Police arrest Richmond High gang rape suspects, one released due to lack of evidence

Concerned Students of Richmond High

The police in Richmond California have arrested 6  people in connection with the rape and torture of a 15-year-old high school sophomore outside of the homecoming dance at Richmond High school.

Richmond High boast a multi-cultural group of students, all from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The students are from lower to middle class families, all hardworking and primarily blue collar.It resembles the demographics in many urban inner city communities in California, as well as my own community in Southern California where I live .

The following are the demographics for Richmond, California as of 2007…

Races in Richmond:

• Black (36.1%)
• Hispanic (26.5%)
• White Non-Hispanic (21.2%)
• Other race (13.9%)
• Two or more races (5.3%)
• Chinese (3.3%)
• Filipino (3.1%)
• Other Asian (2.9%)
• American Indian (1.6%)
• Asian Indian (1.2%)
• Japanese (0.9%)
• Korean (0.5%)
• Vietnamese (0.5%)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (0.5%)

The estimated median household income for the citizens of Richmond in 2007 was $50,293 (it was $44,210 in the 2000 census), and the stats for California median household income was by comparison $59,948.

Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $484,000 (it was $170,700 in 2000) while in the whole state, it averaged out to be $532,300, in that same year.

The average price of a rental was in 2007 was $1,012, and the percentage of residents living in poverty was in 2007 17.6%. For more statistics on the demographics for Richmond, click on my source below…
http://www.city-data.com/city/Richmond-California.html#ixzz0VZipWJH4

The point being is that Richmond is at no level a totally impoverished or in no way a minority community, as some  have so unfairly labeled it, due to their ignorance , but rather a diverse multicultural community where minorities, white families, and immigrants reside to form a community that resembles the racial melting pot here in America.

Only a racist would see it any differently.

It is in fact, not a white dominated community, which to some may seem like a black community, but that is just because they prefer an all white community over a diverse one that highlights several races of American citizens.Just old fashioned American racism.

This brutal rape was an issue of power, humiliation, and control,like most rapes, and race or poverty had absolutely nothing to do with it. The fact that some of the perpetrators were black, latino, and white is purely a coincidence, and not some genetically programmed predisposition to be a violent criminal gang rapist as some are publicizing.

If that were the case, then one would have to believe that all white people are genetically programmed to be high school mass murderers like the Columbine killers, or rapist and murderers that eat their victims like Jeffery Dahmer.

I am sure that the fact that they were white is purely coincidental. There crimes rank as some of the most reprehensible crimes of the 20th century.I am certain that  these crimes by these non-minority killers had an influence on these rapist, more than any other possible influence.

It is only logical, based on the media that the crimes garnered.

The police are reporting that one of six suspects arrested in the gang rape of the 15-year-old girl outside Richmond High School’s homecoming dance will be released after prosecutors declined to file charges, authorities said Friday.

The name of the released suspect is Salvador Rodriguez, 21, and was set free due to a lack of sufficient evidence to connect him to the crime.

Five other suspects remain in custody. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that…Cody Ray Smith, 15, of San Pablo; Marcelles James Peter, 17, of Pinole; and Ari Abdallah Morales, 16, of San Pablo are juveniles being charged as adults. They all face felony counts of rape in concert and penetration with a foreign object. Morales also is charged with felony robbery for allegedly stealing the girl’s jewelry.

Manuel Ortega, 19, of Richmond is charged with rape in concert, robbery and assault causing great bodily injury. He is being held on $1.2 million bail…

Police on Thursday night arrested Jose Carlos Montano, 18, near his San Pablo home in the 1800 block of 16th Street.

The spokesman for the Richmond police  said Montano played a “significant” role in the assault and police will request felony charges of rape, rape in concert with violence, penetration with a foreign object and a special enhancement requesting life in prison.

“The charges accurately reflect the severity of (Montano’s) actions,” the Richmond police spokesman said.

Crimes of this nature are unusual in communities like Richmond. The police and community are up in arms about the severity and devilish brutality, the like that are usually limited to the upper class, and wealthy suburban communities.

In 1988 Jodie Foster portrayed a gang rape victim in the Academy Award nominated film ”The Accused” which portrayed a real life gang rape and the victims quest for justice, which happened in 1983 in the wealthy and tony Upstate New York, which is predominantly white.

Jodie Foster plays the flirtatious Sarah Tobias, who goes to a local bar, flirts with some bar patrons, and then she is violently gang raped by several patrons of the bar, while many others watched, and did not intercede.

I would make a note that there were no black or mexican patrons in that bar to witness, or perpetrate this gang rape, and no rapist there was poverty-stricken, debunking any suggestion that this rape and torture is in any way due to race or poverty issues.

The real name of the real life gang rape victim portrayed by Foster, is Cheryl Ann Araujo. Click the link to find out more about Cheryls’ gang rape…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheryl_Araujo

The racial demographics of New Bedford, the actual site of the rape portrayed in the ‘Accused’ movie is… 78.86% White, 4.39% African American, 0.62% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 9.51% from other races, and 5.92% from two or more races…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford,_Massachusetts

This case is simply human brutality, which knows no racial boundaries, and the mere suggestion of that as even a reason for this violent rape, is patently offensive.

Here is a link to a review of the movie, which intelligently juxtaposes the Sarah Tobias Upper New York gang rape by white men against a single white female, to the gang rape of this 15-year-old Richmond High school student…

http://www.xomba.com/movie_review_accused_starring_academy_award_winner_jodie_foster

By the way, Jodie Foster won the Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of gang rape victim Sarah Tobias, which was great for Jodie, but may have sent the wrong message to the public, and may have influenced this gang rape in Richmond, unwittingly.

In 2005, Samuel L. Jackson portrayed Richmond High school’s controversial basketball Coach Ken Carter, who made national attention when the Richmond High  team was well on its way to the 1999 State Championship, when he  received the low grades of his players. Coach Carter  locked the gym and benched the whole team for poor grades.

Coach Carter received some praise and much more criticism for his decision.

The name of the movie was ”Coach Carter”…http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393162/

In an interview Coach Carter gave on CNN  Friday, Carter spoke by telephone to Richmond High School Senior Class President Gina Saechad.   He promised Saechad he would return to the school to help.

When asked about his reaction to the gang rape, he told CNN that he could see it coming when he coached at the school 10 years ago.

“Someone (at the school) was asleep at the wheel,” he said.

He went on to tell Class President Gina Saechad that you are not what people think about you, but you are what you think about yourself…

He is arranging a fund-raiser in support of the gang rape victim, and vows to help out with the students at Richmond High, which holds a special place in his heart.

It would make a great impression on the students if they can see a role model and a leader in society that has come from their community, and had a positive, yet challenging experience there as an educator.

Who knows, maybe he can convince Samuel Jackson to stop by the school and deliver a talk about self esteem , love and compassion for your fellow-man, in any given circumstance. A visit by a movie star and the subject of a hit movie, Ken Carter could make a positive impression on the Richmond High students.

In closing, the only issue here is discipline, and compassion, which seems to be lacking in some of the students involved in this horrendously brutal crime against humanity.

As illustrated by the Jodie Foster movie, this type of barbaric behavior is not endemic to poverty or race as some media, and faux liberal political cartel blogs might want to portray it, it is simply a case of human brutality that no race of people is immune to,across the board. Any one perpetuating this myth, is a liar.

Read more at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/30/BAR01AD19F.DTL#ixzz0VZpkExGZ

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks31-2009oct31,0,41271.column?track=rss

The Accused-1988

Coach Carter movie poster

Richmond High School is accepting cards and donations for the victim to go towards her care. They can be mailed to the school at 1250 23rd St., Richmond, CA 94804-1011. Make checks out to the Richmond High Student Fund.