No Sympathy for Becky

No Sympathy for Becky

By Kevin Palmer

Because of what happened to 14-year- old Emmett Till, to the innocent victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, to the innocent Black males who were lynched, and to the innocent Black males who were unjustly imprisoned, many cannot sympathize with the sobbing white woman who alleges sexual assault.

The Emmett Till story was featured in a January 27, 2017 New York Times article, Emmett Till’s Murder: What Really Happened That Day in the Store? According to the article, “On a Wednesday evening in August 1955, Till allegedly flirted with and grabbed the hand of Carolyn Bryant, a white woman who worked as the cashier at a local market.” Naturally, she accused Till of sexual assault. Then, later in court, she testified, “He let out a “wolf whistle” as she exited the store.” Next, Bryant’s husband and brother upheld American white supremacy tradition; “Till was abducted, beaten, shot in the head, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River. A 74-pound gin fan was tied to his neck with barbed wire; with the hope he would never be found.”  As stated by writer Jason Parham, “Affronted white supremacy drove every blow.” Later in 2008, lying “Becky” admitted Till never “grabbed her around the waist and uttered obscenities”, as she avowed on the witness stand.

In similar fashion, lying “Becky” caused the 1921Tulsa Race Riot. On May 30, 1921, a white female elevator operator accused a Black male shoe shiner of sexual assault. Afterwards, all hell broke loose when racist white rubes, led by the Ku Klux Klan, go crazy and mercilessly kill Black men, women, and children. Then, they systematically bombed, burned, and destroyed Black owned businesses and homes. According to the San Francisco Bay View newspaper, “when the smoke cleared, more than 1,400 homes and businesses in Tulsa’s Greenwood District, a prosperous area known as the “Black Wall Street”, lay in ruins. Experts now estimate at least 3,000 died.”

Hence, many cannot sympathize with a white woman claiming sexual assault. Too many Black lives have been destroyed because white supremacy has allowed others to suffer for Becky’s self-serving lies.