5. The Infamous Twawna Brawley
Undeniably, this was one of the worst race hoaxes ever committed. A 15-year-old girl faked her own kidnapping and gang rape by “white men” in order to escape punishment from her parents for being somewhere she ought not have been. When Al Sharpton got a hold of her, she became the rallying cry for racial justice in America. Sharpton pulled out all the stops and accused a District Attorney and police officers of being the rapists. One of the officers accused, Harry Crist Jr., had committed suicide before he was named in the attack and his memory was dragged through the mud causing untold pain and humiliation to his family. Eventually the truth came out and Sharpton had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in damages. Somehow, he still is allowed to be a leader in the black community.
The media was, as usual, very helpful in outing their bias against truth.
Some opinions remained fixed. Patricia Williams wrote in 1991 that the teenager “has been the victim of some unspeakable crime. No matter how she got there. No matter who did it to her and even if she did it to herself.
So, even if she kidnapped herself, smeared herself with feces and then accused a district attorney and other prominent white men as monsters nearly starting a race war, it’s okay because she was a victim of “unspeakable crimes.” Williams was unable to detail these alleged crimes because they never happened. The only crime in this story is that our media and media whores like Al Sharpton are able to guide the dialogue in this country so totally without regard for the truth.
