Compton CA, ahh yes.
Not too many nights recently (about 3 years) but the days over nearly 40 years of administrative law enforcement work are too many to specifically remember, and I grew up in Comption's next door city to the north. I have been in Richmond too in recent years and drive with both car doors locked, and few if any second thoughts about running red lights (with only minimal concern for crosswalk contents) if I feel threatened.
I can grudgingly see the money issue of power in the drugs, since I have interviewed a great many people in the drug business over the years. (My interest in the interviews is not academic, just a monthly paycheck which the governor is reducing by 10% in February.) A high level drug trafficker will not however, find his power in rape. He's addicted to the power and almost never uses his junk. Rape is an addiction to a different type of power, but it is likely to be committed by one of the drug executive's ultimate customers either under the influence of the drugs, or out of desperation for a fix.
I unfortunately, for the same paycheck, have had to interview rapists, child molesters, and people who have violently abused other family members. I don't interview them about their business as a rapist, molester or abuser, since those are not businesses. My interest in them is to find out when, if ever they will pay certain debts to the State of CA. Drug and alcohol addicts in this group are common. Non-addicts with other social issues of powerlessness are there too. I have had threats from this group, but rarely from the high level drug executives.
(Drug and power addiction folks have been less than 20% of the people I have worked with over the years, so you can see that I have been VERY busy getting to know people during my working life.)
Grover's Corner's NH, is a fictional, idyllic town that was created by the playwrite Thornton Wilder, as the site of his play
Our Town which is one of my favorite theater "fixes". Could a rape occur there? No, because Wilder did not have one happen in his play. Was there an alcohol related problem there? Yes, because one of the characters in it was found dead from freezing to death while intoxicated. Could someone write a play with a place like Grover's Corner's as the site for a rape? I can't think of the title of it, but one has been written or will be shortly!!!
This post is not to defend the reputation of Richmond, but just to note a sad fact that whether we are gay, lesbian, trans, or straight, we can all be victims of someone who feels worse about themselves that we do. I don't understand that any more than I really understand my own transgender feelings, I know it happens.
That's all.
