Teensource Blogger's Thoughts on Richmond High Gang Rape

When I think about the incident at Richmond High, when a 15 girl was gang raped for hours while bystanders watched, I become upset for many reasons. I wonder why the boys felt like this would be an amusing thing to do to another human being. I wonder why the onlookers didn’t leave or call the police. I wonder why police were not patrolling all parts of the school for the two and a half hours after the dance. I wonder why the school chose to send home the security guards early (actually I know the reason, the school could not afford to pay them overtime. Standard rate for a security guard is typically around 12 dollars an hour). Really there are more questions than can ever be answered. When things like this happen, I find it very difficult to not let my emotions get the better of me, and I often think of gruesome ways to balance out the harm caused by such horrific behavior. Thankfully the family of the 15 year old survivor is not like me, and they have instead released a statement saying "Please do not respond to this tragic event by promoting hatred or by causing more pain. We have had enough violence already in this place. If you need to express your outrage, please channel your anger into positive action". This statement calls not for blood, but rather for change, for people to use their fury and anger at this act to actually do something to make the community better. I feel that it is incredibly thoughtful and responsible of the family, as they know that in Richmond, the city has been overwhelmed with violence, tension and hatred for decades. I believe it is admirable to promote change in the culture of “an eye for an eye,” and really it is a revolutionary act for this broken community. There must be change on many levels: lights on at the school at night, education for students about violence and rape, efforts to reconcile or heal the Richmond community and so forth. The survivor and her family recognize that revenge will not make Richmond safer for anyone, but the real way to make sure this does not happen again is to put down the rock and focus that energy to promoting justice, making the streets safe, and being an active member of the community. I really hope this can work, because as we all know, the other way does not.