Speak Out
The Sad Case of Megan Williams
by Sasha Williams, SUNY Cortland, May 3, 2008
Megan Williams, who is mildly retarded, was coerced into visiting her friend Bobby Ray Brewster, a social friend she previously accused of domestic abuse; as a result of her allegations, he was sent to jail on domestic charges. Bobby Ray Brewster, after being released from jail, wanted to retaliate against Megan Williams for sending him to jail, and so Williams was held against her will, in the home of Brewster for a week. While in captivity, Williams was forced to eat an array of bodily waste: rat, dog, and human feces. Brewster and several of his friends, including his mother, stabbed, sexually abused, and threw hot water over Williams. A friend of Bobby Brewster, reportedly, called Williams racial slurs during her captivity. Megan Williams was able to ask for help when a police officer showed up at the house, because someone reported a woman being held against her will.
Multiple charges were filed against Bobby Ray Brewster and his accomplices. Some of the co-conspirators received 10-year sentences for hate crimes, and others received stiffer sentences. Initially, the prosecutors did not want to file hate crime charges because the crimes against Megan Williams did not seem like a hate crime, but in the end some of the co-conspirators were able to plead guilty and receive the 10-year sentence, which is equivalent to a hate crime sentence. As of now, It is not known the sentence Bobby Brewster or his mother received.
The lack of media attention to the Megan Williams case speaks volumes about what the American people feel is news worthy. There were weeks and weeks of media attention on the Jena Six case because it involved a couple of black males who had a physical altercation with a couple of white guys—who happened to receive minor bruises in the end. This shows viewers that the American media strive to unvei the negative sides of the African American community, but tries to hide the vindictive, malicious side of White Americans. It is infuriating that, hardly, anyone knew about how Megan Williams was treated by a group of white males and females, but the public is consistently being reminded of the brutal attack on some ignorant white students.
If the Caucasian population in America does not accept their faulty behaviors, many more people, like Megan Williams, are going to suffer without the public knowing what is going on. As members of human species, everyone needs to look out for the wellbeing of the fellow human beings, and stop allowing race and color to dictate their discriminatory behaviors. There are no plausible excuses for the sadistic harm people impose on other people.
Work Cited
No Hate Crime Charges in Torture Case. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/ 12/national/main3253257
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