….AND WILL SHE GET JUSTICE?

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(ROUGH DRAFT)

Rachel of Rachel’s Tavern (http://rachelstavern.com/?p=708#comments74195) posted this news article on the brutal kidnapping/rape/attempted murder of a young black woman. Here is her post:

I’m not sure that I can find words to adequately describe the brutality of this crime.  You can read more details below.  Here’s the initial report:

Authorities are investigating whether a woman who was tortured in a southern West Virginia home for more than a week may have been lured there by a man she met on the Internet.Police were still looking for two people they suspect drove the 23-year-old Charleston woman about 50 miles to the Big Creek home where she was abused, said Logan County Chief Deputy V.K. Dingess.There, according to police, she was beaten, sexually assaulted and humiliated.Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said police are investigating the possible Internet connection into what some are calling one of the most shocking crimes in the county’s recent history.In 30 years of law enforcement, Logan County Sheriff W.E. Hunter said he’s never seen anything like this.It’s “something that would have come out of a horror movie,” he said Tuesday.Deputies were interviewing the victim Tuesday morning and are scheduled to meet later in the day to discuss the case with Abraham, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office. The officials may decide then whether to file hate crimes charges.Bill Crowley, spokesman for the FBI in Pittsburgh, confirmed that the agency is looking into possible civil rights violations.Six Logan County residents, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter, remained in custody Tuesday on $100,000 bonds each. They are charged in the weeklong kidnapping and abuse of the woman.All six are white. The victim, who was being treated Tuesday at the Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital, is black.“Every one of these people who were arrested are no strangers to law enforcement,” Hunter said.Deputies found the woman Saturday after going to the home in Big Creek to investigate an anonymous tip from someone who had witnessed the abuse, Sgt. Sonya Porter said Tuesday.One of the suspects, Frankie Brewster, was sitting on the front porch and told deputies she was alone, but moments later the victim limped toward the door, her arms outstretched, saying, “Help me,” the sheriff’s department said in a news release.Besides being sexually assaulted, the victim had been stabbed four times in the left leg and beaten, Porter said. Both of her eyes were black and blue. The woman’s wounds were inflicted at least a week ago, deputies said.During her capture, the victim was forced to eat rat and dog feces and drink from the toilet, according to the criminal complaint filed in magistrate court. The woman also had been choked with a cable cord and her hair cut, it alleges.One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman’s ankle with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being sexually assaulted.“We have all been praying and asking the Lord to take us through this,” the victim’s mother told The Charleston Gazette on Monday. “It’s hard to deal with it. We are very angry. … She will be scarred for a long time.“She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, ’Mommy,”’ the mother said. “What’s really bad is that we don’t know everything they did to her. She is crying all the time.” 

Update: The AP, in a rather suspect move, is reporting the victim’s name, which will not be appearing on my site.  They are saying they have permission; however, to me it feels like they are taking advantage of this young woman, who will likely get a bunch of hate mail and death threats from white supremacists. 

Some evidence suggests that the crime was racially motivated.  We’ll have to watch the details as they come out. 

That this woman has suffered from such a heinous crime does not surprise me. Yes, it hurts me how this society stills degrades, denigrates and hates black women. Violence  against black women and girls is as American as cherry pie. My response to Rachel’s post is as follows:

“Six Logan County residents, including a mother and son and a mother and daughter, remained in custody Tuesday on $100,000 bonds each. They are charged in the weeklong kidnapping and abuse of the woman.”

“Authorities are investigating whether a woman who was tortured in a southern West Virginia home for more than a week may have been lured there by a man she met on the Internet.”

America’s devaluation of black women.

From the news report, there is some evidence that this is a racially-motivated hate crime, with possible civil rights violations, rape, attempted murder, as well as federal charges of imprisonment and kidnapping:

“One of those arrested, Karen Burton, is accused of cutting the woman’s ankle with a knife. She used the N-word in telling the woman she was victimized because she is black, according to the criminal complaint.”

This young woman was missing for more than a week.

Looking at a time frame on when she disappeared, when her relatives, or close friends/relatives reported her missing, I wonder how long it took the law authorities who were alerted by any relatives to look into investigating this young woman’s disappearance or to start searching for this young black woman?

“Deputies found the woman Saturday after going to the home in Big Creek to investigate an anonymous tip from someone who had witnessed the abuse, Sgt. Sonya Porter said Tuesday.”

From the New York Times report on this story on September 12, 2007 concerning the “witness” who alerted law authorities:

“On Saturday, Logan County deputies received a tip about a woman being held against her will at the Brewster residence. A person working in the area had heard disturbing noises coming from the trailer and seen the victim with cuts on her leg through the window, the police said.”

If not for this witness, God only knows what more could have happened to this young woman. She could be lying right now in some abandoned shallow grave, dead, after having suffered unspeakable horrors.

And many people still refuse to believe that black women’s lives are still held so cheaply in this country. Some people around the blogoshpere and on news websites are calling the state of Virginia a hotbed of racist haters, when the truth of reality is that racist pogrom violence against black Americans has occurred all across America in small towns, in urban areas, in suburbs, in New York, California, Utah, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia—EVERYWHERE, throughout the entire history of this country.Black Codes, Black Laws of the Old Northwest. Racial covenants. Sundown Towns. Lynchings. Genetic violence. Ethnic cleansing. Mass gang rapes.

America the, Great Whore of Babylon, has shown nothing but hateful depravities towards her black citizens.

These histories of depravities committed against black people are nothing new. This is business as usual in the life history of black Americans. This is a legacy of  hatred of black people that started back in 1619 when the first black Africans were brought here against their will.

That black life has been held in such contempt, from the rulers at the top, all the way down to the individual,  should come as no surprise to anyone.

No one state, or community, or geographical area holds a monopoly on the degradation and destruction of black Americans.

Violence is as American as cherry pie.

And violence is ingrained into the fabric of American culture,  violence that cheapens and holds no sanctity nor human regard for black American life.

Especially violence done towards black women and girls.

Last year it was a little 15-year-old black girl who was brutally raped by two white men, one of whom stated:

“She’s someone no one will miss.”

And this long history of relegating blackness to something that is sub-human, as something that has no rights that America is bound to respect is normal in how America regards, or better yet, disregards her black citizens.

“Deputies say the woman was also doused with hot water while being sexually assaulted.”

“All six are white. The victim, who was being treated Tuesday at the Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital, is black.

“Every one of these people who were arrested are no strangers to law enforcement,” Hunter said.

According to the news article, these are the KNOWN crimes that these people have been charged with. There is no telling what other unknown criminal atrocities they may have committed against someone else.

The depravities and atrocities done to this young woman is nothing short of sick, perverted and sadistic.

“Update: The AP, in a rather suspect move, is reporting the victim’s name, which will not be appearing on my site. They are saying they have permission; however, to me it feels like they are taking advantage of this young woman, who will likely get a bunch of hate mail and death threats from white supremacists.”

From the news article:

“The Associated Press generally does not identify suspected victims of sexual assault and is not identifying the mother to protect the identity of her daughter.”

Maybe I missed it but, I did not see the young woman’s name in the article you linked to, Rachel. Is there some related article that previously gave out her name? (Please e-mail me this information.)

It is illegal to divulge the names of sexual assault victims, be they adults or minors.

This is possibly precedent for a lawsuit against the newswire for revealing the victim’s name, if so. If she wasn’t black would they have revealed her name to the public?

“She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, ’Mommy,”’ the mother said. “What’s really bad is that we don’t know everything they did to her. She is crying all the time.”

Yes, the family does not know ALL of what their daughter suffered. Their daughter’s physical scars may heal and can possibly be covered with clothing.

She will have psychological scars from this nightmare for the rest of her life.

That this young woman possibly met this human on the internet has to also be taken into consideration.

Her life became jeopardized when she did not meet this person in a public setting, if according to the article she met him on the internet.

Per the article:

“Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham said police are investigating the possible Internet connection into what some are calling one of the most shocking crimes in the county’s recent history.”

“We’ll have to watch the details as they come out.”

I agree.

Forensics and SANE evidence will have to be thoroughly gathered to help the prosecution in this case.

Let’s hope that the police do not drop the ball on this young woman’s case.

She deserves to have justice for what was savagely done to her.

NEWS REPORT LINKS: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/us/12captive.html?ref=us

VIDEO LINKS:

http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/9712762.html

LINKS:http://lahumanrelations.org/publications/docs/2005HCR.pdf

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