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A4 - THE PERKINS JOURNAL, Thursday, June 30, 2011
Opinions
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The 1996 movie, "Time to Kill," features an ensemble
cast; Matthew McConaughay, Samuel L. Jackson, Ashley
Judd, Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Kevin Spacy,
and Patrick McGoohan.
In the movie, Jake (McConaughay) follows the wishes
of Carl lee (Samuel L. Jackson) to declare his innocence,
rather than a plea bargain.
In the attorneys' closing arguments, Jake asks the all-
white jury to close their eyes as he describes, in slow and
painful detail, the rape of a 10-year-old girl, mirroring the
story of her rape and death. Then he asks the jury, in his
final comment, "now imagine she's white."
In a dry farm settlement in a northern part of India, 3
girls, ages 5, 13, and 15, prepare themselves for their
sacred wedding vows. The rites would be conducted late
at night because they were secret; marriage under the age
of 18 is illegal in India. The older girls know their future;
the 5-year-old ....
As would be expected, the 5-year-old fell asleep before
the ceremonies began. An uncle lifted her gently from her
cot and carried her in the moonlight toward the Hindu
Priest, the sacred fire, guests and her future 10-year-ols
husband. She would wear a golden turban in the romantic
moonlight ceremony. The young brides shown are lovely
girls with beautiful skin tones. One, 16-year-old Surita,
is pictured riding in a cart to her husbands village, head
back, wailing in protest, an image which will never be
forgotten!
Child marriages span continents, languages, religions,
and castes. In India, girls will usually become attached to
boys 4 or 5 years older. In Afghanistan and other counties
with high early marriage rates, the husbands may be young
men, middle-aged widowers, or abductors who rape first
and then claim their victims to be wives afterward, as is
the practice in some parts of Ethiopia.
Some of these transactions are barely adorned with
additional rationale; a debt is cleared in exchange for an
8-year-old bride to enable a family feud to be resolved by
the delivery of a virginal 12-year-old cousin. This, when it
happens to surface publicly, makes for clear and outrage-
inducing news fodder from great distances.
The 2008 drama of Nujood Ali, the 10-year-old Yemen
girl, who found her way, alone, to an urban Court house
to request a divorce from a man in his 30s, who forced
marriage, generated world headlines. More recently, this
was the subject of a book, translated into 30 languages;
"I am Nujood Age 10 and divorced."
Outsiders impulse toward child bride rescue scenarios
can be overwhelming. Snatch the girl, punch out nearby
adults and run. Just make it stop!
Those who work full time to prevent child marriages and
improve women's lives in societies of rigid tradition are
the first to declare that this endeavor is not simple.
It's difficult to isolate the wrongs perpetrated against
these girls. Their education will be shortened not only by
marriage, but by rural school districts which may offer
a nearby school district that stops at the fifth grade. The
next-step bus ride is to a middle school may have no pri-
vate bathroom for an adolescent to use for her sanitary
needs. And, schooling costs; any practical family must
guard these costs carefully for sons, who have more
measurable worth.
In India, ancient practice requires that most new wives
move in with their husband's families. The Hindu term,
"parayadhan" refers to daughters still living with their
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