A Twitter user drew comparison between Cosby and Carolyn Bryant Donham, saying both desverved to be convicted, despite their old age. (Images courtesy of MEDIAPUNCH/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK/ Twitter)
The recent conviction of “America’s dad” Bill Cosby has fueled criticisms that the justice system operates under a different set of rules when Black men are concerned.
On Thursday, a jury found Cosby, 80, guilty on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and raping former basketball star Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia home in 2004. The famed actor and comedian faces up to 30 years in prison for his crimes.
Cosby’s conviction was cheered by many, particularly his 60 some-odd accusers, but critics were quick to question where is the same carriage of justice for white folks who carried out similar, or more severe crimes. For Canaan Josephine, the question was why Emmett Till’s accuser, Carolyn Bryant Donham, never faced conviction, even after admitting to fabricating testimony that led to the 14-year-old’s lynching.
” … If you all are going to lock up Bill Cosby at the age of 80, I need y’all to put Carolyn Bryant Donham at age 83 in jail for accessory to murder for having Emmett Till killed and CONFESSING in 2017,” she tweeted.
If you all are going to lock Bill Cosby up at the age of 80, I need y’all to put Carolyn Byant Donham at age 83 in jail for accessory to murder for having Emmett till killed and CONFESSING in 2017. pic.twitter.com/E4OjtTllAz
— Tall Glass of Honey🍯 (@MsMilkandHoney) April 27, 2018
During an interview with author Timothy Tyson in 2017, Donham admitted to exaggerating details of her encounter with the Chicago teen, who she claimed whistled at her. In court, she testified that Till grabbed and physically assaulted her, saying he told her he had done “something with white women before.”
“That part [was] not true,” Donham told Tyson of her claim that Till was verbally and physically aggressive toward her.
Her claims ultimately cost the Black teen his life. Furious, Donham’s then-husband, Roy Bryant, and his half-brother J.W. Milam kidnapped and lynched Till. Days later, the teen’s body was found floating in the Tallahatchie River, so badly swollen and disfigured that he was unrecognizable.
Bryant and Milam were never convicted of Till’s murder. As for Donham, 83, it’s unclear if she’s still alive and her whereabouts have been kept secret by her family.
“Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him,” Donham told the author, expressing sympathy and “tender sorrow” for Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley.
Josephine’s comparison of the two cases garnered mixed reactions, with some folks rallying behind her and others arguing that Cosby got what he deserved. There were also those who didn’t see why the cases were even being compared.
While they at it, I’mma need reparations to be paid out by the descendants of slave owners (whose names many of us still carry) to African-American descendants.
— D.Latrice (@DLatrice21) April 27, 2018
The ? remains why are not all those others Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen and the Roman Polanskis of the world being locked up.
— Girltoknow (@Girltoknow1) April 27, 2018
Cosby deserves to be behind bars. That woman deserves to die in jail. So does Woody Allen. And the Golden State Killer. Their age doesn’t absolve them of their crimes.
— Mary (@QuiteeContrary) April 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/safyuhh/status/989738068142841856
She should be in jail. Should have been all this time. How the fuck does that change or affect what Cosby did?
— I’m Dancing As Fast As I Can (@JuveUnited) April 27, 2018
What kind of fake equivalence is this? Do you care about actual justice or do you just think this is a team thing?
— Joshua Wahhab (@All_Black21) April 27, 2018
