I'm not sure ANYONE learned anything from the trial!
From the CNN article that someone linked, here's a quote from one of the suspect's dads -
Richmond's father, Nathaniel Richmond, said he still believed his son was innocent "even though he apologized in the courtroom."
"The evidence they had against Ma'lik was minimal," he told CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight." "Ma'lik was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I know my son is not a rapist, even though he has been convicted of rape."
While I don't blame the victim at all, I do think it's sad that some girls seem to willingly partake in this jock superstar "culture" & let themselves be used which, in turn, just feeds the cycle, if that makes sense.
Like I said, I don't blame the victim. I just think the whole thing is sad - from the parents allowing their kids to party w/o supervision until 3 or 4 in the morning & the adults who provided alcohol to minors to administrators who turned a blind eye & to parents who continually excuse bullying behavior...
I admit I don't know the all the details - like how the girl got w/ the football players or how she ended up at the parties. Had she been part of the "scene"? I'm not blaming her, but I'm asking because the following quote from her mom bothered me a bit -
The victim's mother told CNN that the verdicts are "the start of a new beginning for my daughter." But she added, "We need to stress the importance of helping those in need and to stand up for what is right."
"We hope that from this something good can arise," she said. "I feel I have an opportunity to bring an awareness to others, possibly change the mentality of a youth or help a parent to have more of an awareness to where their children are and what they are doing. The adults need to take responsibility and guide these children."
Bolding is mine. I'm in complete agreement w/ the first part of her statement - that we need to stress to our kids the importance of standing up for what is right & helping those in need. I also commend her & her husband for gathering all the irrefutable evidence & taking it to the police.
But I wonder where was she when her daughter went or was taken to the parties? Had her daughter been to some of these parties before? Had her underage daughter been drunk before?
Like I said, this is NOT to excuse the boys' behavior. What they did was awful & horrific & incredibly degrading. And I'm not passing any of their guilt onto the victim's parents.
But I would venture that just like these boys' parents had a responsibility to guide their sons, the victim's mother holds the same responsibility to guide her daughter. Was she "aware" of what kind of party her daughter was going to or had been to previously?
