Posted by McKenzie Marshall
Let’s talk about #WhitePrivilege. Former All-American swimmer at Stanford University, Brock Turner, was accused and proven guilty of sexual assault by the juror. However, the Judge decided to lighten his sentence.
Brock Turner was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in an alley. 12 jurors found Turner guilty and sentenced him to a six years in prison, however, Judge Aaron Persky thought that sentence was too harsh.
The victim of the assault directly confronted Turner in the courtroom with her statement which was released yesterday. After receiving a rape kit at the hospital and filling out forms that stated she had no clue of what really happened that night. She said she was reading the newspaper when she found out the details of what happened to her, the same time the entire world did.
Judge Persky altered Turner’s sentence from six years to six months, and with good behavior Turner can be out in three. What does this say about our system of justice, or the lack there of?
Brian Banks, a former football star spent five years in prison for a rape he did not commit. Banks was only 16-years-old when he was accused of rape, and 10 years later, his accuser admitted that the assault did not happen. Unfortunately, Banks had already served a five years of his six year sentence.
In an interview, Judge Persky talked about how Turner would not survive in prison. “A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him,” Persky said.
Banks also had a bright future, he was scouted by major colleges for football, but in his case, none of that mattered. The judge did not consider that his family had nothing, that his football career could create a better life for him and his family, or that football was his only chance at a fair education. None of that matters in the court of law for the Black man.
Innocent until proven guilty applies to only one group of people #WhitePrivilege; while us mocha and chocolate people fight to prove ourselves innocent when we are guilty based on our skin color.
“You know a man is guilty, so why aren’t we unleashing half of the punishment that was unleashed on me when I was innocent and there was no evidence?” Banks told the New York Post. “They gave me six years. They gave him six months,” Banks said.
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