Is It Now Open Season on Children?
By Chuck Hyde, Editor of StandBesideHer.com
It seems that it has gotten to the point in this country that it is open season on children and the courts are sometimes willing to give predators of these children a license to molest, rape, torture, and kill without any real consequence. Such is the case of Mahamu Kanneh of Montgomery County, Maryland. This man was charged with repeatedly molesting and raping a 7-year-old girl. Mr. Kanneh is from the West African country of Liberia and his native language is an obscure tribal dialect, Vai. The court has ruled that they are unable to locate an interpreter for this man and since they have been unable to do so in the 3 years he has been awaiting trial, this has prevented him from getting a speedy trial and therefore has dismissed the charges against him. This man has been in the country through high school and college, spoke to the police in English, and according to reports, moved from Liberia to Guyana (an English speaking country) as a child and was introduced to English “at a very young age”. Finally, this man could have easily learned English in the 3 years he was awaiting trial. There are several questions about this case and Fox News has a very good story on it here.
The real question I have though is, why are we providing an interpreter for this man at all. I have a novel idea, if he wants to understand what is going on in a court proceeding in which he is accused of breaking the law, why doesn’t he get his own interpreter? This is not a case where this man broke some obscure law with highly intricate legalities, he raped a 7-year-old girl. I have to assume that this is not legal in Liberia or Guyana. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He chose to come to our country where we speak English. I feel it is incumbent upon him to learn the language, especially over what appears to be a couple of decades of exposure to English. If he doesn’t, and he can’t bring himself to respect our laws, then that’s his problem and he should pay the consequences. Instead, we let him get away with raping a child.
There are two problems with this case. First, we have to stop enabling immigrants to not learn to speak our language proficiently. There is ample opportunity to learn and they need to either step up and take personal responsibility or get left behind. I work in health care and we are required by Federal law to provide interpreters. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I do want the patients to understand their care. I work in an emergency department and some of the care decisions we have to talk to the patients and families about are literally life and death and it is important for them to fully understand what they are deciding. On the other hand it is frustrating when you know that some of the people you are talking to have, as is the case with Mr. Kanneh, been in the country for several years and have not taken the initiative to learn English. For the record, I am not anti-immigration, my ancestors emigrated here (legally). However, we have got to come to a decision that NOT learning English is unacceptable.
Second is this constant concern with criminals' rights. As I said earlier, some judges are going so far in protecting the rights of child molesters that they are completely forgetting the victims. I believe in fair trials. I believe in the constitutionally protected rights of the accused as far as unreasonable search and seizure, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment among others. I also believe, though, in the right of children to live their life without having to be the subject of some sick freaks perversions. The problem is not protecting the rights of criminals, we have a fair and just constitution that has served us well for over two hundred years and provides equal protection under the law for people when they interact with the government. The problem is judges who let their political and personal biases cloud their judgment and impart on criminals rights they do not have.
We are seeing too many child predators go free or receive pathetically short sentences. It seems that there is a continuous stream of stories about these type of cases across the country. We as a society have to stand up and demand that judges do more to protect the most vulnerable among us and stop coddling criminals. We have to start demanding that our individual states pass Jessica’s law or something similar and have mandatory and severe sentences for child predators. There has been more than enough antidotal evidence that the judiciary is not responsible enough nor consistent enough to protect our children. WE need to take the power away from them and lock these monsters away. That’s what’s on my mind.
Editor’s note: At the time of placing this article, more details are emerging about this case. It appears that the above mentioned girl was Mr. Kanneh’s niece and along with raping and molesting her, he was also accused of molesting her 18 month old sister. -CH
About The Author: Chuck Hyde is editor of StandBesideHer.com. He is also a husband and father of two teenage boys and a younger daughter. His family lives in the northern Midwestern rural United States, where they enjoy camping, fishing, and other outdoor activities together. Chuck is a Registered Nurse in an inner city emergency room and has had a lifelong addiction to politics.
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