"Our Guys" - A Disturbing Look at Suburbia

I am a huge fan of the Law & Order franchise, particularly the original series. Their "ripped from the headlines" stories often got me to research the inspiration for the episodes. Recently, I re-watched one very disturbing episode from Season 8 (1998), "Damaged", which deals with the three high school athletes who sexual assault a mentally challenged 17-year old girl. I vaguely recalled hearing something about this case back in the late 80s/early 90s when I was living in New Jersey. Lo and behold, after a little research, I found the "Glen Ridge rape" case. I also discovered that Bernard Lefkowitz, an Edgar Award-winning author, wrote a very detailed, meticulously investigated book on this case.  Our Guys (1997) not only discusses the case and the parties involved, but the society that the athletes were brought up in and how the affluent town of Glen Ridge created an atmosphere of acceptance of this type of behavior.  After all, "boys will be boys."

On a blustery afternoon in March 1989, a group of teenage athletes lured a 17-year old mentally retarded girl to a basement in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and gang-raped her. An horrific act in and of itself, but the fact that these boys had a history of behavioral problems and had created a pack mentality, which led to their belief in their own superiority over everyone else, makes this reprehensible act even worse. Add to that, the parents, teachers and other authority figures, who turned a blind eye to repeated acts of vandalism, sexual misconduct and other forms of antisocial behavior by this group and writing these acts off as the boys being "high spirited," makes this a societal issue and not an isolated case of a group of teenagers behaving badly. In the town of Glen Ridge, from the time these children are 5 years of age, they are taught that athletes are the best and the brightest (regardless of the reality), are held in the highest regard and are an example for all others to aspire to be. If you're not an athlete, then you're not important.

The frightening thing about this situation is that this type of behavior could happen anywhere. When certain groups are given carte blanche to behave any way they please, then they develop a sense of entitlement. Athletes have always been given preferential treatment, whether professional, college, high school or youth, and it's time we stop treating athletes as something special. I'm not saying there isn't a place for sports, but the fact that it takes higher precedence over academic, artistic or intellectual pursuits is fundamental wrong. Our Guys is a frighteningly real tale of a morally bankrupt society in a place where one wouldn't expect such events to occur. I would hate to call it an "enjoyable" read, but it is a book well worth the time and effort to read if for no other reason than to be aware of the societal implications of the case. If this book doesn't anger you, then you need to look inside yourself and ask "Why doesn't it?"