234 Girls

[FourScore]

234 Girls
Ages 16-18 years old.

234 Girls
Being educated.

234 Girls
Willing to go to school despite the enormous risk.

234 Girls
Preparing for their exams.

234 Girls
Kidnapped by thugs posing as guards to protect them.

234 Girls
Torn from their families.

234 Girls
Missing for 16 days.

234 Girls
Being raped and abused.

234 Girls
Being sold into slavery or marriages for $12.00 each.

234 Girls
Being ignored by their their own leader.

234 Girls
Being ignored by the world leaders.

234 Girls
Not on a missing plane so not worthy of non-stop CNN coverage.

234 Girls'
Families desperate for their return.

234 Girls.

[FourScore]

1. So sad that even this post is ignored.

I am so scared for those young girls. My heart just breaks for their families.

[seveneyes]

2. Yes, it is sad

All the focus on Ukraine and support for sending troops and equipment. If we could just focus a little bit of effort on eliminating the scourge of Boko Haram and other "religious" groups that terrorize innocents, we could save many thousands.

[tritsofme]

10. Probably because your OP has no context or links

It sounds horrible, but I still have no idea what the thread is about.

[riderinthestorm]

11. The OP contains all of the story except the location- Nigeria

Here's a link to the most recent events

http://time.com/83819/nigeria-schoolgirls-kidnapped-ransom-release/

My post #6 has other links as well.

[FourScore]

14. Thanks riderinthestorm!

[FourScore]

13. And that's my point.

This story is not getting enough press. But I think most people on DU know about this by now.

Here's another link:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/30/1295906/-Horrifying-update-from-Nigeria

[Tree-Hugger]

3. K&R nt

[Borchkins]

5. k & R so sad

[riderinthestorm]

6. Yup, this thread in LBN sank like a stone

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014791738

But not before the OP got called an "Islamophobe" for asking some of your same questions....



The lack of response is heartbreaking. Its a culture of misogyny that really does not value girls or women. Paired with these girls' educational aspirations and the silence from so many quarters about their fate is pretty deafening.

The US and the UK are finally starting to get involved but they are many days late. Where are the other nations' help?

http://www.punchng.com/news/uk-us-join-search-for-abducted-schoolgirls/

[The Straight Story]

8. Posted some threads on it myself

And just like the Yemen threads one would think generate some interest pretty much nothing (one would think yemen covering for US drone strikes when they kill civilians would be front page news as would this story).

But it is not just DU. I posted three stories about this on reddit as well. One got some responses which generally were asking the same thing 'why isn't this bigger news'?

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. To be clear: it was the 1st responder, not the OP, who was called an Islamophobe

and that's not so surprising: that poster has a history of hatred of Islam (just search with their name and "Islam" or "Muslim&quot , and their reply was just about blaming Muslims outside Nigeria. The thread starter did reply, pointing out Muslims denouncing Boko Haram: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014791738#post17

[hamsterjill]

7. I only learned of this yesterday.

It is horrid.

[The Straight Story]

9. Reports: Abducted girls married to Nigerian rebels

Reports: Abducted girls married to Nigerian rebels

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Scores of girls and young women kidnapped from a school in Nigeria are being forced to marry their Islamic extremist abductors, a civic organization reported Wednesday.

At the same time, the Boko Haram terrorist network is negotiating over the students' fate and is demanding an unspecified ransom for their release, a Borno state community leader told The Associated Press.

He said the Wednesday night message from the abductors also claimed that two of the girls have died from snake bites.

The message was sent to a member of a presidential committee mandated last year to mediate a ceasefire with the Islamic extremists, said the civic leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak about the talks.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/reports-abducted-girls-forced-marry-extremists

[LittleBlue]

12. All I see are tumbleweeds in these threads. K&R!

White House petition:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/work-un-and-nigerian-government-bring-home-girls-kidnapped-boko-haram/fFcLj7s2

[angel823]

15. signed

Kicking for more visibility.

Angel in Texas

[FourScore]

16. signed! 95,000+ have signed. n/t

[LittleBlue]

19. Those are the number still needed

That page is really set up illogically with the remaining sigs needed on the left. Should be the other way around, it's misleading.

[FourScore]

22. LOL You're very kind, you know that?

And it makes sense what you are saying. Still, that's what I get for scanning.

[Starry Messenger]

20. I signed, but I wish WHG would streamline their sign-in.

Plus I had to change my password because of heartbleed's hack, so it might take people awhile to sit down and sign in and sign the petition.

[kelliekat44]

17. The response says a lot about who we really are. Mention Michael Vic and +1000

posts appear. And the empathy for the dogs is far greater than that for 234 kidnapped girls.

[Blue_Tires]

18. If it's true that the girls have been taken to Chad and Cameroon

What do those respective governments have to say about it?

FWIW, CNN is shit, but they have been putting in some decent coverage on their site:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/01/world/africa/nigeria-abducted-girls/index.html

[Quantess]

23. Terrible.

K & R

[Tanuki]

24. This is heartbreaking. The press is more concerned with staking out V.Stiviano's condo

than reporting this.

[cyberswede]

25. This is awful.

As for responses to the thread, I think many people are simply at a loss for words.