What is privilege?
Privilege is walking around with an invisible badge, intangible, but immensely valuable. It is an emblem for elitists organized and affiliated by wealth, aristocracy, social prestige, and White male dominance. It is a badge serving as a special token that could possibly shorten your jail sentence, or better yet, exclude you from imprisonment altogether. It is the official badge of superiority that launches your ascendance to Mt. Privilege where you can reign with the rest of the big ballers and shot callers and toast to your accomplishments which, most impressively, include overriding the jury and fueling the corruption, partiality, and the deterioration of the justice system.
By now, most social media users have read or heard about the forgiving sentence dealt to Brock Turner, a 20-year-old former swimmer at Stanford University who raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Turner was charged with three felony counts of sexual assault which equates to 14 years maximum in state prison, two years minimum. However, very likely due to Turner’s educational accreditation and race, as well as his parents’ affluence and social stature, he received a measly six-month sentence with three years of probation. Keep in mind that he could possibly serve a short three months with good behavior. In response, Turner’s father wrote a letter to the judge arguing that "it is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life," along with the narrative about his son’s innocence as a child and the irreversible destruction the events of Jan. 17 and 18 had on Brock.
This case is the epitome of privilege. How will the rest of society treat the seriousness of sexual assault when sexual assault predators are let off easy? What do these instances of privilege teach men and women who are coming of age? It teaches our society that special people can disregard laws, depending on their credentials. It is a reminder that in some instances, we are a nation of hypocrisy, priding ourselves too much for being a country that grants freedom and equality when, in fact, special rights and benefits are dealt to individuals with the most fortune.
This is another disheartening case about a rape victim’s plea for justice for the pain and suffering she endured, for vulnerably sharing her gruesome story and revealing her scars to the world when the alternative, seclusion, may have been the more comfortable thing to endure. It's another anecdote that portrays the ongoing race struggle in the U.S. How is it that Corey Batey, former Black athlete at Vanderbilt also convicted of raping an unconscious woman, was sentenced to 15 to 25 years in prison, while Turner will serve hardly half a year? When we look at the facts, the jury in both cases unanimously reached a verdict and Turner and Batey were both charged with multiple felony counts of sexual assault. Why is it that judge Aaron Pesky, Stanford alumnus, rationed that “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on [Brock]” as if what Brock did was minuscule and hasn't severely impacted his victim?
We live in a society where sexual assault perpetrators can use alcohol as a scapegoat for heinous crimes such as rape and where prestigious college athletes have enough influence, depending on race and class, to manipulate the law and receive special favors from the highest official of the court. We live in a society that undermines the physical and mental infliction people (not excluding men) endure when they’re sexually assaulted by assigning rapists light sentences. But, on the contrary, we don’t seem to second guess sentencing those in possession of marijuana or delinquent teens who come from broken homes to a harsh 20 to 40 years in prison.
The only way that we can bring change to these injustices is by speaking out against them, writing about them and sharing these stories with our friends and family members. In solidarity we stand, and in solidarity we can fight against injustice.
If you believe that Judge Aaron Persky should be removed from his position, sign this petition.
