On April 7th of this year, three underaged assailants plead guilty to charges tied to the sexual abuse of a 5-year-old girl in Twin Falls, Idaho.  The three boys were refugees from Iraq and Sudan, but initial reports misquoted an official who stated they were from Syria.  This small error, instead of the actual crime, became the focus of the media attention as some would say it was all “fake news.” 

The fact that three males accepted guilty pleas for the attack of this little girl has become lost in the story.  Instead of focusing on why this type of thing happens, a reporter with the New York Times has again held this out as a fake news story.  Caitlin Dickerson covers immigration and has taken significant measures to hide the real crime inside this story. 

The Dickerson piece starts off without much effort to address the violent and sickening nature of the crime.  There is little said about the victim or the father who found out his daughter was both orally and anally violated by watching a cell phone video the boys made of the attack. 

A cell phone video graphic enough that there is no question what occurred.  The video was briefly mentioned because it was not able to be shared since this would fall under the category of distributing child pornography.  That should tell you right there how graphic the content is. 

The article also does not mention the eyewitness who stopped the boys in the middle of the attack. “ Grandma Jo” was 89 years old at the time she stepped in to rescue the tiny female victim.  Jolene Payne, a retired nurse, described the scene as she stumbled upon the three boys in the laundry room:

“…the door was cracked enough for him to see the pictures he was taking.  I opened that door and I almost fainted when I saw what was going on and I’m a nurse.  What a pitiful thing for a poor little girl to go through.  The little tiny white girl, 5 years old, was standing there with her clothes off.  The two younger boys were also naked.  The worst thing was the way they peed all over her clothes and on her too, and I thought that was one of the meanest things I’ve ever saw done.  And we know those kids must know a lot more than kids in America of that age.  I’ve never seen any of them do anything like that to little girls, and we have a lot of children around here.” 

With both an eyewitness and video, it is impossible to deny what happened to the little girl at the center of the case.  There should be no question as to the crime happening, but this is what Dickerson wants you to see as being “fake news.” 

The most significant issue, in this case, is not the rape of a small child; instead, the focus is on the initial error that was made in reporting the three males involved as being from Syria. 

The only time Dickerson addresses the sexual abuse, she calmly explained: “what happened in Twin Falls was sadly somewhat commonplace.”  She does not make it clear if she means the rape of a small child is something that happens on a regular basis in Twin Falls or if suddenly this is acceptable all over the United States.  Journalist Pamela Gellar made the following statement as an answer to Dickerson:

“I don’t know what hellhole Dickerson grew up in, but if the anal and oral rape of a little girl, urinating in her mouth and being sexually attacked by boys more than twice her age is commonplace, then she has problems much larger than her inferior reporting skills.  Dickerson never mentions the little girl, her suffering, the medical and psychological effect, or the ongoing struggles the family faced.” 

The comment from Gellar is especially significant as she spent a tremendous amount of time in the Twin Falls area covering the story and the public outcry that followed.  Many within the small town expressed frustration with children of refugees coming into their community as these boys did with advanced knowledge of sex. 

After watching the way these young boys raped the little girl, it was clear their understanding of sex was well beyond the average American youth.  This concern was turned into a racist message by writers like Dickerson. 

The Dickerson story turned the very real rape of a child into the fake news for political gain.  It also turned anyone speaking out against the violence that unfortunately more than one child has seen into an act of racism.  This family is not allowed to ask for justice without being painted racist.  This type of reporting only victimizes the young rape survivor again.