[PerroLoco]

'Animal' tag excuses rapists' actions
Posted: Sept. 11, 2006


Eugene Kane


It didn't take long for the reaction to a shocking gang rape allegation involving an 11-year-old girl and a group of men and boys to include references to other species of Milwaukee inhabitants.

"Animals!"

Some readers called the suspects "beasts" or "wolves," but most of the comments in e-mails and voice mail agreed on the more generic term.

A few too many took the next step, the one that always seems to come whenever a story of incomprehensible debauchery in Milwaukee's central city hits the headlines.

"You black people are all animals!" was a voice message that stuck with me for hours.



It was all part of the overall anger and frustration many in town feel after yet another shameful incident hit the national headlines to mark our city as a place where outrageous events seem to happen with a numbing regularity.

I suspect more than a few people nationally who heard the story about 19 males in Milwaukee raping a young girl recalled the savage mob-beating of Charlie Young Jr. back in 2002 and made a mental connection:

What kind of city is Milwaukee, anyway? Sure seems like a lot of unspeakable stuff happens there.

Let's not forget the other shocker last week, the murder of a Special Olympics athlete at a bus stop. It was a double whammy of a news week that had our chief of police proclaiming "a societal crisis."

Seems to me Chief Nannette Hegerty's words were a welcome condemnation of the state of affairs in some areas of Milwaukee right now. But in a bloody summer that saw 28 people shot over Memorial Day weekend alone, here's a question for the beleaguered chief:

If it's a crisis now, what was it back then?

Societal crisis or not, people are frantically looking for signs of outrage about last week's events, particularly the alleged rape of a child. It's a situation crying out for somebody to scream "ENOUGH!"

It might come as a surprise to some of you, but one of the most prominent voices was controversial Ald. Michael McGee, who led a hastily organized protest outside the home where the assault took place. He's clearly outraged, as are a community of African-Americans dumbfounded by the vicious nature of the crime.

That's important for some of you to understand, particularly those throwing the A-word around in describing the actions of the black men and black boys who apparently participated in the ultimate debasement of a juvenile with a troubled past who is also HIV-positive.

When some readers tell me it's about "animals" in the black community, I know where that thinking is headed.

I truly believe calling these suspects "animals" serves to absolve them from responsibility for their actions. An animal can't think or make rational decisions. An animal can't be held accountable for allowing sexual heat to dictate its behavior. It's said some animals eat their young, but many animals protect their children much better than did the adults in this girl's world.

I don't think people should label these suspects "animals" as a way to debase them in racial terms; that only opens the door to not viewing them as human beings caught doing an inhumane thing.

One reader who said the case proved "all black people are animals" actually amended his vile message in a way I can agree with.

"On second thought, I won't call them animals, he said at the end of his angry message. "I actually like animals."

That's exactly my point.