Liberians in AZ worry about backlash in rape case

Source: ap

News reports of the attack have included inaccurate descriptions that rape and those who commit it are accepted in Liberia, said Robert Sherman, president of the Liberian Association of Arizona.

Sherman said such backlash could include employment or housing discrimination against Liberians.

He said the public needs to understand the alleged rape was an isolated incident, and was not representative of the entire culture.

James Nyemah, the church's pastor and spokesman for the girl's family, said rape was widespread in Liberia only during its 14 years of civil war.

"To blame the whole nation for the terrible things that happened during that time is a misrepresentation of the Liberian people," Nyemah said.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iuEVz2wzCQhOuO9806ZEyMzCdu2QD99R10981

around the world. Nice to hear him defend his nation as not being that way.

Those descriptions of attitudes towards rape and rape victims in Liberia are not inaccurate and they ARE reflective of Liberian "culture".

For Chrissakes, rape only became a crime in Liberia two years ago! And most rape victims in that rape-happy nation are too terrified to come forward to prosecute their attackers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/02/liberia-women-rape
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=62311
http://www.refugeesinternational.org/blog/looking-law-liberia
http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-02/2007-02-28-voa22.cfm?moddate=2007-02-28
http://unmil.org/article.asp?id=2728

We shouldn't assume that every Liberian living in America shares that tolerant attitude towards rape. To do so would be prejudice. Maybe they came to this country for more than just economic opportunity.

Blaming the whole country for what happened during 14 years of civil war is kind of like blaming all Germans for what happened during World War II and the Holocaust.

Or is it more like blaming all Muslims for 9-11? You know, when people beat a guy in a turban and then find out he isn't even Muslim but Sikh?


added on edit
yes, a country that tolerates rape by failing to make it a crime is an atrocity in the modern world. I added this in case any one construed my comments as permissive toward sexual assault.

We're talking forced marriages, female genital mutilation, trafficking in young girls and the general debasement of women and girls, a situation that existed in Liberia before the conflict and continues today.

The comments by Mr. Sherman to which I was responding had to do with his contention that attitudes expressed by the parents of this child victim of rape are not representative of Liberian culture. To that I say BULLSHIT. The attitudes of this girl's family may not reflect those held by a majority, even a vast majority, of people within the Liberian-American community, but they most certainly are representative of attitudes that have persisted in Liberian culture. Denying those facts will only result in the persistence of abuse against women and girls in Liberia.

THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR RAPE!