By JONAS MILLER
Managing Editor
Welcome to “The Last Word,” a new weekly column presented by yours truly in which I’ll give my take on current events.
Do not expect me to remain neutral or objective, because neither of those are human nature. We think what we think and feel what we feel, and every once in a while we hurt someone’s feelings; that’s just how the cookie crumbles.
My only rule is that you keep an open mind, because I promise I’m going to say something you don’t agree with, and that’s okay, because it means I’m being me and you’re being you, and we really can’t ask any more than that from each other.
Before I get into the good stuff, you know, like politics, race and inequality – I suppose I owe a little bit of an explanation as to why I’ve decided to start a column.
This is my last year at Saint Rose, and although many would agree with me when I say I’ve been quite cavalier with my words — a little bit too much, sometimes—over the last six semesters, I feel that there is no time like the present, and damn it, if I have something to say, I should say it while there’s still people listening. So here it goes.
First up – Brock Turner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Mr. Turner, he made headlines several months ago when he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman. Good ole’ Brock just didn’t quite have enough I suppose, being a white male athlete at what most would call a darn good college. He just needed more, you know? So what did he do – he raped a girl behind a dumpster. Now, that’s what I would deem a “bad thing,” or a “no-no,” if you will.
Normally when people do bad things, they get in trouble. It depends on the severity of the no-no of course, but this is where Mr. Turner’s case differs from others similar to it, because instead of the six years in prison the prosecutor was asking for, and instead of the six months in county jail he was actually given, Brock was released after just 90 days.
So basically, if you asked your mom for a cookie, and she said no but you took one anyways, you’d still be in more trouble than Brock Turner, because now your mom doesn’t trust you and she’s going to move the cookie jar.
How can we move the cookie jar for Brock? Make sure no women go near him ever again? The reason he raped that girl is simple – it wasn’t because he had a rough childhood, or because she was wearing a short skirt, it was because he’s a rapist.
In my hypothetical situation, the problem was the cookies, and the offender was the child. With Brock, the problem is rape, and the offender is him. Now, since we can’t remove the “rape” from the situation, the only logical thing to do would be to remove Brock. How, you say? Oh, I don’t know, maybe if we put him in a five by five cell for six years – that might work.
I’m not angry at Brock, because life will get him back for what he did. Everyone knows his face, and everyone knows that he’s now legally obligated to register as a sex offender, so how great could the next few years actually be?
I’m not angry at the judge, who clearly didn’t have his coffee the morning of the sentencing, because he was acting the only way he knew how, like a moron. I mean really, six months instead of six years? That’s not ignorance, or leniency, it’s just plain stupid.
I am angry because none of this can be undone. That girl will always be victim of rape. Brock will always be a white man who got off easy. The judge will always be a man who let a criminal go free, and America will always be the place where this kind of crap goes down.
It’s embarrassing, preventable, and unnecessary – and that’s all I have to say about that.
