protector vs. predator
February 19th, 2009
This article speaks to my point of what’s common sense. I give my thoughts at the end and encourage you to do the same…whatever they may be!!!
SHE DEFIES ‘PIMP’
Cops: Ohio woman escapes prostitution ring
Monday, February 16, 2009
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERJersey City police rescued a 20-year-old Ohio woman Saturday after she made a frantic call to say she was being held against her will inside the apartment of a pimp at the Society Hill housing complex, officials said.
The man holding the woman, Percival R. Williams III, 31, of Lyon Court in Jersey City, was charged with promoting prostitution, human trafficking, criminal restraint, unlawful possession of weapons, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, certain person not to have weapons and receiving stolen property, officials said.
Police said the woman called 911 on her cell phone at 6:36 p.m. to say she was being held in a second floor apartment and that her captor, a tall man with dreadlocks, was leaving in a black 2005 Maserati with Virginia plates. She also told police the man was armed, officials said.
When police arrived they found the man in the car with his driver’s side door open near an open garage door, officials said.
While two police officers guarded Williams, three other officers located the victim who told them her ordeal started last Monday around 4 p.m. when she was drugged in Ohio and brought to Jersey City.
In interviews she told police she was walking home with friends in Cleveland last weekend when Williams approached in his Maserati and offered her a ride home.
She took him up on his offer and went on a date with Williams, she said. But on the second date – last Monday – she said she had a drink and the next thing she knew, she woke up in a car on the highway and saw a sign reading, “Welcome to New York,” police said.
But she didn’t run. Instead, she stayed with Williams who wined and dined her, but eventually took her to a Chelsea hotel and asked her point-blank, “Do you know what a pimp is?” reports said. “You are going to be my best girlfriend,” he added, reports said.
Williams told the woman to charge johns between $500 and $1,000 for sex, police said. But instead of complying, she hid for two nights at the Chelsea hotel and made no money, reports said.
Finally on Saturday, she told Williams she wasn’t interested in working for him, and he responded, “You ain’t going nowhere” and kept her in the apartment, reports said. She called her family and then police. In a secret compartment in Williams’ car, police found a .45-caliber Intratec handgun, with a clip loaded with six bullets, which was reported stolen in Georgia, officials said.
Out on parole, Williams has convictions in Florida, Virginia, Baltimore, and Hempstead, N.Y., for crimes ranging from obstructing police function, traffic violations, larceny, forgery, assaults and weapons charges, said Jersey City police spokesman Stan H. Eason.
Officials said they are now working with the FBI on what appears to be a larger network.
After giving a statement to police on Saturday, the woman was taken to the Journal Square PATH station where she said she would take public transportation back to Ohio, officials said.
“We are fortunate that this case did not turn out worse for this young lady,” Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey said.
Not to excuse any accountabilty to the female in this story, let this serve as a call to arms to all us men who choose to be protectors instead of predators. We can no longer stand by and do nothing when it comes to the general safety and welfare of our children…especially our daughters. Due to our stagnant behavior, these type of scenarios will only continue to thrive. So starting right now, let our voices only be drowned out by our full throttled actions of instilling preventive measures against the predators of the world!!!
Entry Filed under: Think About It!
2 Comments
Add your own1. leandra | February 23rd, 2009 at 11:20 PM
I completely agree that men shouldn’t stand by idly as though this is a woman’s only issue. One part of the reason women get exploited is because men exploit them.
Another reason they get exploited is because they allow themselves to be. I’m happy that this girl was able to play her cards in such a way that she could leave unharmed. I’m happy that this man didn’t get the opportunity to show her an even darker side to his personality.
But WHY did she leave with him? WHY did her friends cosign that decision? If they said nothing, they cosigned. Inaction is an action.
So many young (and not so young) women are so caught up in this Hollywood fairytale that they can’t call a spade a spade. At 20, she’s young and that clouds her decision-making, but that was stupid. I’m not saying that from a place of judgment because I’ve made stupid decisions like that too; only I ended up at my destination safely.
Women and men need to teach their daughters, sisters, female cousins and friends to stop going after men with money just because they have money. That allure, I think, is what ends up being harmful for so many more people than just the individual holding that ideology. Men who don’t drive sports cars or have wealth to flaunt have an enormous challenge in finding partners not because they’re not good men or because they can’t play the role as providers, but because they can’t play it as well as women like to think rich men can.
It’s interesting that with all the opportunities that are available to women, at the end of the day, they tend to want that 1950s housewife role. “You make the money and take care of me.” Women can have their own now, but they either don’t want to work for it, or they mostly want to make that money solely based off their bodies…and then complain about exploitation and objectification.
The ideological shift away from this can’t only come from the work and transformation of women; it has to be holistic and inclusive to men. When you seek to empower women by only building the esteem of women and educating them, there becomes an inevitable battle between men and women. So much of so-called “female empowerment” has been based around providing economic opportunity that is or is almost equal. All this has done is reinforce that a person’s value is rooted in finances, which is a huge mistake. The role of a housewife was never quantified. There was certainly a value, but it was more qualitative than quantitative. All that was known was that she didn’t have an income.
It seems kind of off-topic to talk about housewives and pimping in the same conversation, but I say all that to highlight the fact that what we value in life doesn’t always have a price tag. In fact, much of what we value in life cannot be bought. Still, young women are constantly allured by fantasies of Prince Charming wifing them up and ridding them of any possible financial concern.
It’s a hoax, especially when those young women don’t have any qualitative value to quantify in the first place.
2. moe | February 25th, 2009 at 3:29 PM
I’ve been trying to tell the ladies that for years, man. But logically, it’s difficult to actually expect someone to cash out their beliefs that easily. I mean, we’re talking about MILLENIA of social standards. Men are taught to be protectors and defenders, while women are the prize. Women are caretakers of the household who’s prize is security. To get a woman you usually have to demonstrate financial, physical, and mental security (not so much mental which is F*CKED up. See: Divorce rate). So if homeboy rolls up in a Maserati, its like:
“Well damn! I heard [insert famous rapper] talking about a Maserati! You’re telling me I have a chance to get in one?”
Done deal.
And the worst part of all this, is that this paradigm is not even being left alone to live or die on its own. It’s being ADVERTISED on a daily, hourly, (minutely?) basis, reminding us CONSTANTLY what we’re supposed to think, want, be.
Basically I think the world we live in is changing from the barbaric way it used to be. We are much more intelligent and we can use our brains for far greater things. With that change should come a change in what we search for in a mate. This is a social norm that’s got some serious catching up to do.
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