Defending The Turf

April 20, 2006

A strange thing happened to me while I was on my way to the copier the

other day. One of the instructors (who are really correctional officers)

in the Education Department, blurted out a statement in order to bait me into

the conversation that he was having with one of his co—workers. “You know

how those black girls are, always settin’ up the white guy”. tie knew me well

enough to know that I would play his little game of “Whaddaya think?”

“You know that white guys never rape anyone.. .especially black girls”,

I retorted. So we ensued a debate over the guilt or innocence of the Duke

University lacrosse team players that stand accused of raping a young womatt

who showed up on invitation to serve as a stripper at a party they were having.

The conversation went into how the press is making it worse than it really

is——the view of the two officers I was talking to. I had to point out to them, that without the pre~is, we’d have never known that this incident occurred.

Then, the officer said to me, “If it really happened.” I couldn’t for the

life of me keep from wondering why that is even a question.

All they could see was that these promising young men’s life were possibly going to be destroyed by the accusation of rape. I had to ask, “Are their lives the only ones that

would be destroyed?”

For years, this country has been paying particular attention to the plight

of women who have been faceless victims of the lusts and fetishes of men.

Men who believe that it is their right and place to vinlate the space and

rights of women. Now, that it’s a black woman who stands assaulted, the concept op “victimization” has no place? God forbid! How can members of this society

even go back to the “way things used to be”?

I even heard friends of the accused in audio soundbites make statements

like, “I know him and he’d never do a thing like that...” and “He’s a great

student, so [an act like] that is out of the question.” I find those kind

of statements ludicrous and insulting. Every offender was at one time a “first—time offender”. And tell me, what does being a good student have to do with

overpowering and violating another human being? What does it have to do with sexual acts, noless? This is more than political jargon——the social implications

lies beneath the surface. The issue is subtly being diverted. Don’t let

it. The issue is rape. Period. No matter who commits the offence, it’s still

rape. I had to ask them, if your daughter came to you and said, “Daddy, this

man raped me,” I ask what excuse would you make for the rapist?

Then, on top of all of that, the officer asked me, “. . .and what the hell

does Jesse Jackson got to do with this?” My response? “Just like in any tragic

circumstance that calls for resolution, the issue needs not to be swept under

the rug. When there was injustice in my community, certain residents felt

that I could bring their cause to the public’s attention and thus, move those

in authority to act responsibly toward resolve. In this case, Jesse Jackson

was that person. He’s always advocated for the disadvantaged and exploited——

even if using the media was the vehicle in which to do it.. .heck, without

him, you wouldn’t have even known about it.”

When I was finished with them, the “blame the victim~~ argument was in

doubt. Thinking about the lovely creatures of the feminine persuasion, brought them to a more thoughtful position. We ended the conversation with his question: “Do you think they’ll get the guys?” I replied after ~ noticable pause, “They’re white enough to get away with it as long as they’ve got guys like you to defend their turf.”