Details Emerge in W. Va. Torture Case

Although this is from CNN, it also tells of the exact same story:

“Details Emerge in West Virginia Torture Case” is a story that appeared on ABC News earlier this month in regards to a woman’s suffering in West Virginia that has been a result of a hate crime and much torture she has had to face. ABC’s written article can be found, http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=3590598&page=1.

In West Virginia, a 20 year old woman was severely beaten and torture for what police has begun to investigate as a hate crime. Although, police are not certain exactly how Megan Williams, the 20 year old victim of this hate crime, ended up inside the shed of six individuals whom sexually assaulted, beaten, tortured, forced Williams to eat feces from both dogs and rats, they are definitely sure she was held against her will. Williams endured this treatment for a duration of a week until West Virginia police received an anonymous call to go out and investigate the shed of the six individuals. Police have been said to have been at the front porch questioning a young woman when they saw a woman limping towards the door with out-stretched arms stating, “Please, help me!” The six individuals whom held Williams captive were three males and three females, whose ages ranged from 20 to 49, all of whom have a combined 108 criminal charges that West Virginia police have filed against them. Also, Williams was forced to drink out of a toilet, choked with a cable cord, had hot water poured on her, and while being stabbed in her leg was called many racial slurs and was being told she was being treated this way because she was black.

Williams’ mother, Carmen Williams, said in her child’s defense, “I don't understand a human being doing another human being the way they did my daughter. I didn't know there were people like that out here.” Upon hearing Carmen Williams say this I thought back to Zinn and how the Indians were treated by Columbus. They too were tortured much worse, in my opinion, than Williams but that doesn’t make what has happened to her any less of a crime. But because of his article I can actually “understand a human being doing another human being the way they did [Williams].” Zinn was able to, in a way, prepare me for something like this through previous readings we have done in class, but he nor do I think anyone could’ve helped prepare me to believe torture from one human being to another still existed or happened in our society to this very day.

I chose this story because it really touched me deeply and like the Indians by which Columbus and his tortured I felt really sorry for Megan Williams. I do understand Carmen Williams statement of “I didn’t know there were people like that out here,” because I thought that even though racism still exists human beings understand a little more than all of our ancestors that despite color we are all human. To me it is one thing to find or believe you are higher than another race or even to use a racial slur to someone of another race but to simply intentionally torture and cause pain to someone because they are of a different race is… beyond horrible and sadistic… it’s along the lines of cruel and unjust.