Race and Privilege In America: Brock Turner Got Six Months For Rape, But Brian Banks Got Five Years and He Didn't Rape Anyone

By now we’ve all read about convicted rapist Brock Allen Turner being sentenced to just six months in jail—he may serve about 12 weeks—by moronic Judge Aaron Persky. And you’ve no doubt heard that Brock’s father, I don’t remember his name, so I’ll call him Fuckwad Turner, who said the six month sentence was apt for what amounted to a twenty minute crime.

Yes, to me, all three of these men rape women, but that’s neither here nor there.

Let’s talk Brian Banks, a former professional football player and current NFL staffer, who said this about Turner’s light sentence:

"I would say it's a case of privilege. It seems like the judge based his decision on lifestyle. He's lived such a good life and has never experienced anything serious in his life that would prepare him for prison. He was sheltered so much he wouldn't be able to survive prison. What about the kid who has nothing, he struggles to eat, struggles to get a fair education? What about the kid who has no choice who he is born to and has drug-addicted parents or a non-parent household? Where is the consideration for them when they commit a crime?"

Banks knows all too well about disproportionate justice. At age 16 he was accused of rape and tried as an adult; he was sentenced to prison for five years and two months of a six-year sentence before his accuser recanted her story in 2012 and he was set free.

"You know a man is guilty, so why aren't we unleashing half of the punishment that was unleashed on Brian Banks when he was innocent and there was no evidence? They gave me six years. They gave him six months." — Brian Banks

For the record, Brian Banks is a Black man, and didn’t go to a school like Stanford and didn’t have the privileges Brock Turner had, and has, and will have when he serves his few weeks. So I imagine it was easy to sentence him to prison for five years.

Take a minute, if you will, and head on over to the Change.org petition that is calling for the removal of Judge Aaron Persky, the Santa Clara County superior court judge who also attended Stanford, like Brock Turner.

Turner used his fingers and his penis to rape that girl.

Judge Persky used a pen.

Fuckwad Turner, AKA Dan Turner, rapist's father, used his words.

They should all be ashamed. And if you believe that justice is equal for all, think about Brian Banks, a young Black kid, who did not rape anyone, but was accused of the crime and served over five years before the 'victim' admitted she lied; then think about Brock Turner, the rich white kid who was caught in the act of raping a girl and given a few weeks as punishment.

Affluenza is real people; if you're rich and white.

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