Community Outreach

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On Saturday, a fifteen year-old girl was savagely beaten and raped for two and a half hours by young thugs, while others stood and watched. The gang-rape occurred on the Richmond High School campus in Richmond, California. Five suspects have been arrested. Out of the five, three are considered juveniles; however, they will all be charged as adults.

Described as "a churchgoer who struggled to fit in," the girl was left unconscious under a bench after the assault. According to one of her friends, there were more than a dozen men standing outside the entrance to the gym where the homecoming dance was being held. Neither the police officers, nor the security guards deemed it important to check them out. She further noted that the principle himself looked outside, saw them gathered there, and did nothing.

On Wednesday, students, teachers and area residents gathered to defend their city's image.

Those gathered at Richmond High School witnessed "a response that is really from the heart, and also from the gut, given the mourning, the sadness, the anger that has arisen since Saturday," Prishni Murillo, executive director of Youth Together, an area youth leadership organization, said at a news conference.

"We do not want this incident to be an excuse to further criminalize the young people of this city," Murillo said.

Senior Norma Bautista echoed that sentiment.

"We are not criminals," she said. "We come here to this school because we want [there] to be a change."

Lorna McClellan, a Richmond High teacher, said it was wrong that the community was being portrayed as a place that does not stand up for victims.

"Yes, something horrible and atrocious happened on our campus, and yes, blame lies with the school officials, with the teachers, with the district, with the police, with the students were afraid to speak up. But it's important to realize that our community realizes this is a problem, and we are taking active steps to fix it," McClellan said.

Gagan said Wednesday that police expect to make further arrests.

I don't know about you, but that really just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside. They've all come together as a community to show their support and mourning for what has happened to this poor girl, and they know there's a shared blame to bear for all the officials, but they realize it's a problem and are taking active steps to fix it.

Almost as good as the Melbourne Police Department.

That's all well and good, but where in the hell was this community when a fifteen year-old girl was getting gang-raped and beaten for TWO AND A HALF HOURS? Maybe, just maybe, if their precious little community didn't resemble the town of Lago from High Plains Drifter, then we could all get behind them and understand how something like this could happen.

The police estimate that no less than ten people were involved in the actual assault, while at least another ten stood and watched the assault while making no attempt to call 911 or intervene in any manner. Excuse me if I don't start applauding the community.

The victim was found unconscious and "brutally assaulted" under a bench shortly before midnight Saturday, after police received a call from someone in the area who had overheard people at the assault scene talking about the incident, police said.

This is possibly one of the most senseless acts to occur in years. There was absolutely no reason for this to happen. It was a high school homecoming dance. There were four police officers and several security guards, and it was too much to ask for them to secure and patrol the perimeter. The principal saw the strange group of men standing outside the gym and did nothing. Some of the students even brought it to the attention of the security and police and they still did not investigate. It seems to me like the Richmond police and school officials are about as interested in the community as the ten plus people who stood there and watched in apathetic cowardice, but we shouldn't let this incident be an excuse to further criminalize the young people of their city.

It seems to me that it's not just the young people of their city who need to be criminalized, that's just where it starts.