Wow, has it really been a week since our last talk? I feel like so much has happened! I don’t know if 650 words are going to be enough to express my discontent with three latest controversies: the gorilla, the rapist and the two hair-dyed blondes that could possibly be president.
I’ll be completely honest, dear readers. I don’t want to write about any of those topics. But alas, I’ve fallen a bit short of my journalistic expectations. Two weeks ago I covered body shaming, and last week I discussed children’s art — both topics inspired by weeklong benders and, frankly, just too much free time. Although they were necessary topics of discussion (okay, so only one of them was), I feel like I didn’t really inspire any of my peers, which is the sole reason I took up this job in the first place. Blame my editor for giving me the artistic liberty to cover topics I want. At least, that’s what I do…
Since I write for a college paper, I feel compelled to write on Brock Turner. I’ll let the three of you who aren’t familiar with that name perform a Google search.
Great. Welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming.
You might have noticed in all the Google fodder the disgust at Turner’s morally reprehensible actions. Every sexual assault case is horrifying and sad. The details of this case are what made it spark the media attention unseen in the thousands of sexual assault trials that go on in this country. I’m not just talking about the story itself, nor am I talking about his father’s vomit-inducing defense (the “my-son-lost-his-appetite-for-steak-since-this-trial-began” defense is a bold legal strategy). I’m talking about the sentencing.
Turner was found guilty on three felony counts. Ultimately, he was condemned to serve six months in a local jail, not a state prison, with the potential of reducing that time to three months if we factor in good behavior.
Some of you may be familiar with the Cory Batey trial that was held earlier this year. Batey was a Vanderbilt University football player and was convicted of, you guessed it, three felony counts, ranging from sexual battery to aggravated rape. The sentencing? Fifteen to 25 years in prison. Batey is also black.
When Batey gets out of prison he will have had his youth taken away from him. He will be deservedly jaded from his time spent correctly held away from society. When Turner, a white Stanford University student, is released from jail, the new “Baywatch” movie will be out. Given that he was on the swim team, I’m sure he and all his teammates are really looking forward to seeing it.
This clear act of judicial mishandling is unacceptable and, more frightening, reflective of America in the 21st century. Our depiction of Lady Justice is a woman whose eyes are covered by a blindfold, wielding a balance scale and a sword. This is supposed to depict the notion that justice is blind, fair and swiftly punishing. However, in our country this day and age, Lady Justice is as racially blind as your grandfather on Thanksgiving, about as just as the NBA toward Golden State this playoff cycle (#DraymondGreenForKickballMVP) and as swiftly punishing as a parent who studied philosophy in college.
Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced Turner, said, “a prison sentence would have a severe impact on (Turner).” Your Honor, excuse me, but that’s the fucking point. Judge Persky’s bias in this trial, as much of a mishap as it was, is indicative of a larger problem in our justice system, a problem that’s on the cusp of absurdity: racial partiality in sentencing. The Turner case does not anger us because of his sentence (entirely). It angers us because we have to pathetically admit we treat people differently and lend sympathy to even the worst of people by the foolish virtue of skin tone in this country.
Zachary Lee is a UF philosophy senior. His column appears on Tuesdays.
