Earlier this month in Arizona an 8 year-old Liberian girl was gang raped by 4 Liberian boys, ages 14, 13, 10, and 9. The girl’s 23 year-old sister then said that her sister was “bringing confusion,” and that the suspects should be released because “we are all the same people.” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has spoken out publicly on the case, saying, “Those parents should know that things have changed in Liberia. No longer do we tolerate this. This is not a question of shame on the family. It’s a question of the assault of a young child, and that cannot be tolerated.” The victim is now in foster care, though the father says he wants his daughter back, and denies saying she brought shame on his family. (This CNN article on all of this is very good.)
As far as I can tell, the reporting thus far has perpetuated ideas of immigrants as “other,” war survivors as traumatized victims incapable of caring for families, and African culture as more inherently violent than European cultures—ideas that are easy for many people to accept as we have heard them so many times before.The parents having an initially unsupportive reaction is not abnormal. No parent is prepared to accept that something so awful has happened to their child. In all of my years of GBV work, I could count on one hand the number of parents of victims who did not deny, excuse, or minimize what had happened to their child. While this initial reaction is not helpful, it is understandable. Our minds are resistant to believing something upsetting, or to acknowledging that we have failed to protect our child.Child sexual abuse, perpetrated by both adults and other children, is disturbingly common throughout the US–across racial, cultural, and economic lines. What makes this case unusual is that is was reported.
I really think that the key question that I am not hearing asked in the coverage of this case is, WHEN these boys arrived in the US. How many cracks in the social service and public school systems have they fallen through in their time in the US?
It speaks more about the lack of sufficient support for resettled refugees.
It seems a cop out to focus solely on the fact that these youth experienced war and trauma in their lives, as though this shocking crime was inevitable, as if they and others like them are a lost cause. To me it sounds frightening like those who distance themselves from (adult) rape survivors by saying "she dressed provocatively." Everyone who hears of children committing such a crime is appropriately shocked and uncomfortable at how that can happen. Distancing one’s self from the humanity of these children by saying "oh, well they're LIBERIAN [insert various war ravaged African nation here], what do you expect," likely makes it easier for some to shrug off.
And in some ways, what do we expect? We know that people fleeing for their lives have experienced extreme trauma and they often are provided solely with a plane ticket and a few months financial support. More psychosocial support and follow up is necessary in light of what refugees experience on camps and in their home countries. Whether the boys experienced the violence of war firsthand, or more indirectly, this may not be the first time that they have exhibited extreme traumatized behavior. It seems that the fact that they are from Liberia is almost interchangeable to numerous other countries where GBV is stigmatized for the victims and almost accepted in society as an inevitable way of life, many countries whose citizens seek refuge in the West. It's time to closely examine what more is needed in order to increase the likelihood that more refugees and their families successfully transition and thrive, with special attention to who may be at high risk and follow up and access to appropriate services to help the most vulnerable.
If it were not a "refugee case" or a "Liberian issue" the media would be focusing on where society in the US has failed ALL of the CHILDREN involved in this case and be investigating teachers and case workers and health care providers that ignored possible warning signs.
It seems too easy to analyze the story on CNN as revealing solely about Liberia, where rape is so tragically common — that is definitely an issue of consideration, but these kids were in the US and that is where the crime was committed. I think that matters too. This tragic crime perpetrated by children on a child should spark a dialogue on how US can better serve refugee and asylee families from intense war zones and highly destabilized countries to recover as they are resettled. That is one way to break the cycle of violence long after the family vacates the war zone.
Thanks for this comment, Megan. I just added parts of it to the blog post.
-Shelby
This case may begin to shine light on some larger issues, which members of the Liberian community need to start speaking up about and more often. There definitely are more angles to this story than meets the eye.