Daniel Holtzclaw is the infamous cop who did the heinous: he used his authority to rape women. Not only that, these were Black women. Still, he was found guilty on four counts of first-degree rape, one count of second-degree rape, six counts of sexual battery, four counts of forcible sodomy and three counts of procuring lewd acts [1]. This came as a relief to the families that endured such trauma and turmoil. Still, it says a lot of how things can turn out when the wrong people have power.
One would think that the collective that is “Black America” would have sighed in relief.
But instead, it became a flurry of fail flakes falling from the sky. No, we could not have found some sort of satisfaction in seeing justice served. People would rather make this into a “shame Black men” moment. At some point, Black Twitter wanted to point the finger at Black men for Daniel Holtzclaw’s actions. You read it right: the misogyny among Black men was seen as a factor in this case.
And no, I cannot make this up.
I hope black men can realize that calling black women hoes, thots, loose and every other sexist is a factor in why these BW were targeted
— Midnight Killah (@branfire) December 11, 2015
If you keep up the narrative that black women overtly sexual and should be treated like sexual objects they will continued to be targeted.
— Midnight Killah (@branfire) December 11, 2015
Predators know who to go after and the stereotypes about black women that have been perpetrated by black culture & men were a factor.
— Midnight Killah (@branfire) December 11, 2015
#DanielHoltzclaw chose black women for a reason, yes their skin color was a factor but how they are depicted in society played a role.
— Midnight Killah (@branfire) December 11, 2015
And with all of the Black women agreeing with him (rightfully so), then came these tweets
Y'all really turned great news into an in-house fight. Lmfao
— Visionary (@LoveHoesRight) December 11, 2015
https://twitter.com/Smooth_Orator/status/675179981740314624
I know many are going to agree with Branfire for his tweets. Sad to say that I’m not going to give him props.
Daniel Holtzclaw a Victim of Lacking Black Standards
Look, people: Daniel Holtzclaw will not become some example of how Black men need to improve on the perceived misogyny that we “created”. And I’m going to break down as to why this conclusion is faulty if not divisive.
- Respectability politics is getting old: I don’t what motivates people to actually want to blame the victim for the heinous actions of others. However, this is what Black people go through every single day. If a Black person is abused or killed by authorities, then they are made into thugs or low life individuals. If people speak out against it, then they need to consider black-on-black crime narratives from politicians, talking heads, and ignorant ass black people (there, I said it). But to make Black men shoulder the blame of the actions of an authority figure that isn’t Black himself? That’s a bit of a reach.
Then again, many people tend to not understand the next point that I am about to bring up…
- Misogyny isn’t about race: Misogyny is not about Black people. It isn’t about white people. In fact, misogyny is a human debilitation. We can go look at The Bro Code for some insight on America created misogyny. Or we could actually see that misogyny is a worldwide pandemic. However the situation needs to be analyzed, making the misogyny of a White cop the fault of Black men is a bit much.
- Too many of us have no clue to the motivations of rape: Are we seriously going to sit up here and act as if Holtzclaw’s main aspirations had to deal with the idea of black women being sexual objects because, you know, Black men said so? There are many different reasons and factors for rape: socioeconomics, anger, power, sadism, sexual pleasure, psychopathy, ethical standards, evolutionary pressures, and then attitudes toward women [2]. Holtzclaw was a cop. Holtzclaw carefully chose his victims because he knew he could exert his power and (unsuccessfully) get away with it. So, it would make sense to dig deeper into the mind and history of Daniel Holtzclaw before we jump on the “blame Black men” bandwagon.
You can start with childhood. You can start with his ideal of race. Hell, you can even start with him being a cop. Just be more considerate of the situation when Black men are being blamed.
Daniel Holtzclaw is the Blame for His Actions
. Still, nothing is achieved by looking at Black men through an analytical lens for something they weren’t directly/indirectly responsible for. That “blaming” is nothing more than scapegoating. And the one thing Black people should NOT want to deal with is scapegoating.
Let the world tell it, Black people are the blame for everything wrong. And conversations like these do not help that stereotype.
