Apologising for an injustice done

Lawmaker wants Ala. to apologize to rape victim

An Alabama legislator wants the state to apologize to a black woman raped in 1944 by a group of white men who later avoided prosecution.

Democratic state Rep. Dexter Grimsley of Newville says he is preparing a resolution apologizing to Recy Taylor, who was 24-years-old and living in her native Henry County when she was gang-raped in Abbeville. Two all-white, all-male grand juries declined to bring charges.

Grimsley said he believes police bungled the investigation and harassed Taylor. The married woman was walking home from church when she was kidnapped, raped and left on the side of the road in an isolated rural area.

It is thought that she's outlived her rapists, but the apology is being sought because of how the state handled the case, including making it sound like she was a prostitute when in fact she was not. She felt so much pressure in her home state that she moved to another state entirely. A lot of things were done during Segregation that were shameful, and can never be made up to those who lived (and died) under its sway.

The state should apologise for victimising Recy Taylor, for daemonising her for her race and trivialising her pain. It think it would certainly be just. I guess it is better late than never. It's a nice gesture. But it still smacks of 'too little too late' for me.

It can never erase a life of knowing justice wasn't done because she was seen as 'deserving' her lot due to her 'racial inferiority'--or so it was thought of then. The men who did this not only escaped justice; others were complicit after the fact. The state can only apologise for its role, though. Plus, she certainly was not the only person treated this way. How do you apologise to everyone who had similar experiences in a meaningful way? Does one apology to one person suffice?

Apologies are simple gestures. I'm not saying they shouldn't be made--they can go a long way to healing a rift. But they shouldn't stand on their own--what would be best is to also make sure no one else is ever treated this way. We've come a long way since 1944, but there are still those whose mentalities are the same. The state has the responsibility to prosecute and discover the guilt of perpetrators of whatever race against victims of whatever race to the fullest extent of the law, leaving behind prejudice. Race should really only come into it if it is a racially-motivated attack. And in cases of rape, the victim's character really is for the most part irrelevant. I don't care if you're a stripper or prostitute or a nice church-going married lady--you don't deserve to be raped. So the use of those sorts of tactics must be abolished. I'd like to think they were never used these days, but we know they are.

It's good these sorts of situations still make the news, though, so we can think about how to make our society as just as possible.