According to an AP report at the NYT, it looks like the six West Virginians arrested for the kidnapping, rape, and torture of a young African American woman, Megan Williams, may soon appear in court. There is concern, however, that the trials may be delayed, as at least two of the defendents’ lawyers in the case have had to recuse themselves, because they have already worked as public defenders in past cases involving the defendents, who have been brought to court on a total of 108 charges since 1991.
I have been trying to decide if these are the most disgusting people on earth, because this really is the stuff of nightmares. We all talk about racism, and hate, and the persistence of our violent national past, but this is nonetheless an exemplary crime. Not unimaginable in its occurrence, but, still, the worse of the worse: a group of people who kidnapped a black woman, with no intention but to harm, degrade, and destroy. Leonard Codispoti, the local Magistrate in this jurisdiction,
“It was the worst case of human abuse I have seen since I have been a magistrate.
“Something like this is so horrifying it makes you want to puke. They got this girl out of Charleston and took her to Big Creek, threw her in a shack, raped and stabbed her, put a rope around her neck, made her eat animal feces and did other horrifying things to her” (Charleston Daily Mail, hat tip to Rikyrah).
And, I must say, I am a little bit surprised at how slowly the national has been on the story, despite pretty heavy coverage in the southeast. The AP only put out a video today (below), and Reuters hasn’t gone near it. CNN was shying away, though the story did eventually appear on CNN international. (In case you didn’t get the memo, outside the U.S., all the “news” is different. Even on CNN!) And indeed, why talk about a real sexual assault when we can instead obsess over Vanessa Hudgens in the nude? Why talk about a hate crime when we can instead debate Michael Vick’s racial victimhood?
My guess– and yes I am being snarky but I also really believe it– my guess is that as the defendants become more recognizable and categorizable as monsters, as exceptions, the story will spread. Until then, a slow burn, because the story is too ugly, too painful, and too real.
I struggled with putting their pictures on my site. Even though I think of my site as a space I share with you, a public space, even looking makes me feel dirty. So how to talk? More later.
No related posts.
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The Devil’s Rejects comes to mind.
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