By Metyia Phillips
MONTANA – The Montana Innocence Project is working on a #barriers2innocence—the impact of false accusations—to try to combat systematic racism, among many other issues in the criminal justice system.
One of the most well-known stories about false allegations is that of Emmett Till.
In 1955, a white woman named Carolyn Bryant claimed that Emmett whistled at her. As a result, Emmett was lynched and his body was destroyed. On her death bed, Carolyn Bryant admitted that she lied and Emmett never whistled at her.
Due to uncorroborated claims such as this, Black people and BIPOC (Black, indigenous, and people of color) have been targets of false accusations for decades now. Most times, those who are accused are not given the benefit of the doubt and the benefit of being innocent until proved guilty.
Even though it’s 2020, no real progress has been made, it appears, concerning false allegations surrounding BIPOC, and mainly Black people.
“More than half of all wrongful convictions can be traced back to false allegations or testimonies,” and of these wrongful convictions, Black people make up more than half of them,” said the Montana Innocence Project.
Black people are being disproportionately affected by false allegations more than any other race. This causes wrongful convictions and perpetuates a state of mind that makes the accused automatically presumed to be guilty.
A prime example is the case of Christian Cooper, a Black man who was bird watching in Central Park recently.
He saw Amy Cooper, a white woman walking her dog without a leash. He kindly walked over and asked her to put a leash on her dog, which would be in ordinance with the park rules. She accused 
Christian of threatening her life and she called the police.
Christian made sure to record the entire interaction on social media. Here’s a link to the video. As a result, the eye of the public made sure that the police handled the situation correctly and Amy’s employer even handled the issue correctly.
But the question remains, why was Amy so comfortable telling a blatant lie that a Black man was threatening her life?
The answer is best explained by New York City public defender Eliza Orlins, who said, “When there is no video to refute a 911 call where someone sounds hysterical, the Manhattan DA’s office will use that as evidence and say, ‘Listen to the fear in her voice. You can tell how upset she was. How could she be lying?’”
It’s not always taken into consideration that the person who called 911 could be lying.
There are also numerous other stories that involve false accusations against Black men—a lesser-known one being the story of Brian Banks.
Brian was a high school football star, slated to attend USC with a full-ride scholarship. Brian had a consensual sexual encounter with one of his classmates, Wanetta Gibson. She later told authorities that Banks kidnapped her and raped her under a stairwell. Since Brian was facing up to 41 years in prison, he took a plea deal for six years.
Everyone immediately believed Gibson, and Banks was arrested a few hours after he was accused of kidnapping and raping her. Ten years later, Gibson recanted her accusations and admitted that they were lies, but she had already ruined Bank’s life.
Banks was living as a regular sex offender, but after she recanted her statements he was exonerated by the California Innocence Project in 2012. As a result of his exoneration, Brian was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 2013 and he now works in the NFL’s Department of Operations.
Although his story has somewhat of a happy ending, Bank’s life will still be forever changed due to Wanetta Gibson’s false accusations. Brian’s story is available to watch on Netflix, entitled “Brian Banks.”
There are numerous other examples of false accusations against Black people, but what matters is why are these allegations taken so seriously?
Martenzie Johnson explains, “False allegations—particularly about Black men being rapists—have been reinforced over and over again in our history,” meaning that Black men being rapists is a normal standard in American society, so when a Black man is accused it’s taken very seriously and the person who’s accused is assumed to be guilty.
Johnson also cites the movie “A Birth of A Nation” being to blame for this stigma. It was screened in the White House in 1915 and perpetuates the longstanding support for the accuser, and the automatic assumption that the accused is guilty.
Criminal justice reform groups are urging people to break this stigma by still supporting sexual assault survivors, but also speaking out against false accusations. And by assuming everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
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I agree with the above, and the above concluding line does not include a racial element.
I don’t think false allegations should be tolerated for whatever race/races the accuser and acusee are. The problem, when one race is getting accused at higher rates, lies in people’s hearts, and no amount of legislation will change that. The awareness of the issue is good. Legislation which focuses on a racial aspect of this (how exactly?), not so much.
Cops also often have false allegations reported against them.
I recently watched a video of a female black professor who alleged that cops mistreated her on a traffic stop. One problem, she must not have realized the cops had body cams along with the police car cam which totally refuted her lies.
Keith
Certainly, false accusations are made both by and against the police. I think the overarching question is why so many in our society are willing to lie about the actions of others up to & including ruining or ending their lives? From what sense of self-righteousness, ignorance, and hatred does such malevolence spring?
“From what sense of self-righteousness, ignorance, and hatred does such malevolence spring?”
Insipid reactionary fear. There are now countless scholarly articles showing the brain morphology of conservatives is defective.
Actually, extremists on both sides have defective brains. Note that I am siting the same studies as you are, JH.
It is not that my liberal friends are ignorant… far from it, it is that they know so much that just isn’t so.
Human nature uncheck by any moral foundation other than what they justify for pursuit of individual wants.
For a different perspective on rape, both actual and false accusation thereof in American culture, I strongly recommend reading an article published in today’s NYT.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/opinion/confederate-monuments-racism.html?campaign_id=39&emc=edit_ty_20200626&instance_id=19774&nl=opinion-today®i_id=57920617&segment_id=31925&te=1&user_id=a25b530ef0a25ca53ae4710384bba22b
The article you cited is a GEM. Thanks for sharing, TW.
This multi-generational hurt syndrome reminds me of The Joy Luck Club. Different ‘race’, different stories – but same syndrome, and a syndrome all people should understand to their core.