Woman Says Black Men Kidnapped Her: She Really Went to Disney World

My best friend Greg was shot in the head in 1996, nearly the same time the rapper Tupac Shakur was murdered. Greg was a good man and a good father but he was also a black man, which made his murder seem typical. The media didn't find much interest in my friend's death. His story was covered in the back of the newspaper, in print small enough to be a low-budget classified ad.

The same week, a white mother of three in the same city (Louisville) was murdered on her way to a bank in the suburbs. Her murder was, for several days, the lead story on every TV channel, radio station and newspaper. There was a $25,000 reward issued for information leading to a break in the case. The police held regular press conferences announcing that they wouldn't sleep until the killer was found.

The good people of Kentucky were going to protect their damsel in distress at all cost. The entire city had become a group of Nancy Grace clones, obsessing over every nook and cranny of the case, crying for the woman's orphaned children and holding candlelight vigils. None of this was done for my best friend's daughter, since her daddy's death was just not all that intriguing.

My friend Greg was "only" another dead black man. His daughter, Jasmine, was just another fatherless black girl. In the eyes of the media, her suffering was not as important as that of the little angels from the suburbs who'd tragically lost their mother.

I thought about Greg when reading about the case of Bonnie Sweeten, the Philadelphia woman who claimed she and her daughter were abducted by two black men. Turns out that she wasn't abducted at all: she'd taken a trip to Disney World.

The Bonnie Sweeten debacle reminds us of the case of Charles Stuart in 1990. Stuart, a Boston resident, murdered his pregnant wife and said that a black man was the perpetrator. For weeks, black men were victims of tremendous persecution on the part of local police They were strip searched, taken into custody and humiliated in front of their families. That story was also fabricated.

Photo: AP

Sweeten's sweet little lie makes us ask the following questions:

1) Why is the public so quick to believe it when black men are blamed for violent crimes? Black males are six times more likely to be incarcerated when arrested, even when they commit the same crimes as whites. In the cases of those men who are innocent, one only wonders if the justice system is also swayed by the very same stereotypes that made the public believe that two black men kidnapped Sweeten and her daughter.

"Ever since Susan Smith, it has been fashionable for white women accused of crimes to blame it on black men," says Dr. Christopher Metzler, author of 'The Construction and Re-articulation of Race'. "We hardly live in a post-racial society."

2) Why does the media zoom in on such cases more frequently than when black families are victimized? There are a shocking number of child murders taking place in Chicago right now, but the murders are receiving very little national media attention. If these children were not black, chances are that the media would be all over this epidemic. Does the blonde damsel in distress always get more attention than she deserves?

"Despite her mental illness, Sweeten had a clear understanding of two key components to a national tragedy: distressed white woman and violent black assailants," says Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a Columbia University professor. "The public's deep interest in rescuing white women in distress stands in sharp contrast to the black women, like Latoya Figueroa from Philadelphia, whose abductions go unnoticed."

3) Perhaps we should not go overboard in our discussion of the racism inherent in this case? One must give law enforcement credit for doing a thorough enough investigation to determine that this woman was lying. Had this been another part of the country, say, the same location as the cases of Jamie and Gladys Scott, justice may not have been served. Although there is much work to do, not every police officer wants to incarcerate all black men.

The bottom line is this: It's clear that Sweeten needs psychiatric help. She is currently under investigation for allegedly stealing $300,000 from her former employer, and she hardly represents the typical white female. But we must become conscious of the fact that America overreacts when someone hurts a white woman and underreacts when the victim happens to be black. To think that this perceptive bias is not related to 400 years of racial conditioning would be silly. Nancy Grace and the rest of us must keep in mind that a black life is just as valuable as a white one, and perpetrators come in all ethnicities.

Michael Vick Update

A security guard wearing a shirt with the word "Support" and a photo of suspended NFL player Michael Vick moves traffic cones in front of Vick's home in Hampton, Va., Thursday, May 21, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday and arrived home Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A caravan of vehicles escorting the van carrying suspended NFL player Michael Vick arrives at his home in Hampton, Va., Thursday, May 21, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A van carrying suspended NFL player Michael Vick arrives at his home in Hampton, Va., Thursday, May 21, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Neighbors linger in front of the home of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in Hampton, Va., Thursday, May 21, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday and is due back at his home in Virginia for home confinement. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Members of the media stand in front of the home of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in Newport News, Va., Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday and is due back at his home in Virginia for home confinement. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A private property sign is posted at the home of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in Newport News, Va., Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday and is due back at his home in Virginia for home confinement. The suspended quarterback served 19 months in prison on the dogfighting conviction that capped one of the most astonishing falls in sports history, one that stole his wealth and popularity. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

The media is camped out at the entrance to the home of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick in Newport News, Va., Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Vick was released from prison early Wednesday and is due back at his home in Virginia for home confinement. The suspended quarterback served 19 months in prison on dogfighting conviction. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Nineteen month old London Vick points to an unidentified man, right, as she arrives at the home of her father, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, in Newport News, Va., Wednesday, May 20, 2009. Michael Vick was released from prison early Wednesday and is due back at his home in Virginia for home confinement. The suspended quarterback served 19 months in prison on dogfighting conviction. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy speaks at a workshop for ex-offenders seeking jobs, in Indianapolis on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Dungy is busier than ever, even though he's no longer coaching the Colts. In the past few weeks, he has met with former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick at a federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan., been involved with an education project in St. Louis and attended a Fellowship of Christian Athletes function for flood relief in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Dr Boyce Watkins is a Distinguished Scholar Affiliate at The Barbara Jordan Institute for Policy Research at Texas Southern University. He is also the author of 'What if George Bush were a Black Man?' For more information, please visit www.BoyceWatkins.com. To get Dr. Boyce commentary delivered directly to your email, please click here.