I know what you are thinking. Here’s another article about Brock Turner. I mean, cmon now, you’ve heard enough talk of that gorilla being killed in the Cincinnati Zoo and are probably sick of seeing headlines of Trump’s rise to power. Even then, here we are, bringing, even more, awareness to the Stanford Rape Case because truth is, events do not become insignificant after they are out of the headlines. Just because its time in the media spotlight is over, does not mean it didn’t happen.
They say “seeing is believing.” However, we may not have all seen the Great Wall of China or the Eiffel Tower, but we believe it is there. That being said, we may not have seen who the victim is and what exactly occurred that night, but we believe her and she will be heard. This isn’t any other news topic that should stop trending after its fair shares of page views and retweets. Instead, this case is fuel to the fire of change that needs to be brought upon sexual assault and how it is addressed.
So yes, this is another article dealing with Brock Turner. And there will be tons and tons more because if the court system can’t properly punish him, we will.
The media is notorious for making people known for silly reasons like being hot and working at Target to making a funny video compilation of someone’s white vans every day. So in this case, it’s going to make someone known for being a rapist — because that is who he is.
Over this stretch of time, we’ve listened to his father stand up and speak about how 20 minutes of action shouldn’t ruin his 20 years of life. Well, that’s just what it did. Because that’s what happens. We are defined by our actions and what we do day in and day out. There are consequences for the bad things we do. Some are greater than others. That’s life. You get to make a choice every second of every day of what you’re going to do next.
Hitler ruined people’s lives in less than 20 minutes. ISIS destroyed places in less than seconds. Can’t ruin their many years of living because of one action, right?
You can’t base the consequence over how long it took to do the crime. It doesn’t matter how long Brock Turner has been alive or what kind of scholarship he was holding when he was found on top of a beyond-gone and unconscious girl behind a dumpster. Nor does it matter how fast it took him to get to the other side of the pool. What matter is what he’s done. There’s no hiding from that.
When young kids do something wrong, parents are told to keep their patience. Help the child understand what he did, help him distinguish right from wrong. We repeat the “golden rule” and even give occasional time-outs so they learn that actions have consequences and if you do something wrong, one must make it right. So, what is the point of teaching all this to younger children for actions such as not eating vegetables and speaking out of turn when we can not even convict an adult who is guilty of rape? Letting this go after a six-month sentence means we are saying it is OK. And it’s not. It’s not OK, as stated by Turner’s victim herself, to “distort, damage and almost break” another individual for “20 minutes of action.”
The sad reality is, there will be people who dismiss this case because sexual assault happens all the time. Even then, here we are saying that doesn’t make this case any less important. That’s the point in itself — why is it happening all the time? They say one in every six women will experience sexual assault once in their lifetime. That means someone you know — your mom, your sister and even your grandmother may have experienced unwanted sexual advances or behavior from another individual. Truth is, it could be anyone. It is easy to say “that will not happen to me.” I get it, you’re young. You feel inevitable. That 23-year-old victim probably felt the same way. Sorry, let me rephrase, the 23-year-old survivor never would have thought her life would be turned upside down at the hands of a boy who may have gotten into a prestigious university, but failed to understand the simple meaning of explicit consent.
You’ve seen pictures of Brock Turner. Actually, you’ve seen the professional ones — suit and tie, hair slicked back, sporting a big smile. Why isn’t his mugshot being used? Is it because it will supposedly have a “severe impact on him”? Or is it white privilege? His sense of entitlement? Truth is, these are questions with no definite answers. We live in a world where appearances and reality do not go hand in hand. Brock Turner, in reality, is a rapist. But he appears as a 20-year-old ambitious athlete because that is what the judge, Aaron Persky, portrays him to be. Which is sad. Sad and pathetic that we’ve got the nerve to put his swim times and talk about his scholarship he’s worked so hard for at the end of an article talking about rape. It’s like saying “he/she worked so hard to study for that test though” when someone is caught cheating. It doesn’t matter. Either way, they cheated.
Unfortunately, he will only be incarcerated for six months — or even 90 days for “good behavior.” Even then, no matter how infuriating this is, he will be incarcerated for life. His misconduct is chained to him — it will follow him everywhere, long after leaving life behind the bars. We can remain mad at the fact that justice was not served, or we can take this very injustice and shed light on sexual assault survivors everywhere. We have the power to make Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which comes in April, as well known as National Best Friends Day. In fact, we can make this awareness drilled into us for life rather than 30 days.
Teach your peers that no means no. Realize that actions have consequences. Know that time does not determine character. In short, you have the power to make choices every day that will define the person you become. Brock Turner chose to rape, the victim chose to be a survivor and today and every day, we will continue to choose to be the voice of sexual assault victims everywhere.This article was co-authored by Tara Schumal.
