent of the school system, other teachers in the school, School Board members.
Comment by EG | April 24, 2005
The lack of national outrage amongst most blacks
OK, now I’ve asked someone I know who lives in the area about this story, and I’m told there is outrage from Black people that this happened.
You have to look at how the media is reporting things or not reporting things.
For example, in a local case, a woman encouraged her daughter and other girls to beat up another girl. The girl who was beat up suffered brain damage. The white talk show stations said the same thing you did, that there is no outrage in the Black community.
Meanwhile, on the Black talk stations, outrage was being shown. Neighbors got involved as well as the church the brain damaged girl attended.
The church raised a lot of money for her health care.
Comment by DarkStar | April 24, 2005
Ed,
I have a friend that lives in the area as well.
I said NATIONAL outrage (like you quoted me). I am not that crazy to make the blanket statement that there is NO outrage amongst blacks. Compare the Twanda Brawley case from back in the day with this one.
Again, looking at this from a NATIONAL perspective, I do not recall too many black-owned media giving this attention either. Sure MSM does share some of the blame on this one for not giving this story more play, but so does our own media.
Comment by Duane | April 25, 2005
The fact that the race of the participants was not mentioned has more to do with the media then with the “black community’s lack of outrage”. “We,†because when it comes to things like this we are a collective group, can only know what the media shows us.
Your point is very valid, however, this goes back to a point that I raised sometime ago: Why has most of major black media given this story little or no play? If you go to blackpressusa.com (a website that ties in most black owned and operated newspapers), the main headline reads the following:
Anti-war and community activist Damu Smith
I have no comment on Smith as I am not that familiar with him, but question remains, why does an anti-war activist get headlined while a girl being gang-raped (a story that typically gets national attention) is on the back pages somewhere. If we are admiting here that black news gets its relevancy from MSM, then why do we have it if stories like this get overlooked? Anybody can filter a newsfeed to only target keywords like burning cross, racism, oppression, white cop, black kid, etc..Is this all we are interested in?
Personally, the race of the individuals is no where near important than the crime itself. If I had a child in a mostly white school and the same thing happened, trust me I would feel the same way. What angers me is that US… OUR MEDIA, most black polititians who have the national spotlight would have raised pure hell about this is if it was white teens that raped this black girl. Calls for a federal probe would have already been issued.
Comment by Duane | April 25, 2005
I said NATIONAL outrage (like you quoted me). I am not that crazy to make the blanket statement that there is NO outrage amongst blacks.
I’m in Maryland. It has been on Black media originating from Baltimore.
What gets picked up and doesn’t get picked up is always a mystery to me.
There have been “white on Black” cases in Maryland that have been bad but have not made the national press. I really don’t expect it to, but I find the claim, “If it where white on Black” to be suspect because of what I have seen and NOT seen over time.
Comment by DarkStar | April 25, 2005
Maybe I missed something, but this discussion is making no sense. What race are the boys involved? What race is the female involved? Im gathering that the boys were black? and the female white? What Im confused on is what does the race have to do with anything anways? Iam outraged regardless of the races involved, it should make no difference.
A young girl was brutally raped by 3 boys! Lets talk about this issue as a whole, and work on a solution ,
Comment by shelley | April 26, 2005
shelley,
All parties were black. To understand the post, please take your time to read it again.
If I sound insulting here, please forgive me. Most readers found the point pretty clear.
Bottom line, color does not matter. Unfortunately to some, it does.
Comment by Duane | April 26, 2005
My apologies!! Thanks for suggesting the re-read. Your point is clear and well taken,
your comment was no insulting at all. (that whole think/read before you speak just came into play…
Comment by shelley | April 26, 2005
This is the first time I heard the story. It has been my experience that the media always protect white people identity and not blacks, so I’m not sure why the identify of the person wasn’t disclosed unless it was automatically understood that this is an all black school. The thing I find totally disturbing is that other students sat back and watched while this girl was raped. The other part of the story about black people not being outraged by black on black crime is a bit absurd. I find it hard to believe those who knew about this story are not outraged. Black people in general to me are not as heartless as being portrayed here especially when it comes to a child being physically abused by other children.
Comment by Cynthia | April 26, 2005
I find it hard to believe those who knew about this story are not outraged. Black people in general to me are not as heartless as being portrayed here especially when it comes to a child being physically abused by other children.
My dear Cynthia,
Nobody is saying here that black people are not outraged about this incident.This is why I kept putting MEDIA in caps so that the focus remained on black MEDIA. It would be silly to suggest that blacks are heartless when it comes to issues like this. What ain’t silly is how BLACK MEDIA has treated this case. So once again, I am talking about BLACK MEDIA, BLACK MEDIA, BLACK MEDIA, BLACK MEDIA. (I’m just being silly here, but it is just I had to explain this several times already to some readers)
Comment by Duane | April 26, 2005
As a black parent with children (both a son and a daughter) in the same age group as both the girl and the boys, I am OUTRAGED by what I am reading.
My question is: Where were the parents of the boys?
I know that my parents raised me to respect and cherish females and especially Black females.
My ‘butt’ (putting it nicely) would regret any insult I would think of throwing towards any woman.
In today’s society, the general disrespect towards women and especially Black women is at a all time high. With the media’s portraying (sp) women as ‘b#$%h’s and ho’s’ at every turn, and Black women in general as an “easy” lay, without parental influence, children will take what they see/hear on the “moron” devices (TV/RADIO) as gospel.
Black parents and parents in general need to be there to talk to their kids and dispel the myths that they are seeing.
This is not BY ANY MEANS an excuse for their behavior. I just think that it is a wake up call to other parents out there, that they need to get involved in their kids life and restore some sensible values to our generation or else we will be lost.
Comment by Lawrence | April 26, 2005