Lately I've been seeing discussions and social media
posts about 16-year-old Houston native, Jada, who has to deal with unwarranted eyes on her. While teens are often vocal about trivial things like basketball
player LeBron James returning back to Cleveland, or the latest fashion trends,
it saddens me that Miss Jada (last name not publicized) has to speak out about
her rape experience. According to the nation's largest anti-sexual assault organization,
RAINN, 44% of victims are under the
age of 18. Also, 38% of rapists are a friend or acquaintance to the victim. Everything
transpired after Jada attended a friend of a friend's party, drunk punch at the
party (presumably spiked), and from there raped. Soon after, images of her
unconscious body lying on the floor surfaced, drawing unnecessary attention to
a sensitive, but very important topic for our society and culture.
Social media mockery.
Being that she's a young black woman makes the significance
even more personal to me because I have a cousin Jada’s age, and if she had to
deal with that, I'd be enraged. People in the black community have really
showed their true selves by mimicking & recreating "Jada’s pose” of
her laid on the floor helplessly through: memes, Vines, and tweets.
Innocence was snatched away from Jada. Privacy was vanished. Humiliation and
embarrassment were handed. It's a truly sick world we live in when an
undeniably traumatic and never-forgetting thing as rape, no matter what race or
gender you are, is found remotely comical. Our society is conditioned to not
take anything seriously or earnest, and to not think before they post. When will we stop and say, "You know what, this is heartless & disturbing..."
and take responsibility?
And it baffles me that when rape is mentioned, somehow it always leads in the conversation that ultimately the victim is to blame. If she hadn't of did that, said this, dressed that way, or looked at whomever this way, everything could have been avoided right? Absolutely stupid for anyone to even form those rebuttals but sadly this is how some think. No one takes accountability anymore. And at what point do we stop the nonchalance of our being as a human and up our contributions/influences/empowerment to society? Jada is a young, black woman who didn't deserve this. No person EVER deserves this.
The bible states:
And it baffles me that when rape is mentioned, somehow it always leads in the conversation that ultimately the victim is to blame. If she hadn't of did that, said this, dressed that way, or looked at whomever this way, everything could have been avoided right? Absolutely stupid for anyone to even form those rebuttals but sadly this is how some think. No one takes accountability anymore. And at what point do we stop the nonchalance of our being as a human and up our contributions/influences/empowerment to society? Jada is a young, black woman who didn't deserve this. No person EVER deserves this.
The bible states:
Therefore, I truly commend Miss Jada for having a lot of courage to generate dialogue about the event. She's bringing necessary conversation to an awful topic, and more importantly prompting awareness on rape & all of sexual assaults. She’s a strong woman in my eyes and I pray for justice for her situation.
