Racial discrimination by law enforcement has been a long standing issue in the United States. However, in the last couple of years, beginning with the dire situation in Ferguson, Missouri and the mirror images in Maryland, Illinois, New York, and a number of other locations across the country, the public at large has become increasingly aware of the systemic abuse against minorities.

A small piece of victory was served for individuals experiencing systemic abuses by law enforcement as Daniel Holtzclaw, an Oklahoma City police officer, was sentenced to 263 years in prison on January 22, 2015. His trial commenced on November 2, 2015 and was highly criticized for having an all white jury. However, approximately one month before being sentenced, Holtzclaw was convicted by that jury for 18 out of the 36 counts for which he was charged. The sentence, which is to be served consecutively as opposed to concurrently, seeks to rectify the wrongs done to Holtzclaw’s 13 victims (ranging from a 17-year-old teenager to a 57-year-old grandmother), including four counts of first-degree rape and four counts of forced oral sodomy.

The frightening part–Holtzclaw had a strategy to his clearly calculated rapes and sexual assaults. He targeted black women in one of Oklahoma City’s poorest neighborhoods who he knew had criminal histories, predominantly drug and prostitution records, which he could leverage against them should they threaten to approach authorities for his abusive behavior. Which worked…until it didn’t.

Jannie Ligons, a 57-year-old grandmother of 12, was stopped at approximately 2 AM on June 18, 2015 driving through the poor neighborhood in which many of his other victims had been confronted. Holtzclaw made a huge mistake in assuming that Ligons was a resident of the neighborhood, had a low social status, and had reasons to fear the authorities. Quite the costly “mistake” if you ask me. Her testimony recounted the graphic and horrifying details following Holtzclaw’s stop. I do have to issue a warning, as it is graphic.

Returning home from a game of dominoes with a friend, Ligons was stopped by Holtzclaw who was ending his shift. Due to a broken driver-side window, Ligons was directed to the rear passenger side seat of the vehicle and was asked if she had been drinking or if there was anything in her vehicle that she was hiding. She denied possessing anything illegal or to have been drinking. Holtzclaw did not believe her. He demanded that she get out of her vehicle so that he could check her. Holtzclaw demanded that she lift her shirt, which she did, to reveal her stomach. After telling her that was not good enough as something could be hiding in her bra, he forced her to lift her shirt and bra and shone a light on her exposed breasts.

As she noticed Holtzclaw playing with his penis at this time, she heard him instruct her to stand up and pull her pants down. Leaving her underwear on, Holtzclaw shone the light in her private area and demanded she sit back down. She obliged, distressed, only to look up and see his penis in her face. “Please don’t do this…you’re not supposed to do this,” she begged as he forced himself into her mouth. Ligons thought he was going to kill her. He threatened to follow her home, but as she pulled into a driveway to do a U-turn, Holtzclaw took off unexpectedly.

Ligons called the police when she got home. When no one at the police station answered, she and her daughter drove to the station to file the assault. Ligons was taken to the hospital with Kim Davis, an officer of the Oklahoma City Police Sex Crimes Unit, and underwent a sexual assault medical forensic exam. The report filed by Ligons led the Sex Crimes Unit to an unsolved report, and ultimately, to the discovery of a number of victims subjected to Holtzclaw’s sexual abuses, assaults, and rapes.

Other women have recollected their experiences with Holtzclaw, depicting the clear fear for their lives while in his custody. A woman identified as “T.M.,” a known drug user and prostitute, was forced to perform oral sex in order to avoid jail and ended up screaming for her life when Holtzclaw drove her to an open park area, fearing rape and potentially, death. The GPS recorder on Holtzclaw’s police car matched T.M’s testimony.

Further, Holtzclaw violated police protocol for searches of females and even went so far as to touch the bare breasts of victims while conducting searches, stating that they needed to “just play by my rules,” in order to avoid further charges or jail time. Holtzclaw even proceeded to go to the home of one of the victims and harass her at home, while with her family, which ultimately led to the stalking charges against him. Several other victims reported that Holtzclaw entered their homes and raped them while inside. He even raped 24-year-old Sade Hill in her hospital bed as she was detoxing from a spout of intoxication.

As if the killing of innocent and unarmed young black men has not been a frightening and infuriating display of racial discrimination by police, the case against Holtzclaw uncovers an even more troubling layer of abuse–vulnerable black women of low socioeconomic status unable to defend themselves, particularly due to their criminal histories and fear of authorities. Minorities of low socioeconomic status appear to be dispensable scapegoats to law enforcement at this day in age and frankly, it is an unacceptable and outrageous display of power by those trained to protect and serve. While the citizens of the United States continue to protest, demand change, and incite much needed action, a little solace can be taken in the fact that individuals like Holtzclaw and those who abuse their authority and prey on people incapable of fighting sometimes get the cosmic dose of karma their actions deserve.

Ajla Glavasevic

Ajla Glavasevic is a first-generation Bosnian full of spunk, sass, and humor. She graduated from SUNY Buffalo with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and received her J.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Ajla is currently a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania and when she isn’t lawyering and writing, the former Team USA Women’s Bobsled athlete (2014-2015 National Team) likes to stay active and travel. Contact Ajla at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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This weekend the New York Times published the article “Get Home Safe,” My Rapist Said, in its opinion pages. In it, Alisson Wood tells the story of her boss raping her one night after work. She sought justice and solace from her company and the law, but only received dismissals. It was her word against her boss’s, and he claimed the situation was consensual, slut-shaming her. This situation is not uncommon for many other survivors of rape in America, victimized by a culture that often finds more fault in its victims than its perpetrators. Rape culture undermines the power imbalances at the core of rape by diverting attention away from why and how a rapist takes advantage of a person, and instead focuses on the character of the rape victim. For example, a boss takes advantage of an employee, a man takes advantage of a woman, or a cop takes advantage of a citizen. But last week, justice beat the power of rape culture. The prosecutor in the Daniel Holtzclaw case convinced a jury of the power imbalances of a white police officer raping African American women, and for Holtzclaw’s 29th birthday he received a recommended 263-year prison sentence.

Holtzclaw has been standing trial since November 2 after sexually assaulting 13 women in Oklahoma City. Jannie Ligons, a 57-year-old grandmother, went to the police after Holtzclaw attacked her on June 2,2014. Holtzclaw’s record revealed more allegations of rape, catching national attention and leading to his arrest. He faced 36 charges ranging from multiple counts of first degree rape to stalking and sexual battery. Officer Holtzclaw clearly underestimated the courage Ligons possessed as a survivor of sexual assault, and as a woman who could put trust in a police department whose own officer violated Ligons’s most basic right to her body.

Holtzclaw targeted 12 other African American women in a low income neighborhood ostensibly because of their vulnerability and unlikelihood to press charges. A couple of the victims were guilty of criminal activity of their own. The defense tried to use to this to its advantage by discrediting the victims and questioning why they did not contact the police after their assaults. But, who could those victims trust? The fact that they would likely not be perceived as “innocent victims” halted many from contacting authorities. “What kind of police do you call on the police?“–that was a question of one of the victims, who was only 17-years-old.

Race has factored into this case from the onset. Holtzclaw intended to protect himself by preying on these women with full knowledge of the future juxtaposed images of an All American Football player-turned-cop against black women. While the verdict supplies some justice to these victims, the all-white jury hardly seemed fair with about a 15 percent African American population in Oklahoma City.

Some activists see Holtzclaw’s verdict as a good milestone in a long history of black women as victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse. I agree with and welcome the justice served to this rapist. However, the lack of mainstream media attention garnered by this case validates all the fear these women had in reporting their rapes. It’s an indication of the intersectional obstacles women of color face in our lives, our problems often invisible, and rape culture even more prominent. So, it is an insult to see Holtzclaw’s tear stained face. Are those tears because he did not beat the odds? Or because white privilege did not win out and he did not get away with his exploitative assaults? As for me, I’d rather read through the brave testimonies of these 13 women in their own words than see his tears.

Dorsey Hill

Dorsey is a member of Barnard College’s class of 2016 with a major in Urban Studies and concentration in Political Science. As a native of Chicago and resident of New York City, Dorsey loves to explore the multiple cultural facets of cities. She has a deep interest in social justice issue especially those relevant to urban environments. Contact Dorsey at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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