The right to rape

by Mumia Abu-Jamal

Note: As we wait for the results of a crucial hearing Oct. 29, the day the Bay View goes to press, which could set Mumia firmly on the path toward freedom, let’s listen to his words of wisdom. – ed.

Free-Mumia-Peoples-Organization-for-Progress-elderly-man-protests-300x199, The right to rape, News & Views It is difficult to use the title that this commentary bears, but upon reflection, it must be so, for the truth supports it.

For the truth is, this nation was born in rape. The rape of indigenous women (so called “Indians”) was considered but a spoil of war.

African women were ravished aboard slave ships, clad in rags and chains. Many women leaped into the dark, roiling sea, preferring death to how they were treated onboard by seamen.

Indeed, if the slave ships were a horror, American slave plantations were worse, for here women were raped systematically.

Why? Because the more they became pregnant, the more wealth they produced for the master class.

Black male slaves also played a role in this tragedy, for by raping women, they also increased a slave owners’s wealth. Such men were considered prize bucks for the wealth they created for masters.

It is difficult to use the title that this commentary bears, but upon reflection, it must be so, for the truth supports it. For the truth is, this nation was born in rape.

Indeed, up until the dawn of the 20th century, it wasn’t considered a crime to rape Black women; it was considered a white rite of passage!

Could those days, which lasted for centuries, not have radiated into the ignoble present?

Consider the commonality of sexual harassment and sexual assault in modern American life. Does anyone remember the Tailhook Scandal, where U.S. servicemen took gross advantage of women in the ranks?

Up until the dawn of the 20th century, it wasn’t considered a crime to rape Black women; it was considered a white rite of passage! Could those days, which lasted for centuries, not have radiated into the ignoble present?

Everywhere we turn, we find evidence of clear misogyny against women, which, while expressed in rape, has its origins in an intense hatred and disregard of women.

One need look no further than the highest office in the land — the U.S. presidency.

We witnessed it in the recent senatorial so-called “hearings” in the Kavanaugh nomination, where women were ignored, unheard and dismissed – even by other women!

But I guess “‘boys will be boys,” huh?

© Copyright 2018 Mumia Abu-Jamal. Keep updated at www.freemumia.com. Mumia’s latest book is “Murder Incorporated: Empire, Genocide and Manifest Destiny, Book One: Dreaming of Empire,” published by Prison Radio in 2018. For Mumia’s commentaries, visit www.prisonradio.org. Encourage the media to publish and broadcast Mumia’s commentaries. Send our brother some love and light: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI-Mahanoy, 301 Morea Road, Frackville, PA 17932.