By Amen Oyiboke
Special to the NNPA from the Los Angelese Sentinel
A young girl lying on the floor passed out with a black t-shirt and no clothes from the waist down floated around social media recently.
Jada, 16, reported to police that she was allegedly drugged and raped two months ago at house party in Houston, TX. She stepped forward once she realized she had been raped.
In an interview, the victim told Houston’s KHOU news about the incident leading up to the horrendous photo taken of her.
She reported that it all started with an invitation to a house party. According to Jada, she was offered a cup of punch that she believes was spiked and said she later woke up half naked. She fully didn’t realize what happened until pictures surfaced online.
She chose to address her alleged rapists publicly in an interview because she said, “everyone knows” and “there is no point in hiding” what happened.
“I had no control,” Jada told KHOU news. “I didn’t tell anyone to take my clothes off and do what they did to me.”
The source of where the pictures came from is not immediately clear due to twitter deleting most of the pictures and deactivating accounts closely associated with the incident.
The alleged rapist, 17 year-old Innel Yahia, posted a response denouncing Jada and her story before his Twitter account was deactivated. His tweet stated, “HOW ITS RAPE? YOU HAD 2 MONTHS TO SAY SOMETHING BUT YOU AIN’T SAY S__T TILL YOU GET EXPOSED?”
Most rape victims are usually kept anonymous, but it’s extremely difficult to do so when those victims are exposed to social media.
“There’s no point in hiding,” she said. “Everybody has already seen my face and my body, but that’s not what I am and who I am.”
Countless Internet trolls have made a mockery of her unfortunate alleged rape. One of the saddest things about this case is the mockery and sick humor people have made about her.
Photos of her unconscious sparked the creation of the hash tag #jadapose on social media, where users posted photos of themselves mimicking the position she was passed out in. She was openly mocked on Twitter, Instagram and other social sharing mediums.
Sadly, African American social media users made most of the crude pictures and jokes. What does this say about the issues of rape via the younger generation? The issue of rape seems to be stripped of its seriousness on social media. Where is the respect that humanity has about the life of a young teenage woman who was ripped of her dignity? Her nightmare went viral for the entire world to see and access. It sickening to see how far social media has dictated peoples’ lives and ruin the emotional stability a victim can try to restore.
Women and men have been posting pictures on social media to show support for Jada using the hash tag #iamJada. The picture shows people raising their fists and holding signs, as Jada did in her picture. Supporters are demanding a change in rape culture, education and the arrest of Jada’s alleged rapist. Houston police are now investigating the case.
