I try to follow the news on TV, radio, and social media on a daily basis for the sake of staying informed. As it is a new acquired habit I try to do it first thing in the morning as I get ready for the day, on my drive to the train station and on the train to work. I also check websites like MSN as it is the default start page on my desktop and Yahoo, prior to logging in to one of my many email addresses. During my train ride on social media is where I tend to find the most critical and disturbing news and quite honestly I avoid reading anything which appears graphic (I loathe inhuman, disturbing or sad reports which are unfortunately the majority of reality) like a plague for the fear of forming negative opinions and/or attitudes.

Having mentioned the above, I tried to elude any news with regards to the spring break gang rape incident that occurred in Panama City, Florida throughout the day. Perhaps because thinking about it would make me sick to my stomach and affect me in more ways than one. I first heard about it on Jamn 94.5 and I did not pay too much attention to it; Not because I did not care, but because I understand that it was an absolute psychological evasion for not dealing with a situation that could most certainly open a can of worms from my past. Unfortunately or fortunately (you be the judge) I happened to open my laptop so as to begin my assignments and my default home page highlighted “Third arrest made in videotape rape on spring break beach in fla” as one of their headline stories. I finally caved in out of curiosity to put a face to one of the most sordid people I know of.

There he was, a black man! You can only imagine the mixed emotions and thought processes that ran through my mind. First, I saw my brother, who is about to college, at such a spring break event…I could only imagine the horror if he was the one who committed such an obscene deed having had a mother and sisters his whole life. This flushed through my mind so fast and I immediately felt such a sharp pain in heart. Perplexing, I know. The reason I felt so saddened was the fact that the third was black, I really did not bother to look at the rest. I was nauseated by just one image. With all the shootings of innocent people and the declarations of hate crimes against a black people (racism to the highest order), why would another black person reinforce the fact that it could be justifiable to be inhuman to them while they are equally portraying inhuman behavior? Rape is inhuman, so is taking another person’s life. In both cases, the victims are innocent. It does not matter what they have done or which situation they may be in that makes the vulnerable, what one decides to do thereafter is solely independent of the previous scenario. I am furious and wish the worst penalty on all the people involved with the rape. The victim deserves justice.

Second, the poor girl’s violation occurred to me. I literally chocked as I tried to utter a prayer for her, my little sister (though very young), and all college girls having a good time innocently. I could relate with her being female in a society where men think of us as objects and forget we are human, with flesh, and flowing blood. We have emotions, we make mistakes, we can be trusting and naïve…I could go on about how human we are in comparison to men, and how anatomically we share very many similarities but I digress. I could imagine her facing criticism for consuming alcoholic beverages in excess therefore being irresponsible (pointing fingers to the people who observed the event unfold and not do a thing as I can assume), the nerve!!! Why would anyone be at fault for celebrating an accomplishment of making it halfway through the semester? After all, any college student knows the hustle and hard work put into attaining good grades or at least passing a class. Could anyone not recon she was unconscious?

I was flooded with anger for obvious reasons, lastly. We have become a society that lives our lives virtually. We record incidences as they occur and share them for the entire world to see. We later try to solve the situation or lash at the predicament online. While there are positives to having such data as evidence, the damage has already been done. The video will forever be online, and victim will always remember this sadistic violation from the recording, a wound that cannot be healed. To what means do we as society take accountability for making our environment a better place? Sure paying taxes is one thing, but even a person surviving on government funds still pays taxes one way or another. Or better yet, even psychopaths pay taxes. So what differentiates one from an absolute sociopath/psychopath? This should be the most rhetorical questions asked. All someone had to do was call 911 in the case that they felt they could not directly step into the situation. I am pretty sure the police would have done something about it and the victim could have received proper medical attention be it for detox from being drugged and/or checking her for any sexually transmitted infections, God forbid if that was left to happen in a hypothetical humane environment.

More than ever, I am worried of having children. The society that I knew growing up where people actually took the initiative to do something in person, not virtually is almost nonexistent. God forbid that I have a son who gets wrongly profiled, thanks to irresponsible members of my race. God forbid I have a daughter who gets violated in broad daylight without any help from a person. That would be the death of me. I choose to not live in the path society wants to choose for me. I will not take responsibility for idiotic people in my race, after all, every race have people that create a negative depiction of the rest, I think it is safe to conclude so.  And to the best of my ability, I will try and be a doer, I am equally human and love the virtual world, I think it is great when used appropriately. So, I pose the question, would you have courage enough to interfere in something that you know is wrong, despite you getting involved in a way you are not willing to? Would you even do something as simple as call 911?