Race, rape and the American media
Mark Holmberg:
Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts suggested the Duke case would've blown up even worse if the racial tables were turned.
"Imagine if the woman were white and reported being raped by three black members of the basketball team. You'd have to call out the National Guard."
Really?
"That hyperbole isn't born out by the facts," said Richmond-area attorney Jeff Everhart.
He's representing one of the four Virginia Union University students indicted last week for allegedly raping a University of Richmond coed on Jan. 21.
All four of the accused are black, two who had ties to the football team. One was a star quarterback as a freshman. All four were considered good kids, attending a historic black university.
The victim is white, an out-of-state student attending the posh University of Richmond, which has Duke-size tuition.
She reportedly left a party at a UR campus apartment with the four. Police say she was assaulted in some woods in western Henrico. Police found her and two of the suspects after neighbors heard a woman's screams.
Alcohol is a factor, as it is in the Duke case. Similarly, DNA tests will play a starring role.
But not a peep about the VUU case in the national media. The indictments played on Page B3 of this paper, while the Duke case started in our Sports pages and eventually made our front page.
We never reported the race of the UR coed because there's no indication race played any role in the alleged attack.
"Race is not a consideration in the case," noted attorney Everhart.
He, too, has noticed the glaring disparity in the news coverage.
So has William Viverette, who is representing another one of the VUU students.
"The two cases are being treated differently, that's for sure," Viverette said. But he's grateful the case, and his client, hasn't been dragged through the national media.
Also pleased is Henrico County's top prosecutor, Wade Kizer.
"When the media takes over a case, it takes on a completely different life," Kizer said. "The best thing for all parties is when that doesn't happen."
Great White Defendants Galore!
posted by Adam Lawson @ 12:34 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Perhaps there is also a wholly unmentionable backdrop assumption that white women want to have sex with black men (e.g. because they are supposed to have big dicks), so if it happens, even in shady circumstances, it isn't or is unlikely to be rape. Whereas no black woman would want to have sex with a white man, so if that happens it must be or likely is rape.
Perhaps there is also a wholly unmentionable backdrop assumption...
Please tell me that you are being sarcastic in this comment?
i think that the vuu rape case does need the media to get involved, simply because you're dealing with four african american males and one female caucasian. That is a bad combination i think that NAACP should get involved and who so ever, of corse there isn't going to be a fair trial but what girl who has class leaves a party with four other dudes that she has never met before? I mean let's be real regardless of what color you are. So therefor there will not be a fair trial for the simple fact that she's white and the four dudes are black. Besides richmond is a prejudice city, had it been black on black or vice versa white on white then this whole case would have been different!
Post a Comment
<< Home