Worthy, ESPN's Hill Use UM-Michigan State Game to Raise Rape Kit Testing Funds

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Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy and ESPN commentator Jemele Hill have a wager of sorts during Saturday’s big Michigan-Michigan State football game that has nothing to do with the outcome of the big intrastate rivalry.

Worthy, a University of Michigan grad, and Hill, a Michigan State University alum, are leading teams of former alumni from both schools to see who can raise the most money to clear the last of 11,341 forgotten rape kits found in a Detroit police storage locker in 2009. About 1,340 sexual assault kits are yet to be tested.

Earlier Reports

• Kym Worthy: Untested Rape Kits Illustrate Funding Crisis
• Detroit Discovers at Least 100 Serial Rapists After It Finally Gets Around to Processing Thousands of Rape Kits
• Company Gives $100K to Help Wayne County Clear Backlog of Rape Cases
• Michigan Gets $7.5M Grant to Test Rape Kits, Go After Serial Rapists

“For far too long, sexual assault victims have been vilified, marginalized, and ignored on college campuses,” Worthy told The Detroit News. “We are turning this on its head. Two rival universities are uniting behind sexual assault victims (and) raising money to bring justice to them. There are no losers here. But there will be a loser at the end of the game in the Big House. Hail to the Victors! Go Blue!”

About the Game

• Michigan vs. Michigan State Football: Complete Guide To This Year’s Massive Rivalry Game

DNA collected from about 10,000 rape kits tested so far has been matched to violent crime in 38 states. Some 549 suspected serial rapists had been identified by the end of August. Some of the kits dated back 30 years.

Worthy and a coalition of local organizations representing African-American women launched the Enough SAID (Enough Sexual Assault in Detroit) campaign earlier this year to raise $657,090 over the next 18 months to clear the backlog. Some 81 percent of the rape victims whose sexual assault kits languished in the police storage locker are African-American.

“We are black women who stand ready to make sure this never happens again, and that the women it happened to get justice,” Kim Trent, one of the organizers of the Enough SAID effort, told The Detroit News.

It costs about $490 to test each sexual assault kit, and to date, $14.5 million has been raised through various efforts. Another $14 million is needed.

How to Give

Go to www.crowdrise.com and search for “buy a rape kit.” Be sure to say in comments which team you are supporting.