Trigger warning: Sexual assault

Last week in an opinion column, Albie Nicol discussed a tweet created by an anonymous twitter user with the handle @TheeDeepThroat. In the tweet, a gay man accused Senator Cory Booker of assaulting him in a workplace bathroom. 

The sexual assault allegation was horrible. If this is true, Booker should resign. At the same time, due process is important in our society. All accusations need to be investigated. If a major news source investigates this allegation, I will take this accusation seriously. I want to be clear: I won’t support Booker if there is truth to these accusations. I do not support abusers and perpetrators. 

We need to stop and think about some things when a white man calls out Democrats in his column to stand up against a black man.

White people need to be aware of how our actions impact people of color. Unfortunately, it seems like white people all too often jump at the chance to critique people of color. Cory Booker is being publicly critiqued by a white man after one allegation posted on Twitter. This reinforces the biases against black men. 

Furthermore, the allegation needs to be verified by a major news source. Senator Cory Booker is currently on the Senate Judiciary Committee and is likely going to be a Presidential candidate in 2020. He is a major political actor, so we can infer that major news sources (such as The New York Times, CNN, and Fox) are already currently investigating this allegation. Both parties want a full investigation because both will be hugely impacted if the allegations are true. 

Lastly, this entire column was misinformed. The Democratic party does not support perpetrators. Neither political party has made gender violence prevention a priority, but if one party does a better job of holding people accountable, it’s the Democrats. In this #MeToo movement, when Democrats are accused of sexual assault, they are expected to resign: Al Franken, John Conyers, Ruben Kihuen, and even Nate Boulton in Iowa. 

Can Republicans say the same about their party? They have continued to support conservative men who have sexual assault allegations. Brett Kavanaugh, Roy Moore and Larry Crowder had continued support from the Republican party. 

To be clear, sexual violence is never okay and we need to take accusations seriously. At the same time, we need to be careful to verify accusations through investigations and to think about how black men are critiqued more than white men. 

The media needs to investigate this allegation and the Democratic Party should respond accordingly.