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Oprah Winfrey’s Shameful Comparison of Black Women’s Jim Crow Era Rape to that of Rich White Women’s #MeToo…

by Charlie Peach

I have to admit that I purposely ignored the Golden Globes and all of its Hollywood Rich Women’s #MeToo moments. However, I was more than insulted listening online this morning to Oprah compare the violent and brutal pain of rapes and even murders that Black women endured by racist white men during Jim Crow to that of rich white women in Hollywood and business.

 

The image below was taken from the documentary of Ruby McCollum (August 31, 1909 — May 23, 1992), a wealthy Black woman from Florida who was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering her white doctor who she accused of repeated rapes and forcing her to have his children. Her conviction was later overturned.

The brutal gang rape of Recy Taylor by six white men in Alabama is not comparable to the alleged sexual assaults that rich white women (often times purposely endured for fame and money) are fighting in their new #TimesUp and #MeToo movements. To compare the savagery and racism that fueled the many rapes and abuse that Black women had to endure by the hands of racist white men to that of rich white women’s new fight for dominance and power is a shameful erasure, even for Oprah. These rich women weren’t raped, beaten, bloodied and left to die because of hate and white power, these rich women chose silence out of fear of their careers and wealth, Black women who chose silence during Jim Crow etc., chose silence out of fear for their very lives and that of their families.

 

Further reading on medium.com, January 8, 2018, click here

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