So Monday I pointed out the hypocrisy of Ebony magazine and their commentator Zerlina Maxwell. Both Ebony and Ms. Maxwell have been tweeting heavily and other things related to the Steubenville rape trial. Ms. Maxwell has been very vocal about "consent" and the need to focus on victims. That would be a great thing if Ms. Maxwell was not also a public supporter of rapist Genarlow Wilson.
Since, Monday's post, Ms. Maxwell has done everything BUT clarify how she can be both a supporter of rapist Genarlow Wilson and the victim in the Steubenville trial. She continues to be silent on how she can say that unconscious victims cannot consent in one case, while apparently deciding that they can in another. . You can read Monday's post, it has a detailed account of Ms. Maxwell's public statements.
Zerlina has had more than enough time to clarify matters, she's also had time to dispatch her relatives on Facebook for some Facebook thuggin'. Well this is a new tactic... the family facebook assault.
To Yvette Williams Maxwell ( Zerlina's Mom) and Rebekah V. Maxwell (Zerlina's sister) and any other stray Maxwells that want to engage in Facebook thuggery, this all isn't really about Zerlina. It's about a girl the courts refer to as L.M.
Most people who think they are familiar with the Genarlow Wilson mythology have never heard of L.M. and there is a reason for that - members of the press and Black punditocracy erased her. Wiped her out. Because to acknowledge that she existed was to concede that Genarlow Wilson was no tragic figure, but a predator and a creep.
Genarlow Wilson, the man, couldn't stand up to their narrative, so they created Genarlow Wilson, the myth, and removed LM from history as if what Genarlow Wilson and his teammates did to her didn't happen and didn't matter. The press threw her in the trash much like Genarlow Wilson and his teammates threw her on the floor when they got through with her.
LM, went to a party with her fellow athletes and when she fell unconscious, possibly after they drugged her, Genarlow Wilson and his buddies raped her, repeatedly and video taped it. That's not what I say, that's what the Georgia Court of Appeals describes in Wilson vs. State of Georgia.
A group of teenagers rented adjacent rooms at a motel and held a raucous, unsupervised New Year's Eve party. Among the participants were 17-year-old Genarlow Wilson, 17-year-old L.M., and 15-year-old T.C. The next morning, L.M. reported to her mother that she had been raped. Police were notified, and the motel rooms were searched. During the search, a videocamera and videocassette tape were found. The tape showed Wilson having sexual intercourse with an apparently semiconscious L.M. and T.C. performing oral sex on Wilson. Wilson v. State.
But here's the kicker, Genarlow Wilson's defense team tried to use the fact that LM was unconscious to exclude the tape of Mr. Wilson raping her. If she was unconscious, they argued, she could not authenticate the tape. They probably made this argument in an evidentiary hearing outside the hearing of the jury.
Here, L.M. was a witness who appeared at trial and might have provided personal authentication of the videotape by testifying that it accurately portrayed what took place at the time of the occurrence of the events in question.18 She could not, however, provide such testimony because she had lost consciousness as a result of drug and alcohol use. Although L.M. did regain consciousness during some of the events and did recall Wilson attempting to have sexual intercourse with her and trying to force her to give him oral sex, she did not have any independent recollection of the events depicted on the videotape. L.M. was, therefore, an unavailable witness under OCGA § 24-4-48, as she testified “to a lack of memory of the subject matter of the authentication.” 19 Wilson V. State.
Now I can't be the only one that sees parallels in the fact pattern in the case of L.M. and Jane Doe in the Steubenville case. And if you think it looks bad that Zerlina Maxwell can be so vocal about consent in the Jane Doe case while eliminating L.M. from her writing on Genarlow Wilson and publically supporting him on the same Twitter acount she's pledging solidarity with Jane Doe-- it looks bad because it IS bad.
Genarlow Wilson supporters HATE when I mention L.M. because the legal argument has long since been settled, what remained is a moral argument-
- Should the Black community and it's institutions have turned Genarlow Wilson into a folk hero?
- Should they have given him awards?
- Should they have given him a free college education?
- Should they have paid for his publicists (yes he has them- they've whined to me)?
- Should he be rewarded with a book deal?
- Is a man who rapes an unconscious girl worthy of this kind of status in the Black community?
- Should advocates of survivors of rape and sexual assault be cheering Genarlow Wilson on via the same twitter account that they pledge solidarity with Jane Doe in the Steubenville case?
- What kind of message did the Black Elite Establishment send to LM and other girls like her? Do they even care?
The sad truth is that many of you, like Zerlina Maxwell, want to ignore these moral questions because they are inconvenient. And that's your choice, but don't get mad when we point out the moral inconsistency in your position. There is a simple way for Maxwell to correct this situation, but she might be too panicked to actually be a grown woman and do it.
Maxwell needs to step up and admit her misguided deed. Leave Momma and n'em out of it and carry your own water. It does not hurt to say...'I once believed this was okay BUT I have since seen the error of my ideas.' Its just that easy. WAOD Fan Page
The truth... it will set you free. And based on the behavior of your Mother and Sister on Facebook, I'm thinking you feel pretty trapped right about now. So let me help you, your response might start something like this:
Dear L.M.,
I'm sorry....