West Palm Beach, Florida rape stirs outrage; blogger takes aim at Sharpton and Jackson

The sister who lead the campaign against BET's Hot Ghetto Mess is focused on a new effort.  Gina McCauley has not targeted Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson for the way they have responded to a horrific gang rape that occurred in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Gina has issued a press release regarding the matter.  I'll have more later on Rev. Sharpton's Day of Outrage that is mentioned below.  

"Nobody came for us," the woman, 35, said in the interview with WPTV.  "Nobody even called the police for us." 

Austin, TX – August, 5 2007- Fresh off a battle with Black Entertainment Television, Gina McCauley isn't slowing down on her blog, What About Our Daughters? McCauley is outraged over Al Sharpton's planned " Day of Outrage" scheduled for August 7, 2007, also sponsored by the BloggingWhileBrown Blog. Her next targets are Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the NAACP and other African American elites who have been noticeably silent about what may be one of the most horrific crimes committed against a Black woman in recent history, she's talking about the June 18th gang rape of a 35-year- old woman that took place in Dunbar Village, a housing project in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The woman was raped repeatedly for over three hours by at least ten African American youths, while they brutally beat her son. Eventually the woman and son were forced to lie naked together in their bathtub and the woman was forced under gunpoint to perform oral sex on her 12-year-old son before the attackers poured cleaning solution on them, burning the mother's skin and blinding her son. Not a single neighbor called the police and the woman and her son were forced to walk alone to a hospital. Only three of the alleged attackers have been arrested and residents of Dunbar Village aren't talking to police.

McCauley is angry about a lack of public outrage from many of the people who were so swift to inject themselves into the Duke rape case a little over a year ago.

" Jesse Jackson and Rainbow PUSH rushed to issue press releases announcing that they were going to give a college scholarship to the Duke rape accuser ." McCauley said, referring to Jackson's offer to the Duke rape accuser.

In an interview with the Associated Press on June 15, 2006 Jackson indicated that he was anxious to get in contact with the Duke rape accuser. ""I can't wait … to talk with her and have prayer with her, because our organization is committed, when she's physically and emotionally able … to provide for her the scholarship money to finish school so she will never … again have to stoop that low to survive," Jackson said from Chicago in a telephone interview with The Associated Press at the time. Jackson has issued no such statements in the case of the Dunbar Village rape victim. His silence and the silence of others is damning to McCauley.

" Where is his press release offering a scholarship to this woman? Where is the announcement of how much Rainbow Push has donated to this poor woman and her child? Where is his offer to go down to Florida and have prayer with this woman?"

McCauley goes on to criticize the NAACP for holding a press conference of support for Michael Vick, but not doing the same for the West Palm Beach victim. " I mean Michael Vick is a multimillionaire who is more than capable of defending himself, who is looking out for this poor Black woman in Florida trying to eek out a living selling Avon and delivering telephone books?"

When McCauley heard about Sharpton's "Day of Outrage," she decided to wade into controversy again by pointing out what she thinks is a moral inconsistency within the African American community.

" Here we have Sharpton initiating a self-promoting publicity blitz announcing a national day of outrage about rap lyrics which denigrate Black women, but I am not aware of a single e-mail from the National Action Network speaking out about this brutal attack, asking the residents of Dunbar Village to start cooperating with police, or encouraging people to help this woman and her child."

McCauley hopes that by targeting Sharpton, Jackson and other African American leaders on her blog, she can produce some off line results. " I notice that on his tour he plans a stop in Miami. That is not far from West Palm Beach. I wonder if he is going to pass the collection plate to contribute to this woman's victim's assistance fund?"

A victim's assistance fund has been set up for the West Palm beach woman and her child through Saint Ann's Church in West Palm Beach, FL. Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund-St. Ann. They can be dropped off at any Wachovia branch or mailed to: St. Ann Catholic Church, 310 N. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach, FL 33401. The church's phone number is (561) 832-3757.

See more What About our Daughters coverage here .