This post comes with a major TRIGGER WARNING. Please don’t click on the link if you do not wish to be exposed to a seriously disturbing incident.
This is old news for most Americans, I suppose. I’ve been out of the country since June, and this is the first time that I’ve read anything about this.
Having been reminiscing about Duke for a number of sad reasons (reasons I won’t be going into right now), I decided to dig up the blog of Mark Anthony Neal, a professor whom I sort of now (I say sort of, because MAN and I have only conversed a couple of times, and I doubt he remembers me). So here I am, scrolling down peacefully, reading about Elvis, and then I come across this story of an immigrant woman and her son. The unspeakable violence perpetuated against them boggles the mind. Reading about what happened takes you into a dark, starless, unending void from which there is no escape. It’s the sort of horror that makes you want to despair for the human race.
Now, there has been, apparently, criticism of Jesse Jackson’s and Al Sharpton’s lack of interest in what happened. Even the Duke Lacrosse Scandal has been invoked. I can’t really comment on this in depth – but you should definitely check out the links. The most horrible thing is… Neighbours heard these people screaming. Of course. How sad it is, that this behaviour has become predictable. A commenter on Neal’s blog talked about needing Jesus after hearing about this. I agree.
Oh, and, thank you Lord, they’ve caught at least some of the perpetrators and are prosecuting.
Natalia A. 