I feel like I should write about this horrific story that is putting West Virginia in the national spotlight, but I’m not sure what to say. I think I’d like to just get the story out there for anyone who hasn’t heard about it yet.
It’s a particularly brutal story, and not just because of the details of what happened to the victim, though that is of course the most awful part. Megan Williams, a 20-year-old mentally challenged black woman from Charleston, was held captive in a shed for a week in Big Creek, WV (about an hour southwest of Charleston) and was raped, beaten, stabbed, choked, forced to eat animal feces, and tortured in various other ways, until police received an anonymous tip and found her. Six people, all white, were arrested and charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, malicious wounding, battery, and lying to the police, among other charges. The group of six includes a mother and her son and another mother and her daughter, plus two other men.
The case is being investigated as a possible hate crime under state law. (Here’s a link to West Virginia’s hate crime statute.) The perpetrators reportedly called Williams a n*gger while stabbing her and told her: “This is what we do to n*iggers around here.” Also, the F.B.I. is investigating the incident for possible civil rights violations.
Based on subsequent reports, it seems that they should be charged with attempted murder as well. The magistrate who arraigned all six of them said that one of them, Frankie Brewster, told him that they had planned to take the woman to East Lynn Lake (about 30 miles west of Big Creek) and kill her. The magistrate said she just blurted it out at her arraignment. The things they were doing to Williams in that shed were certainly things that could have ended up killing her.
The fact that there were so many people involved in the crime is pretty stunning. In addition to the six people in custody, initial reports said that two people whom Williams knew had driven her to the location where she was held captive and tortured and that police were still looking for the two people. Other reports say it was one woman who drove her there. So it’s possible that up to eight people were involved.
According to the Logan County Prosecutor, Williams knew at least one of her captors and had been to their home on at least one prior occasion. This depraved group of people was well known to people in the area and to the police. The Associated Press reports that since 1991, these six people have accumulated 108 criminal charges among them, including first degree murder and lots of domestic violence charges. Two of them were indicted earlier this year for assaulting and robbing an 84-year-old woman in her home. (Those charges were dropped because the victim could not be located.)
It’s all very sickening, and like I said, I’m not sure what to even say or why to even blog about it; I just want to make people aware of it if they aren’t already. People need to be reminded that asinine statements that racism is dead are delusional (and racist themselves). If you need another example, read about Jena High School.
People also need to be reminded of why hate crime laws are a good thing. People who oppose hate crime laws will often say: Aren’t all violent crimes hate crimes? David Neiwert has written a lot about this topic, and this post contains a great analysis and explanation of what makes hate crimes different:
[H]ate crimes have the fully intended effect of driving away and deterring the presence of any kind of hated minority — racial, religious, or sexual. They are essentially acts of terrorism directed at entire communities of people, and they are message crimes: “Keep out.”
Rural dwellers’ dread of the dark colors of the inner city is something of a cliche, one based nonetheless on reality. What is less observed, however, is the common dread held by many minorities for America’s more rural spaces. Black people fear stepping foot in Idaho because of the presence of the Aryan Nations in the state’s Panhandle. Gays and lesbians view driving through places like Wyoming and Montana with a palpable anxiety.
If you get out a map of the country and put yourself in the shoes of a person of color or another sexual persuasion, and start looking at the places you would feel safe visiting, you’ll suddenly realize that this can be a very small country indeed for people who are not white heterosexuals. This is what Yale hate-crimes expert Donald Green means when he says that hate crimes annually create a “massive dead-weight loss of freedom” for Americans.
Hate crime laws are a way for society to send a message of deterrence:
The vast majority of hate-crime perpetrators, as I explain in Death on the Fourth of July, believe fully that they are committing these crimes with the unspoken approval of their respective community — that they are merely acting on its real desires. This (combined with a high incidence of narcissistic/antisocial personality disorders) lends itself to another common trait of hate criminals: they rarely believe they’ve done anything wrong. And it’s important to note that these perps consistently held these views well before they ever acted upon them.
Thus, high-profile and widely sanctioned expressions of community disapproval of these crimes play an essential role in discouraging further such acts. They inform any would-be hate criminals that, contrary to their preconceived notions, the community at large clearly does not approve of these kinds of acts, and rather than being community heroes, they will be pariahs.
Some food for thought.
[Note: The image at the top of this post is a map of hate groups in West Virginia, created by the Southern Poverty Law Center.]
Obviously we should use this as an opportunity to attack
Sen. Byrd.
This is f*%cking heinous. I first saw this on cnn.com the other day and couldn’t believe when I clicked on it and the dateline said Charleston. I must have been ducking the local news that morning.
It’s so tragic all the way around… I mean it would be nice to dismiss those 6-8 individuals as “evil” and talk about comeuppance, but what kind of miserable existence produces people that would do this?
Ugh.
I’m against the death penalty, but damn, this case almost makes me question my stance on the subject. I hope they spend the rest of their days rotting at Mt. Olive.
Jay, I have to say that on this one, I kind of agree with Don. I read that CNN commentary too and I thought it made a good point. The descriptions of the torture and killing of dogs by Michael Vick and the other guys who were arrested was definitely sick, but I did think Byrd’s impassioned speech on the Senate floor about it was a little odd. Why did he single out that incident for one of his signature fiery speeches? When I saw the clip of it on the news, I thought it was a little over the top. And I think it’s valid to ask whether he’ll do the same thing for a woman from his home state who was held captive and tortured and could quite possibly have been murdered had she not been found in time. I agree that this kind of thing shouldn’t be exploited by Surber just to score political points against one of his favorite targets but, as much as it pains me to say it, I thought the same thing as Don when I read that.
I agree that Byrd’s speech was a little over-the-top (God love him…), but the point was to condemn a sport, right? Perhaps as a prelude to introducing or sponsoring anti-dogfighting legislation?
Doesn’t it go without saying that the United States government condemns kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder? Isn’t there legislation in place to address this crime?
With his tendency for long-winded impassioned rhetoric… well, maybe it’s a good thing RCB doesn’t give a speech everytime some jackleg does something heinous.
(Also, I just don’t like it when people agree with Don.)
Believe me, it makes me feel dirty to agree with Don Surber.
Byrd’s speech wasn’t related to any legislation. Yes, he was condemning the sport of dog fighting and specifically mentioned some of the acts committed by Vick & the others (like electrocuting dogs). Doesn’t it go without saying that the U.S. government condemns the electrocution and hanging of dogs? There’s legislation in place for that too — dog fighting is illegal everywhere (including at the federal level).
I’m not saying Byrd has to give a speech every time something heinous happens, and if he hadn’t given such an over-the-top speech after the Michael Vick thing, I wouldn’t be wondering whether he’s going to give a speech about Megan Williams now. I probably wouldn’t have wondered at all if I hadn’t read that CNN commentary. And I’m not making a huge deal about it — I’m just responding to Jay’s comment. I haven’t blogged about it.
Unfortunately, women getting beaten, raped, and murdered is an incredibly common occurrence, so it doesn’t garner the kind of outrage that lots of people expressed after hearing what was done to those dogs. How often do professional athletes get arrested for abusing their wives or girlfriends? I have no idea, but it’s obviously far more common than professional athletes getting arrested for abusing dogs.
Also, just a side note, but given Byrd’s history, he probably shouldn’t be making impassioned speeches comparing black men to animals.
Right- I hear you on that last point. And I thought that John Kerry was introducing legislation related to dogfighting right around that time, as a result of the Michael Vick thing (obviously). But, I could have been drunk and imagined that…
Anyway- love the blog!
I’ve agreed with Don in the past. Hell, he even sent me an e-mail once thanking me for my input. That’s so dirty even Mike Rowe wouldn’t do a show about cleaning that stink off me.
If Byrd makes a statement now it’s because he was forced to and if he doesn’t he’s condoning the crimes. It’s kind of like Republicans bitching piously that anti-war folk don’t begin each thought on the war with a condemnation of al Qaida. I always assume it’s a given and that sort of rote posturing gets a little desensitizing, in my opinion.