To my African-American sisters: Please stop defending Va. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax

Black women, it’s time to stop demonizing other black women who call out black men for sexual assault.

It’s appalling the way Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson have been attacked on social media for publicly accusing Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assaults that they say occurred nearly two decades ago.

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Tyson, a college professor and author, has said Fairfax forced her to perform oral sex in 2004 during a hotel encounter at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Watson has said Fairfax raped her while they were students at Duke University in 2000. Fairfax says both sexual encounters were consensual and has called for an FBI investigation into the allegations.

I say bring it on. In the meantime, though, people should stop trying to tear the accusers down.

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African-American women, in particular, are viciously questioning the women’s credibility, some going so far as to suggest the accusers are participants in a scheme orchestrated by white people to bring another powerful black man down.

Fairfax, a rising star in the Democratic Party, was poised a week ago to take over if Gov. Ralph Northam had been forced to resign over the blackface controversy. Now, the lieutenant governor is facing calls from Democrats and Republicans to step down himself over the sexual allegations. And some African-Americans don’t like it.

“It’s a conspiracy to get a Republican Virginia,” one woman wrote on Facebook. “This has nothing to do with #MeToo.”

Some might ask why Fairfax should resign and Northam shouldn’t. If the allegations are true, rape is a crime. Wearing blackface isn’t.

Women have nothing to gain by publicly bringing sexual assault allegations against powerful men, regardless of their race. Black women, in fact, have everything to lose.

One in five African-American women report they were raped at some point in their lifetime, according to a National Violence Against Women Survey. In addition, 41 percent of black women have experienced sexual coercion and other forms of unwanted sexual contact, the survey said.

It is much harder for many people, including other African-Americans, to believe a black woman who says she was raped than it is to believe a white woman who makes such a claim. To make it worse, society tends to blame black women for the attack. Unfortunately, many black people do too.

There should be little surprise that, according to statistics, only 17 percent of black women will report their assault, compared with 44 percent of white women.

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From as far back as slavery, black women have never been granted equal protection under the law when it comes to sexual assault. As a result of that legacy, black women remain reluctant to bring charges because of the bias against them in the judicial system.

But the attacks they receive in the court of public opinion are the most difficult to understand. The historical stereotype of black women as hypersexual beings makes them easy to dismiss as victims. In the black community, sexual violence against women is too often swept under the rug. With so many other issues on our plate, it’s a nuisance that some of us would rather not have to bother with.

But more than that, this country’s racist history of painting black men as sexual predators has had a devastating impact on our community. Often, black women are the only ones who have believed in these African-American sons, fathers, brothers and husbands.

So I realize the importance of standing by our men. And don’t get me wrong — the overwhelming majority of them deserve our unwavering support when confronting social imbalances that judge and punish them much harsher than white men.

We have seen black men taken to task too many times for things they didn’t do. We know how vulnerable they are to false accusations of sexual assault. And we know that the legal system is rarely on their side.

On the issue of sexual assault, all men should be treated equal. But so should all women.

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Sexual assault has no racial barriers. Black men, white men, Hispanic men, Asian men and every other race of males has these demons within their ranks. And their women always have had to choose whom to believe when an accusation is made.

It isn’t always an easy choice. Sometimes the facts don’t line up. Sometimes we think we know a man so well that it is impossible to conceive that he could do such a thing. Sometimes we just can’t admit that we were wrong about someone.

But I have been stunned by some of the conversations I’ve had with African-American women regarding the Fairfax accusations.

The most common comments are, “Let’s just wait and see what happens.” And, “You know some women lie.”

Social media is full of conspiracy theories. Some are convinced that these are selling out African-Americans by coming forward. Here are just a few of their posts.

“This man ran several campaigns and these ladies were crickets. Now all of a sudden here they are. Something is wrong here.”

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“He’s a straight black man so he must be guilty by default.”

“Any vengeful person can make an accusation. Provide proof to be believed.”

There’s nothing wrong with seeking the truth. But when an African-American woman comes forward to talk about a sexual assault, everyone should listen. And African-American women, especially, owe her their full support.

dglanton@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @dahleeng

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