Editor's note: This powerful essay by femmixx founder and author Tashelle Shamash Wilkes, about the rape of a 15 year old Richmond High School student last weekend, was first printed by Mr Davey D, another superb Oakland person, in his Hop Hop Corner blog, and is reprinted by permission of the author. Read it and share your views.

Young Girl Gang raped for 2 Hours Outside High School Dance--Give National Attention to End Violence Against Women

"When I heard about the brutal rape of this high school girl, I was deeply saddened to the core that something like this could go on. “The Code of the Street” was meant to protect our women. However, somewhere down the line it was misconstrued to fit the agenda of men to cover up an array of sins. For these twenty-plus young onlookers to sit there and say or do nothing says a lot about the plight of this world. What if it were your sister who laid on that ground? As a matter of fact, what if she was your mother? Blood runs through this young girl’s veins just as yours. Her reflection is yours.

There laid our young sister who was brutally raped for two hours. This is something that we can’t let go. There is a total disconnect that has emerged in the form of hatred for our women. This is not just a call to stop the violence of young girls, but this is the call to heal our community. Our young boys just as our young girls need mental and spiritual healing. Mothers: Know what your children are doing at all times. Fathers: Be an integral part of your child’s life. They need you. Truth is there are many things that we as women can not teach our young boys, and that is to be a man.

We need to take a moment and really look at where we are heading as a community. Here is a situation that needs light so we can drive negative forces away and bring a new day. Here is the perfect opportunity for the hip hop community to speak out and let the world know that a human life is the most valuable possession on earth. It’s time that we go back to our roots and use our voices as a means to heal and uplift. An atrocity as to what this young girl experienced has to end in this generation, so that we can insure a bright future for our children. The village has to come out of hiding and help raise our youth.

I think that we as a people talk too much.

We need to be more action oriented. People need to “adopt” young people. Just because a child isn’t biologically yours doesn’t mean that you don’t have a moral responsibility to be there for them as well. I do, however, think it’s important that we make media who allow the promotion of violence and degradation against women to be held accountable to doing something to rectify this. They need to be put on blast.

Here’s a call for women, activists, and the community to speak out. Contact BET Networks at 202-608-2000 demanding a forum where hip hop artists who have tremendous drawing power for our youth to denounce the rape of our women and girls & contact your local radio stations, schools, churches to create workshops and forums to rid our community of this inhumanity."

Sincerely,

Tachelle Shamash Wilkes
, Educator, 
Author of “Amanda’s Ray”