For Liberians, Victims Of Sexual Abuse Sometimes Outcast

We continue now with another story with roots in Africa. Off and on throughout the years violence across Africa has produced a small but steady stream of refugees to the U.S. There are Nigerians in New York, Somalis in Minnesota, and Liberians in Arizona. The latter community is at the center of a public outcry concerning the alleged sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl by four boys aged eight to 14. The alleged victim and victimizers are all Liberian immigrants living in the same residential complex.

The little girl is temporarily in the care of Arizona Child Protective Services because upon learning of the alleged assault, her father told police he did not want her because she had shamed the family. That response prompted a strong rebuke from Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who said this is not a question of shame on the family, it's the question of the assault of a young child and that cannot be tolerated.

We wanted to ask, is this attitude about rape widespread? Is it cultural, as some have suggested? Or as President Johnson Sirleaf has suggested, is the boy's behavior, alleged behavior, a product of trauma after years of civil war? For more on this, we turn to Beverly Goll-Yekeson. She is president of the Liberia Crisis Center for Women and Children. And Anthony Weedor, he's a co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation, which helps Liberians settle in the U.S. And I want to welcome you both, and thank you for joining us.

Mr. ANTHONY WEEDOR (Co-Founder, CenterPoint International Foundation): Thanks Michel, for having us.
Ms. BEVERLY GOLL-YEKESON (President, Liberia Crisis Center for Women and Children): Thanks Michel, for having us.
MARTIN: And Beverly, I want to start with you if I may. If you don't mind my mentioning, you are also a survivor of sexual assault. And I wanted to ask you what your reaction was when you heard of this incident?

Ms. GOLL-YEKESON: Michel, frankly speaking, I was not really surprised because being a survivor also, I've gone through similar reaction put forth by her parents.

MARTIN: Really? You've experienced that sense of what, rejection, blame?
Ms. GOLL-YEKESON: Blame. And that's the core and the sole purpose of our organization. Why we had to form an organization to help deal with this post-war syndrome in Liberia.

MARTIN: Do you believe, if I may ask, your - what is your sense of why this attitude exists? There are some who suggest that a cavalier attitude about rape is somehow part of the culture. Others suggest that it's a result of years of war which break down social norms. What's your take on that?

Ms. GOLL-YEKESON: Michel, for me and I strongly believe it's a post-war syndrome that rape continues to flourish in communities in post-war Liberia and also that has been trickled down - through generations. Let's see what happened in Arizona. They are much more of a younger generation. I was born in the '70s, so because they have been exposed to the civil war and being in that environment and how things have functioned in the past, have actually had this consequence of their action.

And also it has been - people have said that it has been accepted in our culture, which is not true. Because no attention has been given, that does not mean that it is culturally accepted. And just going back, we have over the past years tried to work as an organization to address these issues of helping victims and their family realize that they are not the ones to be blamed and also change the attitude.

And because of my personal experience - I've been there - we have helped lot of women and children by breaking the silence. And we've been successful because we have this issue of confidentiality. Rape victims, the people who are sexually assaulted feel insecure to report their cases or to come forward. And we've over the years of doing our outreach program in communities especially in Liberia and even in the U.S. working with domestic violence cases and sexually assaulted women.

MARTIN: Sure…
Ms. GOLL-YEKESON: We learned that because of my personal experience they feel more secure coming to the Liberia Crisis Center because we identify with them and there is someone who feel their needs and have been there with them.

MARTIN: Beverly hold on one second. We are going to take a short break, but I want to hear from Anthony Weedor briefly before we do, and I promise we'll come back to you after the break. But Anthony, if I could just briefly hear from you. What's your take on this? Do you think this is cultural or do you think it's a post-trauma reaction?

Mr. WEEDOR: I think some cultural aspect is there also and then the post-war trauma is also there. And what really gave this a place in the culture now is that most of the people now or but some of the political leaders today in Liberia did commit some of these crimes and they were never addressed. They were never brought to justice. Now, they are political leaders in the country and some of these women who were raped during the war have nowhere else to go for justice.

MARTIN: (unintelligible)…

Mr. WEEDOR: Some of these…

MARTIN: Forgive me for interrupting. This is an important conversation, we're going to return to in just a moment after a short break. I'm speaking with Anthony Weedor, co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation and Beverly Goll-Yekeson, president of the Liberia Crisis Center. And we're talking about the alleged rape of a young Liberian girl in Phoenix, Arizona. Please stay with us on TELL ME MORE from NPR News. We'll have more after a short break. I'm Michel Martin.

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MARTIN: I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. In a moment, Haiti finds success combating HIV and AIDS. We will find out more in just a few minutes, but first, we're going to continue our discussion about the shocking charges that an eight year old girl in Phoenix, Arizona was gang-raped by a group of young boys. The alleged victim and her alleged attackers are all part of a community of Liberian immigrants who settled in Phoenix, Arizona. And we're exploring whether the culture or years of civil war that the nation endured may have played a role in this incident.

To talk about this, we've been speaking with Beverly Goll-Yekeson, President of the Liberia Crisis Center for Women and Children, and Anthony Weedor, co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation. I want to thank you for staying with us and before we took our short break, Anthony Weedor, you were telling us that you - that there has been a culture of impunity around rape in Liberia. If you'd tell us more about that.

Mr. WEEDOR: Yeah, and these men were never brought to justice. And like Beverly was saying, this has gone on now to the next generation as people have, you know, accepted that as a norm and which is completely unacceptable for most of us. And this is why that we're trying to address it even in Liberia before they can come here. And then when I said cultural also is the way men view women. Many times in some tribes in Liberia, women are nothing but an object of joy. And so if a guy, you know, rape become a rite of passage for some. So this is why I'm saying that it's both post-traumatic and also cultural.

MARTIN: What do you think should happen now? Obviously, there is the criminal justice system in the U.S. which is going to proceed according to its rules, and I do of course have to say again that, you know, people are innocent until proven guilty. So you know, but this girl was screaming. She was found in a state of undress by a neighbor very quickly, so there seems to be strong evidence.

And it's also not disputed that - what the father said. He said this in the presence of a social worker and a police officer, so my question to both of you is what do you think should happen now as a result of this? If these are attitudes that the family brought with them, the families involved brought with them, Anthony how do you think is an appropriate way to proceed at this point?

Mr. WEEDOR: I think the American legal system should be given chance to play out and like you said, innocent until proven guilty. But, I hope they will not just play with - among American audience, but this will also go back home that there's no place for such crime in the 21st century of a little girl being raped and abused and then for the parents to reject her and blame her for the problem.

And I'm just so grateful to Beverly for what she's doing also to just wrap her arms around young girls and her own personal experience to play into this. But my big - next month I will be in Liberia where I'm hoping that this will really play back home for Liberians and especially the young generation to see that, look, if you commit a crime in the United States or anywhere else you'll be punished.

MARTIN: Beverly, what about you? What do you think should happen now?
Ms. GOLL-YEKESON: Well, ask the Liberian government to have a zero tolerance rape (unintelligible) in Liberia. And they are doing a lot of work and President Ellen Johnson have also committed. We in the U.S.A., our organization should also play an active role because there are a lot of refugees that are being repatriated in the U.S.A. We are looking forward to having more culture-appropriate materials being developed and also having some kind of reintegration program.

You know, just talking about the different laws, especially rape, sexual assault, human trafficking in the U.S.A. It's just not the Arizona situation but in Maryland similar situation happened, in New York, and also these things are happening in our Liberian society. And we thank the U.S. government and the different refugee organization, but they also now need to turn to us, to organizations like my and CenterPoint for International. So, we start developing and working and trying to reintegrate Liberians and other immigrants that are - that have been exposed to post-war syndrome.
MARTIN: You know, it's interesting. It's a complicated question and it's -perhaps it's one to which we should return when we have a bit more time, but Anthony, I want to give you the final word. Do you feel that, is there something, is this a conversation that needs to take place within individual communities or do you think that there's kind of a broader conversation that perhaps the U.S. government needs to be involved in when people come here to sort of help them understand the cultural context is different here?

Mr. WEEDOR: Yeah, I think both need to take place, both locally and then the U.S. government especially immigration and also social services, if they get involved especially my organization, lot of Liberian organizations here get involved in terms of world view, the way they see the world before coming here and then we try to explain to them the legal system here do work. You're not going to bribe your way out of this.

You cannot do this here and get away with it. And then another thing, when parent comes here they are burdened. I don't know about this particular parent situation, but mom and dad working and trying to support the family here and then support a family back in Liberia, and then leave the kids unattended. And they are on themselves. So many things that we have to work, but we have to start locally with our local organizations here in Colorado or Maryland or Phoenix for Liberians to get engaged some of all been here now to help them understand culture here and how to live in the United States away from home.

MARTIN: We have to leave it there for now but this is an important conversation, and I'm so grateful that both of you were able to join us. Anthony Weedor is co-founder of the CenterPoint International Foundation. Beverly Goll-Yekeson is President of the Liberia Crisis Center for Women and Children. And they joined us respectively from Littleton, Colorado, and Raleigh, North Carolina. I thank you both so much again.
Mr. WEEDOR: Thanks, Michel.
Ms. GOLL-YEKESON: Thank you, Michel.