Not Okay

Maybe I am really, really prideful, but I think that I am a fairly forgiving person. I know that people are stupid, so I just take it as me getting points for being right when they do stupid things and prove me right then forgive them for being stupid. I don’t really react to, or care much about anything I hear on the news because I know that people are stupid, so I just hear it and say, “Yep, there goes another stupid one,” and move on with my life.

The other day, however, I was washing off my dinner dishes while Grandma was watching the news, and heard about the little girl who had been sexually assaulted by four boys. For some reason, it surprises me more when I hear about kids doing stupid things. I guess I have just decided that adults are stupider than kids, but whatever my reasoning was, I stopped my washing to listen.

I was shocked and upset about hearing that four boys ranging in age from nine to fourteen had lured a little girl into a shed with gum and then sexually assaulted her.

I had mixed feelings about the oldest boy being tried as an adult. Yes, he should have known better, but he’s still not an adult.

I then heard that the girl was in the care of CPS (or something like it), and was really confused. That poor little girl had been through more than I can imagine and she should be able to go home with her parents and be surrounded by familiar, happy things.

But then I heard why she wasn’t going home with Mom and Dad. They disowned her. They said that she brought shame to the family—that she had victimized herself and it was her fault.

Oh. My. Gosh.

I understand that the family is from a different culture, but that is stills so not ok with me, that I honestly am shaking thinking about it, and it’s been a whole 36 hours since I heard about it.
1. Who tells a girl who was raped that it was her fault? Seriously?!
2. How on earth can an eight year-old girl be held responsible for that?! Is she supposed to suspect that every time a boy (even one who is her age) offers her anything, she should think that he’s trying to sexually assault her? I don’t think I even knew what that was when I was eight, and if I did, I certainly didn’t think that some kids I knew from school would do that to me.

I think of all my kids. I know that they aren’t technically mine at all, but I picture my little Yareli, Alicia or Angela, and if I knew that their parents had shunned them for something like that, I would have a cow. (Obviously, since I’m kinda having a cow right now, and I don’t even know the girl.) I would go straight to the office and talk to my principal. I don’t think I’d leave until I knew that CPS was coming and getting my little girl so that she didn’t have to go home to parents who would say something like that to her.

And let’s not even start on how I’d feel if something like this happened to my sister. Oh dear.

I am sure that the parents aren’t trying to make this girl’s life even harder, but I just can’t see how they think they’re helping anyone, whether it’s the girl, or themselves.

I just had a thought. Everything I’ve read has talked about the dad, and how he has said that they didn’t want her back. I wonder how Mom feels—if she agrees with what he’s doing, or if it’s just that her culture forces her to follow her husband.

Aaaaaaannd now I’m going to go on a feminist rant, so I’ll stop now.

I guess this just goes to show you that even Brigette occasionally has opinions.

How odd.