Why did it take so long to believe Cosby’s victims?
By: Ishmael Johnson, wRiter
But, we should’ve been done with this a long time ago.
Monday afternoon, the Associated Press dug up court documents from 2005 that detail, under oath, comedian Bill Cosby admitted to giving prescription Quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with rape. The documents stemmed from a lawsuit by Andrea Constand who later settled with Cosby out of court.
“When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?” asked attorney Dolores Troiani in the deposition.
For those who don’t know, Quaaludes are central nervous system depressant or a sedative. In other words, it’s a type of tranquilizer.
I’ve seen some people try and clear Cosby’s actions by saying it’s no different than a guy buying a girl a drink during a night on the town to make her be more social with him throughout the night in hopes of getting with her at the end.
Two things in response to that:
First, the drinking thing. That’s a sad outcome of the normalization of rape culture that’s currently embedded in our nightlife culture and should actually be seen as deplorable not the brighter side of a comparison. Second, no.
Of course in the wake of countless women coming forward accusing Cosby of assault, this is the ultimate vindication for them. But that’s the issue, why?
Why is the victim’s only form of justice literally from the horse’s mouth?
Not one, not two, not 10, not even 20, but nearly 30 to 40 women have come forth with accusations and none of them were believed by a large and frighteningly dedicated group of people.
Hell, there are still people who believe Cosby is innocent even after this news.
Whoopi Goldberg and Raven Symone for example. Both said Tuesday morning on The View, they’re still in Cosby’s corner.
“Save your texts, save your nasty comments, I don’t care, “Goldberg said. I say this because this is my opinion, and in America still, I know it’s a shock, but you actually were innocent until proven guilty. He has not been proven a rapist.”
The phrase, “proven a rapist” is scary to me.
It’s that phrase that’s the primary reason 68 percent of assault incidents are not reported to the police, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.
Not only does Goldberg not give credibility to any of the women who came forward, she doesn’t even take Cosby’s own sworn word. In her eyes, the victims literally can’t win at least until there is an uncovered Polaroid from 20 years ago.
Now, I can understand the complications for Symone. Cosby gave Symone her first acting gig on The Cosby Show. There are more things for her to process than most, but she held the same sentiments as Goldberg about the lack of “proof” and it’s still troubling.
By the way, props to Jill Scott, for admitting she was wrong in her defense of Cosby. She at least did it.
Also, we still have this repulsive thing called “statute of limitations” on cases like rape and sexual assault, so Cosby likely won’t see any convictions. He’ll just continue to pay them off like he did in the past to maintain his squeaky clean image.
Wait, squeaky clean image? Let’s actually look into that.
A lot of America seems to think Bill Cosby is Dr. Cliff Huxtable. They love to think he’s just dancing in his sweaters and making googly eyes at puddin’ pops on the daily, when in fact he’s kind of nothing like that.
Admittedly, I didn’t even know what he was like until I checked it out for myself because he was always portrayed as “America’s dad.”
Whether it’s the dreaded “pound cake speech” or another one of his countless, holier than thou remarks about poor black communities, Cosby has been—to put it blatantly— a finger-wagging curmudgeon.
“Pull up ya pants, black people and racism will go away” is a good summary of most of his views on poor black communities. Sprinkle in some stuff about hippity-hop music being the devil and rotten kids standing on his lawn and you have his self-profound philosophy in a nutshell.
Sorry to be contrarian, but I doubt a clothing style and a music genre have anything to do with why certain school districts across this country can’t afford proper books and facilities and thus, why countless black teenagers can’t learn to read or write. You can blame Jay-Z, I’ll blame institutional barriers.
He’s the type of person who blames things like racism on everybody, but the actual racists.
Then, when someone does make it out of a tough environment, he has the gall to say they’re not good enough.
Like in 1989 when he told Notre Dame All-American football player, Dean Brown he wasn’t good enough because he had a 2.5 GPA and reduced the player to tears because Cosby told him “2.5 is OK if you have a mental disorder”.
Never mind that Brown came from a single-parent household and was raised by a mother who couldn’t work because of a stroke he witnessed her having at age 4. Then, Brown was forced to hustle food stamps at age 10 to buy candy which he would then sell at school at marked up prices to have money.
Even more tragic, what was apparently Brown’s favorite show growing up? Fat Albert.
That brings us back around, why were people so quick to defend Cosby after numerous allegations?
His under oath admittance is the exoneration the victims needed, but I ask again, why? Is that the only way people will believe victims of sexual assault?
Plain and simple, where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. Unless it’s a cloud of smoke, then it’s a forest fire.
Lastly, word up to Hannibal Burress for originally bringing this back into the light.
Follow Ishmael Johnson on Twitter: @Ish_46
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