Language disclaimer: In this piece I attempt to clarify in
language between opinion and fact only because I believe it is important to be
careful with language and to differentiate what I KNOW and what I BELIEVE. As much as I believe that Bill Cosby has done
something horrible over and over, and as likely as it now may seem to be, I do
not KNOW this for a fact.
Truly this looks very bad. The badness seems also to be piling up
deeply. As for me – I’m sad. I admired
Bill Cosby not only for his humor, but also for his historic impact on popular
culture. The Cosby show pushed to
normalize a Black America that reflected a heretofore-unattainable middle class
context with humor and warmth. The “Fat
Albert and the Cosby kids” cartoon in 70’s also was important in deliberately darkening
the complexion of a vast landscape of Saturday morning cartoons and validating
not only the experiences of the darker hued of us, but validating the whole
flavor of our cultural experiences as well.
In spite of that sadness, I DO believe that this
man that I admired is terribly flawed and has done some awful things and, if
true, the pain he has caused is horrific.
I am disappointed. What he
appears to have done is terrible and inexcusable and he should be held
accountable. I hate that at least a part
of this narrative will lead to the “this is why we can’t have nice things”
sentiment that will wind it’s way through communities of color, albeit at least
partially unacknowledged and that his will remain a stained visage. I hate that this plays on the pernicious
stereotype of the black male as the dangerous hyper sexual predator, but what I
hate most of all is that the truest victims in this story (in every sense) will
likely never see real justice.
Regardless of the number of pop culture posts
I see there seems to be zero mention of the fact that none of these victims will
likely ever see their day in court,
due to arguably antiquated and plainly misogynistic statutes of limitations on
rape and sexual assault? Does anyone see
this as anything more than implicit acceptance of a completely unacceptable
status quo. These alleged victims will
never ever have to see their alleged perpetrator stand up in court to defend
his actions. They will never see the
Jell-O swilling, ubiquitous daddy sweater model of the 80’s have to reflect on
and reconcile the pain and destruction he was responsible for in the lives of
his victims. They will never get to have
their stories entered into evidence as validated and enumerated proof, building
up in a case to (hopefully) once and for all ensure that this source of such
horrific actions can never engage in the same action, violating another victim
again.
There are at least some of these alleged accusations,
which may no longer be actionable due to a statute of limitations on sexual
assault and/or rape. Murder, by
comparison, has no statute of limitations.
In the turbo-scientific CSI-ified criminal-justice world of today how is
it that we can reasonably assert that the passing of any length of time
justifies letting alleged perpetrators of rape and/or sexual assault remain
free to victimize others? The suffering
of all of these victims should not remain in vain. It is long past time to do something to end
the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases. This
is a textbook case of institutional discrimination, against women, perpetrated
by a criminal justice system that devalues their lives, their perspectives,
their experiences and crimes against their bodies.
Can’t the Cosby victims collective legacy add
up to something more meaningful than some cancelled re-runs and the hastening
of his transition from an increasingly out of touch has-been to a rarely seen
bitter recluse with “no comment”?
Please, someone with more legal knowledge, experience and insight than
me, start a petition to change these statutes nationwide (yes, federal) so that
I can sign it, and so that hopefully there is no more possibility of ANYONE
slinking off into oblivion leaving a path of broken lives behind them. There is a public window of opportunity now
open but it may not be open long.
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