Happy Friday, y’all!
I’m going to vent for a bit…okay?
Cool.
A woman in Vancouver Washington claimed that a black woman threw acid in her face.
The woman…Bethany Storro…was indeed burned by acid on her face.
She was hospitalized…there was a press conference…a police sketch artist assisted her in recreating a likeness of her alleged attacker…and folks from all over the world expressed outrage at the attack and concern for Ms. Storro.
But Bethany Storro was not attacked by a black woman…a black woman did not toss acid in her face…she made the whole thing up.
Robin Roberts of Good Morning America covered this shit this morning and when she spoke with a representative from the police she asked a question that far too many folks aren’t asking – where black women questioned in relation to these false accusations? The representative skirted the question…saying that the police had questioned people and did do canvasses.
Robin didn’t press her on that.
But…but…hello?
This has happened before…in Union South Carolina and Boston Massachusetts where people tossed out the accusation that a black person did this or that and then it came out that the person making the accusation is actually the guilty party.
And I suppose I understand the tug some people have to feel sorry for Ms. Storro…’cause she’s probably not well and has seriously hurt herself.
But…but…
Hello?
But I’m feeling sorry for the black women of Vancouver Washington who were questioned about a crime that never happened…who had people look at them twice with fear and condemnation…who were so swiftly assumed to have done the heinous that many will make the excuse that it’s their own fault that the false accusation was believable in the first place.
My concern is for them…for us.
I can’t help but wonder where the outrage is for them…for us…as I listen to news reporters, their voices softened in concern and compassion, ponder the condition of Ms. Storro even as they circumnavigate the fact that she could have and might have falsely accused a black woman all the way down the line to a trial.
Don’t sleep - this nation has a history of this shit…black people have swung dead from trees for this kind of shit…right now some people are unjustly in jail on that shit…
…because it is so believable…because the press prefers to circumnavigate the race part of these incidents when they happen…because, as Attorney General Eric Holder said, we are a nation of cowards when it comes to race…
…because we are so not post-racial that we can’t even see a post-racial America on the horizon.
Susan Smith…Ashley Todd…Bonnie Sweeten…and a theme so woven into the fabric of our culture that right now some knavish troll is gleefully typing a comment to this post claiming that black people wouldn’t be falsely accused if black people didn’t attack people all the time.
But…but…
Accused…suspected…questioned…and so easily assumed to be violent without provocation…wild and uncontrollable…
Hello?!?
And in hush voice someone says...well they are like that, right?
But…but…
Blink.
23 comments:
Apparently the press is more gullible than I am, because the story fairly screams "Munchausen syndrome" to me.
Acid attack? This is a vanishingly rare modus operandi by women or by thieves. Acid attacks are usually done by men to intimate partner women in this country - and are rare. In a few countries with radical misogynists backed by some popular understanding of the local religion (radical Islam, radical Hindu nationalists), random acid attacks are used to terrify the insufficiently inconspicuous women. Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India have had such religiopolitically motivated attacks.
Any nitwit reporter who has worked a crime beat or local news beat should be able to smell a skunk in the woman's story.
I have to say that I don't feel much pity for the woman. It is possible to be severely mentally ill and to avoid doing harm to others.
This is one of the weirdest stories I've ever read. But, to me, the most intriguing part is that she was 1) clearly f*cking nuts and 2) obviously had a very deep-seated fear of black people which made her fake story seemed very believable in her mind. I know racism is largely fear-based, fear of the 'other' and all that. But why so much fear? As a white guy I have no idea why so many white people are scared of black people. I don't know why, for instance, a black guy is always described as "this huge black guy" in a lot of white people's stories and the unstated physical threat is always assumed. I don't know why white people, say, talk about getting lost and ending up in Harlem as if just ending up in Harlem is the punchline like "phew, you made it out alive?!" It's weird. Is it sublimated collective guilt? Is it too much bad TV? It kinda reminds me of Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine when he was (half) joking about killer bees and adding the "African" part to their name made them even scarier.
"We want our country back" this is a familiar Tea Party refrain. It means Obama is NOT one of us.
I wonder what whites could have done to blacks when they had the power, that they have so much fear?
My father told me that the only weapon I had against prejudice, was to be the best man I could be.
Have integrity,intelligence,honesty and a sense of humor.
Until the full scope of why there is so much fear is revealed, there will continue to be false accusations based on the common narrative.
Don't hold your breath.
Preach.
I remember the Susan Smith case very clearly (I lived in South Carolina at the time), and I remember thinking, Wait...what?!
And I remember the Charles whoever it was in Boston, too.
It really is sad and sick how white people think they can get away with this kind of shit just by blaming it on a person of color. And it sucks.
Word. My thoughts exactly.
Oh...don't even get me started on this bitch. And people need to stop calling her crazy - she's.not.fucking.crazy.
@ redneck liberal
It's not about guilt. Remorse doesn't have a damn thing to do with it, and Bethany-fucking-Storro can cry all she wants for the camera - I'm not buying it, I'm not selling it, I'm not putting it on layaway, and no, I don't want a raincheck.
This is "an excuse", plain and simple, to vilify POC. Actions like these scream desperation. People like Bethany-fucking-Storro just want to cling to the illusion that they're superior, and so naturally, they're not adapting to reality too well.
I came late to this story because for the last however many years I've been living unplugged from all cable news channels. (Telling you, it feels good to only get news online from sources I choose myself. Like here.)
Anyway, I came up on all the story today. First thing I noticed? How creepy-much like her the sketch of her so-called assailant looked.
Took them long enough to pick up on it.
I am having a hard time understanding how someone could do something like this to... themselves. WOW! You have to be a really troubled person. I thought this was fishy when I first heard it. It seemed like something incredibly unthinkable. I hope she can get the help she needs.
@ Brian
I think the answer to "what whites could have done to blacks when they had the power, that they have so much fear?" is fairly simple. The fear of karma and vengeance on the one hand, hatred of the victim on the other. We clearly are on a vicious path these days - any "other" is hated by those who "want [their] country back." Funny how the AM band and Fox have so many voices with the same meme - we wouldn't have this racism problem if Obama weren't president. It's Obama's fault. Gobsmacking. The undertone, even to these white ears is something like it's Obama's fault for having the nerve to not only run but to have won.
As for this story, I simply don't know what to say. Just another sick story, more grotesque than the usual.
Funny how these days it's us white folks who are the supposed victims, isn't it? That, too, is grotesque.
Saying a silent prayer on your behalf, Brian, that you and the African-American community are still required to "have patience". I guess 400 years aren't enough, huh? Just shaking my head. There was such joy in November, 2008, wasn't there?
Sign me an ally, however imperfect. All good blessings.
Bleh. That bitch Storro needs medical attention, hardcore. Like, now. As to the rest of it.. my apologies to the undoubtedly fabulous sisters of Vancouver WA. You're right that everybody else is quick to blame crime on blacks due to the stats, but the stats reflect crime done by young black MEN, so even that standard accusation doesn't hold water here. Crime, I think, is kinda related, in whatever color, to single parent families. Sometimes, single parents have to make do, and that's the way the cookie crumbles. But forgive me for saying that children, young men especially, need fathers or good men around them to show them a model of what a man should be.. if they don't have that, they will never learn to temper their energy into something productive.
the annals of American history are littered with the bodies of Black men hanging from trees who said less than what this woman said.
that's why lying heifers like her make me sick to my stomach.
It just recalls to me the words of the author Bruce Jacobs, "Racism is a psychological disorder."
Sad, sick and just sincerely fucked up.
And you're right SharkFu, post-racism is a sheer figment of the imagination as we stand knee deep in the stench of rampant racism.
Oh jeez, what can I say that hasn't been said here already?
It's the same moronic attitude on the part of the press that causes them to always say "Black male suspect" except when it's a white guy nd it's just "male suspect."
As if being Black explains so fucking much. All it does is throw fuel on the fire of racism.
It wouldn't be so bad if this were an isolated incident, but it's always the same old story.
I'm sorry.
You summed up my thoughts exactly. When I first heard the story, I thought it was odd. Someone walked up to her and said hey you pretty girl (to a woman that's not pretty) and just happened to be carrying acid and threw it in her pretty face. It wasn't until recently I heard it was supposed to be a black woman. What a shame that society can't get past their racial BS and people always talking about the race card. Race is and always will be an issue.
She has unreservedly admitted that it was a hoax. The threats line isn't logical, why would the unidentified mystery assailant get involved in any way, thereby giving Police a lead? Even the worst of ghetto rats know better than this.
Her story is full of holes and she bought the glasses 1 hour before the "attack", inspite of the fact she admitted earlier to the press that she never wears sunglasses. She's a whack-job, don't try to figure it out from the point of view of a rational mind but as someone so desperately craving attention that she would injure herself to receive it (Munchausen syndrome.)
The burns aren't actually that severe, her surgeon stated that some parts are deeper than others an may develop scarring.
Look at the photo of her face, it looks the way a face would if the acid was carefully poured rather than lobbed.
This story is a great example of why we should wait until the facts are in before drawing a conclusion.
Ankhesen Mié, don't get me wrong, I don't mean guilt as in remorse. I mean guilt as in the paranoia you have when you subconsciously expect an ass kicking for some bad stuff you got way with. Call it more anticipation of karma than anything!
But I still maintain that fear comes before hate. It's racism too, but I think that's what motivates these liars. Blame the other, blame the people who scare you because, in your mind, that seems most plausible.
Funny how these days it's us white folks who are the supposed victims, isn't it?
More like pathetic. I've never seen a group of people so desperate to be victimized, like kids trying to join what they perceive to be the "cool club." I don't get what the "oppression fantasy", but it is grotesque and disturbing as hell.
This story is a great example of why we should wait until the facts are in before drawing a conclusion.
Excellent advice.
the annals of American history are littered with the bodies of Black men hanging from trees who said less than what this woman said.
Emmett Till. Seriously fuck her.
I'm ashamed of this country. And the whole "OMG we need 2 take R country back!!!" is bullshit: we white ppl murdered, raped, and forced Native Americans off their land. (yes, I didn't do it, nor my family, but I sure do benefit from it.)
Ankhesen Mié, don't get me wrong, I don't mean guilt as in remorse. I mean guilt as in the paranoia you have when you subconsciously expect an ass kicking for some bad stuff you got way with. Call it more anticipation of karma than anything!
You really think she's going to experience consequences? I don't think anything's going to happen to her. Anything severe, that is.
you are the exact type of bitchh I like
I had used a number of different blog sites before coming to this site. Once I found it though I have never looked back.
great info, so useful...
Post a Comment