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If we didn't have a vulgarity policy here at the Daily News, this entire column would be 1,000 cuss words with the name Brock Turner in the middle. If you haven't heard, he's the human piece of sh-t swimmer from Stanford University who took an incapacitated, intoxicated, fully unconscious woman behind a dumpster and raped her after midnight on January 18, 2015. That's not speculation. Two men caught him in the act, chased him down, called the police, and kept him there until the authorities showed up. He should be in prison for the maximum possible time for such crimes — at least a decade, but a combination of wealth, position, and good old white skin privilege basically got this man off of serving genuine hard time. Brock Turner was charged with five different felonies — one count of raping an unconscious person, one count of raping an intoxicated person, two counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object, and one count of assault while attempting to commit rape. He was eventually convicted of three sexual assault charges. Turner could've received a maximum sentence of fourteen years, but prosecutors recommended that he receive a six-year prison sentence, which is far too little for what he did, but Judge Aaron Persky, who stated, "A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him" and that "I think he will not be a danger to others" gave this man 6 months. He is only expected to serve three. He will literally be home in time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Do you know how many young black boys and girls, sometimes as young as 13 and 14 years old, are tried as adults in court rooms all across America and given mandatory minimums of 10 years and 20 years and even life in prison? Thousands. Tens of thousands. When I was sophomore at Morehouse College in 1999, one of my friends from childhood from Kentucky sexually assaulted a woman much like this. It's reprehensible. He deserved to have the book thrown at him. Being black and poor all but guaranteed such a thing would happen. He was 19 at the time, addicted to drugs, and had become a violent, ugly mess of a man. His father was never around and his mother died of cancer when we were in second grade together. My mother and I loved him dearly as a child. By the time I graduated high school, I hardly knew him, but was devastated by what he did, what it cost his victim, and what it would ultimately cost him. He was just released this year, 17 years later. While he was in prison, his beloved grandmother passed away and his only brother died of a sudden illness. I would often look at his photos online to see if he looked the way I remembered him. Sometimes, in his photos, it was clear that he had been assaulted. An eye would be swollen shut, cuts would be on his face. He served hard time. You'll never hear me say he didn't deserve it. Somehow, though, the judge looked at Brock Turner, knowing full well what he did to his victim, and determined that he was too young to serve hard time. He was too good of a kid to be thrown in to prison. He was too nice to have to truly pay the price for his crimes. After all, he was white and likes to swim — so surely, in the words of Persky, "he will not be a danger to others." I just had to scream into a damn pillow. Of course the man is a danger to others — he took an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and brutally raped her. He is the exact type of man who is dangerous to others. My good friend Brandon Garner was given 10 years in prison for selling marijuana. Ten years. He's not scheduled to be released until 2023. Brandon was a brilliant full-time barber, a father, and a beloved friend to hundreds. I've known him since I was 5 years old. He's a good guy who got caught up doing the wrong thing to make money. He's black, though, so no judge in America was going to look at him and think sweet nothings like Judge Aaron Persky did to Brock Turner. Meanwhile, Brock's father was found saying that his son shouldn't have to serve hard time for "twenty minutes of action." I just screamed into a pillow again. Then I punched it. I like to say it like this — our criminal justice system isn't broken. Nah. It's functioning just that way it was designed to work — on the backs of people of color and poor folk all over this country. Brock Turner's not even going to a real prison. He's going to serve time in the local jail for a few months. Hell, it'll still be summer when he gets out — he might be able start back at school somewhere in the fall. This isn't right — not even a little bit. This judge, this so-called justice system, and this rapist Brock Turner embody the worst of America. I've attached the statement from the victim of this case below and hope you'll read it and understand the depth of injustice that has happened here. I won't quote her. Her words are best read in their entirety. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-rapist-brock-turner-judge-embody-worst-america-article-1.2662841 Read Stanford Rape Victim's Statement to Brock TurnerComments are closed.
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