Farley Dodge
L.Weaver
Critical Thinking and Current Events 1A
18 December 2014

Race and Rape Culture
The United States is systemically flawed, and unless the generations of the 21st century take action, this country’s discrepancies will be fatal to modern society as we know it. These flaws have roots reaching back to the Constitution, telling a tale of persecution and ignorance, of hatred and bigotry by humans in the face of other humans. The very foundations of this great country are built on the genocide of one race and the slavery of another. Although changes have been made, and the oppression of people of colour is not quite as blatant as it may have been twenty years ago, it is time for a revolution ­ of awareness of ourselves and how we uphold this system. It is time to pay attention to what we’ve been taught to overlook.
We, the citizens of USA, are divided in more ways than one. But our greatest segregations are our walls between race and sex. There’s a social system of oppression in place that many are blissfully unaware of, or at least refuse to look in the face. Women face struggles that men will never have experience first hand, and whites hold privileges that people of colour have never known.
In the country that preaches “freedom” to the rest of the world, one of the most underprivileged positions is that of a Black woman. Her struggle has been since the dawn of slavery, never completely valued as an equal to her contemporaries. Where her fellow men of colour face racism, and her female contemporaries fight sexism, she is faced with carrying the burden of double oppression.

Farley Dodge
L.Weaver
Critical Thinking and Current Events 1A
18 December 2014

Historically, rape is an act of oppression. In the days of white colonization, it was a crucial tool for repressing the Native nations. Later, It was a sign of power for white men as well as some black males to rape enslaved women of color. Finally, in more modern times, black women held up the backbone of churches and homes, taking care of children and working one or more jobs at the same time; while the Black male assumed leadership and credit for many of the fruits of the black woman’s labour
(Daniels). It is not to say that the black male had or has done nothing noteworthy to contribute to society, simply that women have had little to no credit for their hard work.
Additionally, the traditional black household known for centuries upholds a culture of domestic abuse, with the woman of colour at its brunt.
The problem with abuse is not confined to Black communities, but affects all populations of colour. White women rarely realize their privilege in their disproportionately and relatively low amount of cases of domestic abuse. In fact, data from the Department of Justice show that over 50% of Native American women have been exposed to serious physical abuse ­ stabbings, beatings, stalking. 30% of African
American women experience abuse from partners, and Hispanic women are more likely to be raped than non­Hispanic populations (Townes). These shocking numbers are even more horrifying when put in perspective: considering a culture that stigmatizes reporting sexual and domestic misconduct, particularly at the hands of an intimate male partner. Farley Dodge
L.Weaver
Critical Thinking and Current Events 1A
18 December 2014

As stated in an article posted on their site, the National Association to End
Sexual Violence (NAEVE) reports that “
A nationally representative survey indicates that while almost 18% of white women and 7% of Asian/Pacific Islander women will be raped in their lifetimes, almost 19% of black women, 24% of mixed race women, and
34% of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped during their lifetimes.
Additionally, undocumented immigrant women who are raped often cannot turn to the authorities because they fear deportation. Moreover, they often lack linguistically