Trenton

Russell Simmons

It was two weeks ago that I heard the most sickening story to date. Human beings often let me down and seldom surprise me with the depths of their depravity... but this story managed to both let me down and actually shock me. From what I could piece together, a 15 year old girl in Trenton, NJ was headed to a party and her 7 year old sister was worried about her safety and decided to tag along.

At the party, a number of guys, ages 12-19 years old offered the 15 year old money, if she would allow them to feel her up. She agreed and as a bonus, sold them her 7 year old sister. The result, both the 15 year old and the 7 year old girls wound up getting raped... gang raped!

The 15 year old, I might understand getting raped and I say "MIGHT", but the 7 year old is just beyond my comprehension. The 15 year old and these knuckleheads who took part in this were arrested (as they should have been) and charged with a litany of crimes (prostitution, soliticing prostitution, sexual assault, corrupting the morals of a minor, etc.).

So what now? Well, in the wake of the alleged gang rape of a 7 year old girl, community leaders and activists have called to action the men of Trenton, New Jersey. Dozens of men joined Trenton Mayor Doug Palmer and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons in an impromptu march this past Saturday through the neighborhood where police say the 7 year old girl and her 15 year old sister was gang raped. The march followed an afternoon rally organized to spur discussion about violence committed against and by young people in urban communities.

Near the end of the rally, the founder of an organization that uses men to help keep youth out of trouble recruited men to march. Dennis Muhammad also challenged the men to create a community policing program similar to the Peace Keepers organization he founded. The group has chapters in New York City, Jersey City, and Wilmington, DE.

Russell Simmons said Peace Keepers have had some success in his hometown of Queens, NY. "We sit back sometimes and allow just a few bad eggs in our community to scare us off our own corners," Simmons told a standing-room only crowd at a church auditorium before the march. "I stood on the corner. I sold drugs. But I went back and saw what it felt like when we launched our Queens Peace Keepers movement."

The crowd also was stirred by speeches from local dignitaries and hip-hop gospel songs sang by a choir. Mayor Palmer, who initially said he did not plan to attend the rally, arrived shortly after the event began. "I think it's a good beginning," Palmer said as he, Simmons, and dozens of Trenton men marched through the neighborhood, exciting residents watching from their porches. "The proof will be if we can get more men together in this and other sustaining activities."

The proof will be if something like this never happens ever again. These marches are held, attracting and well-known, well-meaning people like Rev. Al Sharpton and Russell Simmons, and the media will give this story as much life as they feel it garners and then they will be gone. And, the mentalities that fostered this event will still be sifting around the streets... The mindsets that told these boys that it was okay to do this and the low self-esteem that told this 15 year old girl that it was cool to sell herself and her sister, not to mention the mental trauma that this little 7 year old girl is facing will still sadly be lingering on the streets like a bad taste in your mouth.

In addition, there will still be the fact that the newly elected Republican Governor of the state of New Jersey eliminated the $43 million dollars the state gives to Trenton each year as municipal aid and payment in lieu of property taxes since Trenton is the Capital City. Largely because of these cuts, property taxes could be raised to a level that makes it hard for people to maintain ownership of their houses, or that Trenton runs the risk of not being able to have after-school programs for the children? These issues are all pertinent to what happened to that 7 year old girl. You think not?

Unless we deal with these very real day-to-day issues that effect life in Trenton and other places like it, that march and the appearences by Russell Simmons, Al Sharpton, and others isn't worth a thing. The sickening mind set and conditions that nourish it will remain and another girl will become the victim at another time. That's what makes this story even more sickening.