Multiculturalism isn't just diverse restaurants, fun music, and other cool stuff. It also means accepting stories like this:
The allegation is shocking: an 8-year-old girl lured to a storage shed with the promise of chewing gum, pinned down and sexually assaulted by four boys, none of them older than 14.
The response from the girl's family sent a second and equally stunning shockwave through their Phoenix, Arizona, community: "The parents felt that they had been shamed or embarrassed by their child," reported Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill.
As a result, the girl was taken into custody by Arizona's child welfare agency.
The prosecutor who charged the four boys called the crime "heartrending" and "deeply disturbing." But to those familiar with Liberia, the west African nation where the families of all of the children are from, the crime and response are both part of a sadly familiar story.
"It's something that happens every day in every community in Liberia," said Tania Bernath, a researcher for the human rights group Amnesty International.
The country was racked by a brutal civil war for most of 14 years. During that time, rape was used by fighters on all sides as a tool of war and a way to spread terror and demoralize enemies.
A United Nations report in 2004, the year after much of the fighting stopped, estimated that 60 to 70 percent of all women in the nation had been the victims of sexual violence.
An example of why America doesn't need to be more like the rest of the world.
3 comments:
I read this too, and it's pretty sad. But these particular boys' actions (and that of others like them back in Liberia) is most likely a spasm of learned violence, a consequence of the country's prolonged civil war.
But having read this article and having viewed the accompanying video, my fear is that Americans will misinterpret these acts of sexual violence as a part of Liberian culture... like "oh well, it's business as usual for these Liberians w/ their little boys raping their little girls, then the parents blaming the girl for disgracing them."
But sexual violence IS part of Liberian culture.
From the article:
"A 2006 government report said that of 1,600 women surveyed, 92 percent reported some kind of sexual violence, including rape."
Maybe we are giving short consideration to the 8% who live nice liberal lives free from sexual violence.
What more evidence do you need? Granted, rape is not something UNIQUE to Liberian culture. The Russians would systemically rape the victims of their battles, as would the Japanese. It is not uncommon.
But we shouldn't sweep it under the rug and act as if it isn't going on.
I guess it depends on what your definition of culture is. I was referring to *original* culture... religious practices, social customs and cultural standards, NOT cultural trends.
I wouldn't say that Liberia's 160-year-plus history was based upon the tradition of rape, but I would understand what you mean if you're saying that it's been painfully ingrained in their society as a result of the war tactics of the past 20 years.
Post a Comment