Stupidest Shithole in America: Henderson, Texas

By Michael J.W. Stickings

There are many, many shitholes all across America -- like Nelson, Georgia; Mississippi; Dietrich, Idaho; Burkesville, Kentucky; and Pickens County, South Carolina.

Henderson, Texas, about 140 miles east of Dallas, not far from the Louisiana border, is one of them: 

When Rachel Bradshaw-Bean claimed she had been raped in the band room of her high school in Texas, school officials sprang into action—and kicked her out of school.

"I felt like a criminal," she said, describing the December 2010 incident in her first extended interview on the crisis and aftermath. Accused of "public lewdness," she was sent to a special school for students with discipline problems, along with the boy she said had assaulted her. "I saw him there all the time," she said.

It's not an isolated incident. The events at Henderson High School in East Texas demonstrate the obstacles girls sometimes face when reporting sexual violence in schools. "High schools across the country are failing to live up to their responsibility to address sexual assault and harassment," said Neena Chaudhry, an attorney with the National Women's Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C. "There's no excuse."

No, there isn't, and when the high school in your town tells rape victims that it's their fault, that it's not actually rape and that you have behavior problems, you live in a shithole. It's as simple as that.

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Make sure to read this article in its entirety. Bradshaw-Bean's story is an interesting one (and, alas, not an isolated one either).

And her struggle for justice is inspiring.