Word: tawana
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Dates: during 1988-1988
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...York State Attorney General Robert Abrams last week brought an end to the case of Tawana Brawley, the 15-year old Black girl who claimed she was kidnapped and raped by six white men in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., and the results probably did not surprise anyone. Abrams announced that the grand jury for the case decided that there was not enough evidence to prosecute anyone...
...tragedy here is not that Tawana Brawley lied. The tragedy is that the next Black victim of a racial crime who tells the truth may not be believed. Once someone cries wolf, it is not easy to be open-minded the next time around. It is unfortunate for all New Yorkers that the memories of Sharpton, Maddox and Mason may last far longer in New York than their careers as activists...
...world may never learn what really happened to Tawana Brawley, the Wappingers Falls, N.Y., teenager who was found cowering in a plastic bag last Thanksgiving, her body covered with excrement and racial epithets. But last week the New York Times revealed what the grand jury investigating the case has found: Brawley's claim that she was raped and abused by as many as six white men is a "fabrication." In a lengthy article based on summaries of evidence, the newspaper suggested that, after running away from home for four days, Brawley concocted the tale to escape the wrath...
...Brawleys immediately denounced the story, repeating their claims that a racist system of justice is stacked against them. "I am not a liar, and I am not crazy," said Tawana at a packed press conference held in New Jersey because her mother is on the run from New York State authorities for refusing to testify before the grand jury. After the full report is officially released in a few weeks, New York attorney general Robert Abrams will probably drop the case, leaving the Brawley imbroglio to be sorted out where it has played best: in the court of public opinion...
Cries of whites-only justice echo as well in New York City. "No justice! No peace!" bellows the Rev. Al Sharpton at innumerable demonstrations on behalf of Tawana Brawley, the black teenager from Wappingers Falls, N.Y., who says she was abducted and raped by six white men. For more than eight months, Sharpton and Activist Attorneys C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox Jr. have waged guerrilla warfare against the state officials looking into the case and effectively prevented any significant investigation of the charges. The trio's wild claims and controversial tactics have alienated many blacks as well as whites...