After 67 years, Ala. lawmakers apologize to woman

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

After 67 years, Ala. lawmakers apologize to woman
By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Bob Johnson, Associated Press – 58 mins ago

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama Legislature has officially apologized to an elderly black woman who was raped nearly seven decades ago by a gang of white men as she walked home from church.

The Senate gave final approval Thursday on a voice vote to a resolution that expresses "deepest sympathy and deepest regrets" to Recy Taylor, now 91 and living in Florida. She told The Associated Press last year that she believes the men who attacked her in 1944 are dead but that she still wanted an apology from the state of Alabama.

The House approved the resolution last month. It now goes to Gov. Robert Bentley, who said Thursday he's not personally familiar with details of the case, but sees no reason why he wouldn't sign it.

~snip~
The resolution by Democratic state Rep. Dexter Grimsley of Newville says the failure to prosecute the men was "morally abhorrent and repugnant." He has said police bungled the investigation and harassed Taylor, and local leaders recently acknowledged that her attackers escaped prosecution in part because of racism.




Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110421/ap_on_re_us/us_xgr_alabama_rape_apology

[Judi Lynn]

1. Earlier article: Recy Taylor May Finally See Alabama Acknowledge Her 1944 Rape

ColorLines / By Benjamin Greenberg
Recy Taylor May Finally See Alabama Acknowledge Her 1944 Rape
Wednesday, March 16 2011, 3:00 AM EST

Recy Taylor was abducted and raped at gunpoint by seven white men in Abbeville, Ala., on Sept. 3, 1944. Her attack, one of uncounted numbers on black women throughout the Jim Crow era in the South, sparked a national movement for justice and an international outcry, but justice never came. Now, decades later, there may finally be some solace for Taylor, 91, as Alabama state Rep. Dexter Grimsley tries to make his state issue a formal apology.

Reached by phone on Monday, Grimsley confirmed he is drafting a resolution for a state apology to Taylor. “The circumstances merit it,” he said. “It’s something that should be done. Recy Taylor found herself in a situation that wasn’t responded to, the way that the law would respond to something today.”

The FBI is currently investigating dozens of civil rights-era murders, mostly of men. But the sexual violence visited upon women like Taylor has never commanded the official attention of the FBI and other federal and state officials who have tried to right the crimes of our past.

“From slavery through the better part of the 20th century, white men in the segregated South abducted and assaulted black women with alarming regularity and often impunity,” explained historian Danielle McGuire, whose new book “At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance” was the first history of white-on-black sexual violence and black women’s organized resistance to it. “They lured black women and girls away from home with promises of work and steady wages; attacked them on the job; abducted them at gunpoint while traveling to or from home, work, church or school; and sexually harassed them at bus stops, grocery stores and in other public spaces.”

More:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/03/alabama_official_apology_for_recy_taylor_rape.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+racewireblog+%28ColorLines%29

[Judi Lynn]

2. Detail from another article reveals prosecutor accused her of immorality:

Why 1944 rape case still resonates with African-Americans
By Clutch Magazine

8:20 AM on 03/22/2011

~snip~
But reading the news reports on yesterday's press conference, I was struck by a small detail in the report. Taylor's youngest brother, , has fought long and hard to get officials to recognize the wrong done against his sister. Though he was only a child when his sister was brutally raped, he has gone over the rejection of her case by an all-white grand jury with a fine toothcomb. He learned how prosecutors false accused his sister of being a prostitute. He studied how Rosa Parks and other prominent activists launched the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor on his sisters' behalf.

Mrs. Taylor's brother had also kept tabs on the seven men accused in the gang rape of his sister. According to Corbitt's interview with the Anniston Star, six of the seven men identified as his sister's attackers were dead.

What stood out to me in reading reports on the story was Corbitt and Taylor's lack of concern over the fate of remaining living offender. Alabama is one of six previously segregated Southern states with no statute of limitations on rape. Yet, bringing this man forward to face trial was neither Corbitt nor Taylor's concern. Instead, Corbitt says that he was focused on an apology from the State because of what he thought mattered more:

I would like to see her have some peace before she leaves this earth. What hurt her the most was their saying this never happened.

http://www.thegrio.com/black-history/why-1944-rape-case-still-reverberates-for-blacks.php

[WhiteTara]

3. Think of the peace if he was found guilty in court.

What a horrible thing to live with. Of course, black women were raped by white men, why would I think differently?

[Corruption Winz]

4. If the apology helps her...

then I'm glad to read this. However, I think moving to Florida helped her a lot more.

[Blue_Tires]

5. kick

[femrap]

6. Gee.....

'just' 67 years. I detest patriarchy.

I hope this gives her peace and satisfaction. But I'd still like to go after the one still living....just for the sake of Justice, which is fading more and more each day.

[tblue37]

8. AND as an object lesson! nt

[BlueIris]

7. Wow, an apology.

I would post better late than never but nothing makes these things better.