Two teenage boys have been charged in Houston, Texas for the gang rape of a 16-year old girl this past June. According to the victim, Jada, she drank some punch offered to her by a boy at a party she was attending, which turned out to be spiked. She says she then passed out, and was not aware of what had happened to her until pictures of her assault went viral on social media.
Yes. These charming young fellas posted pictures of the naked, unconscious teenager all over the internet in order to mock her. They weren’t the only ones, either. Other kids from her school, and soon, around the country, gleefully shared the photo all around social media.
As if that weren’t bad enough, some of them even started posting pictures of themselves posed as Jada was in the picture, tagging them #jadapose, which eventually came so popular that it was actually trending on Twitter and Instagram. Some particularly delightful young men even tried to make the pose into a “dance craze” on YouTube. I’m sure they all thought this was just adorable.
Prosecutors say that 19-year-old Clinton Onyeahialam and a 16 year-old boy sexually assaulted Jada on June 1, 2014. Additionally, according to court documents, Onyeahialam is being charged with the rape of another girl on that date as well. He is being charged with the sexual assault of a child and is being held on $30,000 bail.
The charges and name against the 16 year-old suspect are not being released, as he is being charged as a juvenile.
As despicable as gang rape is, it’s even more horrifying to know that so many people were so eager and willing to mock the rape of a teenage girl on social media.
On Tuesday, Jada and her family’s spokesperson Quannell X, a leader of the local chapter of the New Black Panther party, appeared on Ronan Farrow’s show on MSNBC to discuss the arrests. Jada says that although she is getting support from around the country, she is, sadly, still not being supported by her community in Houston. They say they hope this case leads to new laws criminalizing cyberbullying, so that other girls do not have to go through what she did.
