I have come to view December as the month of miscarried justice. In 2014, it was in December when two high profile cases involving the death of an unarmed person of color by the police ended without indictments of the officers involved. December 2015 was no different. The officers involved in the shooting death of twelve-year-old Tamar Rice were also not indicted.
But when Bill Cosby was charged with felony sex charge December 30th, the tragic narrative of police shooting and killing an unarmed black child became entangled with a man accused of sexually assaulting more than thirty women. For Cosby supporters, this cemented Cosby as a martyr for inequalities in the justice system for people of color. This not only is detrimental to conversation surrounding police brutality, but also speaks to the perverse power of rape culture and women are left behind during crucial moments in social activism.
The charges against Cosby and the lack of indictment in these high profile police shootings are not congruent of the same problem. Cosby’s case is an example of when the system works, when the accused has their day in court. These high profile cases involving the deadly shooting of unarmed African-American men or incidences of excessive force predictably result in the accused officers having their actions validified by the law.
To make a martyr of the case against Cosby would be an action parroting Phylicia Rashad unwise suggestion that we should “forget these women.” To do that would send the message that sexual violence is not crime worthy of our scrutiny and should remain of the shoulders of victims to carry alone.
As I have written about before, Cosby’s controversy is toxic and has already distorted the iconic image of the Huxtables. His case should stay far removed from the fight for more accountability in policing. And above all, this is a movement that needs no martyr. It does not need to negotiate someone’s compromised character in order to be powerful.
