In New York in November 1987, a girl was found in a trash bag with racial slurs and faeces all over her body. She claimed to have been raped by 4 white men. She was only 15 and her name was Tawana Brawley./1

Her case caused a national outrage. Bill Cosby & Don King donated to the cause. Louis Farrakhan led a march for her. Al Sharpton led a media campaign against the law enforcement of the state, calling them racist. /2

In October 1988, a grand jury concluded that her case was essentially made up. It was suggested that she ran away from home and made up the story to avoid punishment from her stepfather who had a history of violence against her. /3

Al Sharpton was disgraced and then sued. It was the biggest gift ever for conservative media. They had found evidence for what they believed – that racism was over and allegations of racism were simply staged by “race hustlers” to make money. /4

Two decades later, a black man named Barack Obama was running for president when some controversial statements made by his pastor Rev Jeremiah Wright surfaced. /5

In response to the controversy, Barack gave his best speech of the campaign titled “A more perfect union”. It included the following quote… /6

“Talk show hosts and conservative commentators built entire careers unmasking bogus claims of racism while dismissing legitimate discussions of racial injustice and inequality as mere political correctness or reverse racism.” /7

In 2019, Trump and his supporters responded to criticism from Al Sharpton by once again pointing to the Tamara case from over 30 years ago. To them, he was nothing but a man who made a career inventing racism where there was none. /8

And here I offer my thoughts: activism is a difficult thing. Fighting systemic injustice is draining and one should feel privileged not to have to do it. To support those who do, the least we can do is understand that mistakes will be made. /9

Ta-Nehisi Coates once wrote “Racism is not merely a simplistic hatred. It is, more often, broad sympathy toward some and broader skepticism toward others.” /10

While we mourn a young man’s death, we should not give space to those who have nothing but broad skepticism towards rape culture. Those who will turn this tragedy into an opportunity to attack the campaign. /11

Do not let those people hijack the conversation. /12

There are conversations to be had about methods and ethics. For those committed to ending rape culture, let’s have that conversation. /13

But do not be drawn into the false equivalence – that you must join them to ridicule every single allegation in order to show that you care about fairness or justice. Or that your commitment to believing victims is as bad as rape culture itself. /14

It’s a strategy as old as oppression itself. /End