Silicon Valley Moms Blog: A 15 year-old Girl Is Gang Raped

November 03, 2009

A 15 year-old Girl Is Gang Raped - What Are We Going To Do?

I am so angry and frustrated it is difficult to write. In fact, I've waited since October to write about this story because I am having difficulty absorbing the immensity of what happened to a 15 year-old Richmond girl. It sickens me and makes me embarrassed to associate this wonderful part of the world with a heinous gang rape. I've hesitated to interrupt the other writers' stories about sweet children and their holiday festivities with the description of the October event. But, I must. I am a mother. I am the mother of a teen-age daughter and I cannot believe what happened to another mother's daughter.

Police said they now believe that as many as 10 young men may have assaulted a 15 year-old girl on October 23rd after she left her Richmond High School homecoming dance. As of today, a seventh suspect has been arrested in connection with the gang rape. Worst still, according to police, over 20 people witnessed the assault and some of them are believed to have recorded the attack on their cell phones, taking pictures and recorded videos. Police said they received a tip about a possible assault on campus from a former student, who heard two males bragging about it. Officers found the girl semiconscious and naked from the waist down near a picnic table.

What began as a night of celebration, turned into a two and half hour nightmare in a dark corner of the school's campus. The courtyard where the attack erupted was the most infamous spot on campus, an out-of-the-way, poorly lit venue for gang initiations and dopers lighting up joints or for couples wanting to have a little "privacy". Why the school officials didn't monitor the obvious areas of "congregation" outside of the dance is a mystery to me. Not only were people raping and assaulting her, there were people watching that did NOT even call the police or tell school officials that a young girl was being brutalized. Many used the opportunity to record it on a cell phone - for what...YouTube sharing???

A major cable network grouped the Richmond case with other attacks on teenagers—males and females—and attempted to make this a youth-violence issue. Do not be mis-led. No boys were being raped. And, no boys were fighting. This was a brutal attack on a young girl. Period.

Recently, a not-for-profit group called Parents Television Council released a report titled “Women in Peril.” The shocking findings: From 2004 to 2009, incidents of violence on prime-time broadcast television increased 2 percent; in the same period, scenes of violence against women increased 120 percent. And, the kicker: There was a 400 percent increase in the depiction of teen girls as victims. And, depending on whose numbers you agree with - anywhere from 20 - 50% of all teenaged girls have been a victim of sexual or physical violence. I am not saying this is the only source of the problem, in fact, I don't believe it is. Because, if parents are around to raise healthy, well-balanced kids, media shouldn't enter their lives so prominently. But, gangs are not about healthy, well-balanced kids.

Can prosecutors charge the people who were watching but not participating? How about the "watcher" who took the next step and recorded the event? Are there levels of evil? Really? I guess it's the criminal justice system's job to parse out the difference between the minimum and maximum offenders. But, I cannot. I cannot stop thinking about the young people who were standing by and watching. I cannot.

This is an original SVMoms post
Myrna writes about life with teens at Tangerinetimes.com