Sunday, May 15: The A.D.D. Detective
WOMEN WRONGED
by Leigh Lundin
‘Sexually-assaulted girl forced to pay $45,000 in legal fees.’
That’s the short lead-in— the rest of the story isn’t much different but is terribly hard to fathom.
At least three boys (two aged 18, one younger) locked a 16-year-old girl in a bedroom at a party. Clothes and morals were discarded. When others at the party tried to break into the room, the boys jumped out the window, leaving clothes behind. Reports say the older boy threatened to kill others who might report him. (Clothes left behind, what we in the crime-fighting world might call evidence. And DNA)
Police arrested the boys and charged them with sexual assault, which may or may not imply rape, but unless the girl bench-presses 260 pounds, it doesn’t sound like a fair match. There is such a phenomenon as false rape reporting, but nothing suggests that. Justice implies the boys should have had their butts kicked very hard indeed.
At least one of the boys came from a politically prominent family. It took two grand juries to get indictments, but one boy– the one accused of actual rape– pled guilty and was sentenced to a minor fine and two years probation. That allowed him to return to school and eventually go to college on sports scholarships. If the girl and her family were fine with that, then I can accept, but there’s much I can’t.
Charges for the second boy were inexplicably dropped earlier this year. No information is available on the juvenile.
But…
The boys were football and basketball stars and the location was Silsbee, Texas, which worships Football with a capital F. While the Lone Star State is hardly alone, it is a state that continues to pump millions into new high school football stadiums while simultaneously cutting back on teachers and school programs.
And the girl– she was a cheerleader. Her charges of sexual assault threaten the local football and basketball programs, the undefeated district champs. Moreover, she refused to cheer for her rapist, the cheer being:
"2, 4, 6, 8, 10, come on, Rakheem, put it in."
Yes, that was the cheer and Rakheem Bolton was her primary assaulter.
Her balking at the demeaning cheer didn’t sit well with Superintendent Richard Bain. The district superintendent, his assistant, and the principal ganged up on the girl, accusing her of "substantial interference with the work of the school," a school that claims as its "Tiger pride" motto "Putting our children first."
The school initially told her to avoid the cafeteria and other public places including, apparently, homecoming, then followed up by kicking her off the cheer squad. If you think you misread that: Her rapists were allowed to continue starring in sports and she was kicked off the team.
It gets worse.
She sued.
And lost.
And appealed.
And lost. And the appeals court deemed her suit ‘frivolous’. More on that in a moment.
She appealed again.
And lost.
And finally, she appealed to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. (We could have predicted that was fruitless; since Scalia and Thomas joined hands, the Supreme Court has consistently upheld the rights of government against its citizens.)
The $45,000? Not only is the girl’s family responsible for their own legal fees, the ‘frivolous’ ruling means she has to pay the county’s attorney fees (often inflated).
The court said the cheerleader "had no right to remain silent when called on to shout the athlete’s name." In their words, “As a cheerleader, Hillaire S served as a mouthpiece through which (the school district) could disseminate speech– namely, support for its athletic teams. This act constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, Hillaire S was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily.”
Did the court somehow miss the point the girl was raped? I agree you can’t legislate compassion, but what kind of civics lesson is it that a child should be forced to cheer for her rapist? This is a teenager not only raped but more than $45,000 in debt before starting life as an adult.
As far as I can make out, there’s a lot wrong and nothing right about this case, and there doesn’t seem to be a damn thing anyone can do about it.
A crucial element for democracy in the Middle East is freedom of the press, and the voice dictators fear most doesn’t come from New York, Washington, London, or Paris, but Qatar. The name of the news bureau al Jazeera means ‘the island’ and the network is figuratively an island of free press in the midst of tyrannies striving to choke the free exchange of information.
The al Jazeera network can be seen almost anywhere in the world except large parts of the United States, which is a shame because an informed public needs more information, not less. At one time, al Jazeera employed David Frost and staff from ABC’s Nightline and it is well regarded among news outlets.
As I researched the bin Laden story last week, al Jazeera was covering their own internal drama: their reporter Dorothy Parvaz was missing and, if you can still see her photo in the upper right corner of her web page, she’s probably still missing.
She has not been heard from since her disappearance on 29 April. As have other governments, the US State Department and Ambassador Robert Ford enquired of her whereabouts, to little avail.
Dorothy was seized while covering pro-democracy protests in Syria. For a week, the Syrian government did not acknowledge they’d ‘detained’ her apparently without charges. On Wednesday, al Jazeera reported she’d been secretly handed over sometime earlier to Iranian authorities, which reinforced speculation that Iran is working with Syria to stamp out the flames of democracy in the Middle East.
It’s one more reminder the Arabian Peninsula can be a harsh environment for reporters. The women who venture there are very brave indeed.
Good column and unfortunately much needed.
It would appear these women have been failed by the very systems meant to protect – Hillaire S by the education and justice departments, and Dorothy Parvaz by the land of her birth, Iran, where she holds joint citizenship along with Canadian and US.
Troubling in the extreme.
Thank you, Janice. I found it emotionally difficult to work on the story and discarded a lot of what I’d gathered. It’s one more example of administrators who should never be allowed around children. The chant was awful. Would a little compassion have hurt anyone? It’s inconceivable she has no recourse.
ABA, it’s clear her employer doesn’t consider her safe in Iran. For nearly a week, she disappeared altogether with Syria saying “Talk to Iran” and Iran saying “Talk to Syria,” and the lady herself hasn’t been allowed to talk to anyone at all.
Well, Leigh….I don’t know how Scalia and Thomas holding hands has anything to do with the Supreme Court declining after a federal court UNANIMOUSLY declined the young lady’s appeal. It simply means, the courts screwed up from the get-go….not the conservatives in the Supreme Court (which I find highly misleading since NONE of them (meaning the “other ones” gave a statment as to why).
With that said, you also didn’t mention the NAACP of Jasper input from the get-go since the 4 young men were black and she was white, which again, I must state has NOTHING to do with what happened, but the dynamics of big star athletics(in all states and yes, Texas is the worst), and also put yourself in deep East Texas, which if you are a Texan you understand that even if it’s wrong….the injustice started before the rape occured. The dynamics are wrong and need to be righted.
I made myself sick reading this too..it is hard to imagine a school system would allow this to go on without further investigation just to make themselves look better….or worse yet to win any athletic game.
It makes me sick this young lady, no matter WHAT happened, had no recourse. She was only 16. If it was consensual as he stated, he should have been screwed (pun intended) to the wall with statutory rape since he was 18.
There are many factors here I feel you left out, and therefore slightly misleading to askew a political “fault”. If you hadn’t mentioned the two SC judges I never would have scourged the internet reviewing this case and read the federal court of LA decision.
Having said that…I agree with you. This made me sick to my stomach and extremely angry for the young lady.
Just for different reasons.
The cheerleader was thrice victimize: first by the boys, second by the school, and third by the judicial system that had no sympathy. The most disturbing thing about the situation is nothing can be done about it.
Also most disturbing is that a woman can be kidnapped while doing her job, and some of the most powerful nations seem powerless to do anything about it.
Louis, that well sums it up and succinctly, too. The poor kid starts adulthood with a jaundiced eye and we can’t blame her. You clarified the article better than I did. I appreciate the way you cut to the essentials. The more one reads, the worse it gets.
Sports Illustrated ran a good article about the case and called the school administrators ‘mean girls’ bullying the cheerleader. Several opinion pieces agree with you, suggesting the jocks were untouchable. In a town of 7,000, they built a stadium to seat 10,000!
alisa, you’re right about most things and I suspect the SCOTUS was too busy for a little case like this. It’s possible if the girl’s attorney had come up with a better legal theory, she might have been heard or even prevailed.
As I mentioned above, I left much out including the references you make, which included accusations that relatives and friends of one of the boys were involved with the first grand jury and organizational opposition to the girl. Once I saw suggestions of nepotism, I ruled out such references. I tend to tell my stories with links, and in one of my links in the article, BET threw their support behind the girl, which transcended lesser considerations that I considered a better citation, because nobody outside that town seems to think this is fair.
In complex articles (this is the 3rd in a row, more than I’d intended), I’m forced to pick and choose to keep the articles in bounds but still try to remain balanced and tell the story in links even if I don’t spell something out. And as always, thanks for being here, and I hope the girl can take some comfort that millions of people are on her side.
Five minutes ago, I spotted a news feed that Dorothy Parvaz has been freed. If it’s true, you’re hearing about it before her own news room reacts.
Congratulations, Dorothy!