A Sunday, October 23, Star Tribune front page article titled, “When a rapist went free,” is about the rape culture at the University of Minnesota. It reported that the school’s rape prevention and victim advocacy department, the Aurora Center, has had more than 1,000 sex assaults reported to the center since 2010, “yet not one single rapist has been prosecuted.”
Since the U of M student population is mostly White, the bulk of the alleged rapists walking away free are White. The criminal justice system and the U of M is real good at going after Black male student’s accused of “taunting.” There were six — yes, six — Black male U of M students served with restraining orders by a local judge stemming from an incident that did not involve a sexual assault.
So where are all the photos in our local newspapers of the hundreds of White males accused of rape? All we see are the photos of Blacks who are accused of “taunting.”
You would never see a judge issue six restraining orders against six White Gopher football players from an incident that did not involve a sexual assault, restraining orders that would not allow six White players to play home games at TCF stadium.
Frank Erickson lives in Minneapolis.
Support Black local news
Help amplify Black voices by donating to the MSR. Your contribution enables critical coverage of issues affecting the community and empowers authentic storytelling.