No parents at Richmond dance where girl raped
By Karl Fischer and Todd Perlman - Contra Costa Times
11/01/2009 10:00:57 AM PST
The world surrounding Richmond High School teemed with outrage after last weekend's gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside her homecoming dance, and those in charge still don't know where to point the finger. But they did notice one thing about the Oct. 24 dance. "We had no parents at this event," Richmond High Principal Julio Franco said.
The same night, less than a quarter-mile away, Salesian High School held its homecoming dance without incident, and with parents in attendance. Same for El Cerrito High School, which two nights earlier fielded 10 volunteers along with the usual complement of administrators, teachers and police.
Richmond High struggles perennially to engage its families, most of them residents of diverse but poor flatland neighborhoods in San Pablo, unincorporated North Richmond and parts of Central Richmond. Three years ago, a principal even tried a doorbell campaign.
It remains difficult to sustain parental commitment, Franco admitted. "That's one of the things we're working on, last year and this year, is trying to get more parents to come to our events," he said.
Franco said many Richmond High parents usually cannot attend evening events for their high schoolers because they have other kids at home and no one to watch them. A newsletter mailed to parents a few weeks ago outlined upcoming events, but no parents volunteered. "We welcome parents at any time, but sometimes they cannot come," he said. "That's why we make sure we have officers and site supervisors and as many teachers as we can get."
Perimeter checks?
At the homecoming dance in the school's gymnasium were six teachers who volunteered to chaperon. There also were two vice principals and two site supervisors. In addition, four Richmond police officers — school-resource officers who work on the city's campuses daily — spent most of the night at the dance on overtime.
The police, Franco said, help provide security. "One of the assumptions we make is that they do the perimeter checks," he added, meaning they patrol around the school.
Nobody told the police, apparently. "Obviously, in this case there has been miscommunication between the (West Contra Costa) school district and the Police Department regarding what role school-resource officers play at these events," Richmond police Chief Chris Magnus said. "As far as patrolling the campus, providing perimeter security, that sort of thing ... that's not what they're there to do."
The police kept an eye on the gym and the parking lot to deter fights, alcohol consumption and similar disruptions, Magnus said. They do not provide after-hours security for the entire campus, which spans multiple city blocks. That is the school district's responsibility, he said.
The distinction matters because a group attacked the victim in a courtyard across campus as music played and about 250 students danced in the gym. And some of the suspects did not attend — the school allowed only students, and two of those arrested were older than school age.
The victim, a student, left the dance about 9:30 p.m. Before she called for a ride home, a classmate called her over to the poorly lit courtyard, where a group of young people were hanging out and drinking alcohol.
The girl drank a large amount of brandy quickly and soon collapsed; while helpless, she fell victim to repeated rape, beatings and robbery at the hands of several people. Richmond police by Friday had arrested six suspects, four of whom prosecutors charged.
'We have to be the people'
"Cameras and gates will not solve the problem. You've got to have a parent presence. You can't expect a bankrupt district to have the people to send. We have to be the people," said Michele Jawad, a longtime parent volunteer in El Cerrito schools and a member of the school district's safety committee.
Jawad helped organize the volunteers at El Cerrito High's homecoming dance, along with 24 volunteers at the football game the next day. "We just have to have more parents, grandparents, retired people, neighbors involved. They have to step up for the kids. There's no excuse. If kids don't have parents (available), then others should be willing to step in," Jawad said. "The days of sending kids to school and forgetting about them are gone."
Much planning goes into security for school dances and sporting events at East Bay campuses. At Northgate High School in Walnut Creek, for example, administrators used random Breathalyzer testing to curtail student drinking at this year's homecoming dance.
Most schools work closely with local police to prepare. Individual campus administrations generally work independently from their school districts to craft safety plans tailored for their sites. Some schools, such as Liberty High School in Brentwood and Hercules Middle/High School, employ chaperon-to-student ratios as guides for planning dance security.
Calls, escorts
Such high schools as Concord and College Park call the parents of students who don't show up for a dance for which they purchased tickets. No students may leave until the dance ends without calling their parents. Those who walk to their cars in the parking lot are escorted.
Concord High doesn't use parent chaperones, in part because students don't want them. But attendees are carefully monitored and may not come or go without permission, Principal Gary McAdam said. "It's a school event," added Barbara Oaks, principal at College Park in Pleasant Hill. "Attendance, if you say you're going to be here, is required. It's very labor intensive, but these things are nighttime events that you have to be very careful about. We want everybody to be safe and have a good time. It's very unfortunate that what happened (in Richmond) happened."
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_1...ce=most_viewed
What's Race Got to Do With It?"
http://www.contracostatimes.com/rich...nclick_check=1
Richmond High gang rape, lack of action from onlookers outrages community
http://www.contracostatimes.com/rich...pe/ci_13651646
Fisher: Richmond rape case points to cultural lack of respect for women
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_13669616
They laughed. They snapped pictures. For two hours, they took turns beating and raping a drunk, defenseless girl. Fine Saturday night fun.
The details of the brutal gang rape outside the Richmond High School homecoming dance last weekend chill my soul. The 15-year-old was lured to a "party" by a "friend," only to find out she was to be the evening's entertainment. Dozens of people wandered by and thought it was funny.
I wonder what sort of twisted young people would get their kicks out of participating in such an attack. I wonder what kind of callous young people would stand by and watch, or see what was going on and hurry away but never try to stop it or even call police. Surely they must have precious women in their lives. Mothers, sisters, grandmothers. Yet no one cared what happened to the victim, who had to be airlifted to a hospital in critical condition. How could young people be so cruel and inhuman?
One of the young women who called the cops as soon as they heard about the attack tried to offer an explanation: "They think it's cool," she told our reporter. "They weren't raised to respect girls."
They weren't raised to respect girls.
Is that it?
Striving for sexy
We do not, as a society, respect girls. We teach them from birth that sexy is cute, sexy is beautiful, sexy is the way to get attention. From baby shirts that say "Hot Chick" to preschool dance classes where little girls learn to bump and grind, there's no escaping it. By the time they're in middle school, girls know that sexy gets more attention from boys than brainy or athletic or tough.
Parents of daughters struggle with this. We want our girls to be strong and independent, but above all we want them to be safe. So we warn them about drinking and try to tamp down the latest tramp fashion. "You're not going out dressed like that!" we say, knowing that all the girls at the party will be dressed exactly like that.
But I think it's even harder for parents of boys. How do you raise a son to be caring and responsible in a culture that too often portrays women as whores and men as warriors and thugs? Movies and video games turn killing into harmless fun. The men carry guns and slap their women around. And the women keep coming back for more.
Raised on porn
To make matters worse, as soon as boys are old enough to surf the Net they have access to graphic, violent, hard-core pornography. I cringe to think how those images shape their views of women. Do real girls want to be degraded and tortured like that? It's not a question boys can easily ask their fathers, if their fathers are even around.
Experts say rape isn't a sex act; it's an act of violence. But boys who grow up exposed to massive doses of sex and violence may have trouble distinguishing between the two.
As shocking as the brutality of the Richmond attack was, it's the pack mentality that appalls me. I felt the same way about the 2007 De Anza College baseball team party, where guys took turns having sex with a drunk high school kid while others cheered. Three young women finally rescued her.
Is it a coincidence that in both cases, the girls had to blow the whistle? Maybe the gawking boys were afraid of being uncool.
Or perhaps, after years of conditioning, the boys couldn't tell the difference between a porn video and a real crime against a real human being.
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