A Rape Epidemic in India!

Manish Swarup/Associated Press

This post finds Pro Se deeply vexed, outraged and sickened! Rape in India is out of control!

On April 30th a 4 year old girl, who was raped and left for dead on April 17th, died from her injuries.

The NYTimes reported yet another rape of a young girl on April 20th, just 3 days later. This girl was just 5 years of age. The men lured her with chocolate, raped, assaulted (it is reported they put part of a bottle and a candle inside of her), tortured and left her for dead! WTF?

What would make someone commit an act like this? And, why is the rape of young girls happening at epic proportions in India?

When the parents of the young girl reported the crime to the police, the police offered the equivalent of $37 dollars to keep quite about the case. This case, as with other cases and, especially the horrific case in December, the police seem unwilling or uninterested in conducting investigations or enthusiastically pursuing the suspects that commit these crimes.

This brutal crime takes place on the heels of the brutal gang rape of a young medical student in December of 2012. She later died from injuries sustained by the brutality of her rape which caused global outrage!

Women and advocates against violence took the streets protesting the brutality of the crime and a call for sweeping reforms and, yet just 5 months later, another heinous act of brutality is committed against a young girl!

Read this NYTimes opt-ed piece by Sonia Faleiro about rape in India. The facts are staggering! 

• 48,338 cases of child rape have been committed in India from 2001 to 2011.
• The annual cases have tripled since, 2,113 in 2001 to 7,112 in 2011.
• The majority of child rape cases are rarely reported.

A human rights report states that Indian women report domestic violence and rape fewer than most other countries. Men outnumber women and women are sorely mistreated in India. Across India women are looked upon as subservient and girls are less valued, less cared for in general. These are just a few of the reasons why most women are reluctant to report crimes of domestic abuse and rape against them.  

These crimes have to cease, especially the raping of children! There is no excuse for someone to sexually assault and abuse women or sexually violate a young girl or boy! 

Reformation is urgently needed, now!

Reform starts with holding police accountable for their lackadaisical investigations and nefarious arrest efforts. Independent prosecutors should be assigned to an investigation and fastidiously prosecute not only suspects, but any police officials found of wrongdoing or impeding an investigation.

It's hopeful that human rights advocacy groups will continue to apply more global pressure to force the Indian government to implement comprehensive reform across India and regulate stringent punishment against these perverted perpetrators! 

Reverence: Bud Fowler

Bud Fowler stands in the middle, back row.

Welcome back to Pro Se!

With the return of Pro Se, I've added a new addition, Reverence. Reverence's intent is to shed light on untold stories and reexamine stories of relavent African Americans that contributed to the struggle and to the social fabric of the United States.

Reverence was inspired by the "Props" articles found in the back of Vibe Magazine back in the early nineties. Excitement abounds with the educational potential of this new addition!

Let's get started!

So, who was Bud Fowler? Admittedly, I had no idea until I came across this short, informative NYTimes article . Bud Fowler was the first African American to play baseball on an all white professional team in the United States, pitching first for the Lynn, Mass., Live Oaks in 1878.

Mr. Fowler pitched, catch and played second base through 10 seasons with various minor league teams with a .308 batting average. He never made it to the major leagues however and his story faded into the annals of baseball history, well until now!

Undoubtedly, the inspiration for this article was intertwined with the recent release of the film "42", which tells the story of Jackie Robinson, who is credited with breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. His legacy is rightfully cemented in history, Bud Fowler's is not.

In fact, Jackie Robinson was not the first African American to play in the major leagues, that distinction goes to one Moses Fleetwood Walker , who played catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884. His story has been forgotten, but illumination is rightfully needed!

Moses Fleetwood Walker

This Saturday there will be a street dedication for Fowler in Cooperstown, NY, finally honoring Mr. Folwer's legacy.

With the NYTimes article, a written biography coming soon, the Pro Se Blog, along with the Cooperstown's dedication this should prompt baseball fans and historians to reexamine and expound on Mr. Fowler's somewhat enigmatic past.

Please check out the NYTimes article when you have a chance.

Reverence will be a regular addition to Pro Se. If you have any suggestions for a reverence post please email me keithrobinson1@gmail.com