If anything is to be learned from Jameis Winston case, it is to "avoid"

It has just been announced after a three-week “reinvestigation” that no charges will be brought in the sexual assault case against Florida State quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Jameis Winston. It probably should come as no surprise that my views on the matter go beyond the “knowable” facts. Questions regarding the social order inevitably take center stage in my head.

Of course, what “facts” there are in the Winston case are hardly enough to blow away the media-driven smog and reveal the light of truth.  It seems that the accuser was intoxicated the night of the alleged assault. Her memory was apparently “murky” about what happened, and witnesses who were present did not offer helpful insight into the parts she “forgot.” I can’t vouch for the veracity of the following--being the work of amateur Internet sleuths--but I will mention it for rumination: Two supposed witnesses claimed that the accuser was the sexual “aggressor” in the incident that they observed that night, after Winston told her he was splitting with her because his “real” girlfriend was coming to town. According to another story, the accuser was a member of a campus group that referred to itself by the twitter handle “#FSUcleaterchasers.” Not only that, but the accuser allegedly had posted photos of herself with Winston all over her Facebook page to “prove” it. Both the twitter handle and the Facebook account have since been deleted. 

The name of the accuser has also been revealed, although I won’t mention it, save to say it is the kind that belongs to your typical person of social privilege. Also not surprising is the fact that she is white, and blond. A photograph of her shows her standing in a doorway with a sorority sister, also a blond. The accuser is obviously not opposed to revealing every inch of her well-formed legs. Both women are smiling and seem typical of people for whom the world is their oyster. The accuser was apparently a FSU student until TMZ leaked the case which had been “dead” since February, allegedly because the accuser was no longer “cooperating” with the initial investigation. I wonder how often she encountered Winston on campus during all this time—especially after he became the toast of the school--and what her thoughts were.

There are other variables that make little sense. The accuser’s description of the attacker was that he was 5-10 or 11, and Winston is 5 to 6 inches taller than that. Based on this description, Winston—who claimed that the coupling they had was “consensual,” while the two aforementioned witnesses stated that she was “on top” during the event—apparently believed that someone else was the alleged attacker, so he willingly gave a DNA sample. There was a positive match, so the media jumped to the “obvious” conclusion that he was “guilty.” But the accuser was busy that night, because her “rape kit” also revealed the presence of DNA from a second individual—her boyfriend at the time. This individual provided a DNA sample that was also a positive match, but he otherwise refused to cooperate with investigators. 

Then there was the question of the motive of the “leakers” of the allegation. We all know that TMZ is a bottom-feeder as far as “news” outlets are concerned, but there are plenty of others with a motive to keep the story alive. The accuser’s attorney just happens to specialize in personal injury cases; money, of course, motivates these folks. The problem with that scenario is that if Winston was convicted and jailed, it is unlikely that there is money in it for the lawyer or the accuser, except from the accuser’s family, which I suspect is well-heeled anyway and only interested in the daughter’s “purity” of reputation and  body. There are also rumors that persons with an interest in the success of rival schools leaked the accusations in order to cause FSU to stumble out of the national championship picture. Or maybe the accuser did the leaking herself, because she found it a personal “affront” that Winston was walking around receiving all these accolades, and she was just another blond, self-important but still indistinguishable from thousands of others on campus—and a “rejected” one at that. 

So enough of that. I wasn’t there, and neither were almost everyone else in this country with an opinion. But as I stated at the top, what bothered me most about this story was that it was yet again involving a black male and a blond white female. Yes, Winston was a “big” man on campus, and it wasn’t surprising at all that the blond, white female would seek to “enhance” her own inflated self-image by being seen with a star athlete. If he ever became a star in the NFL, she could whisper to her cliquish girlfriends that she “knew” him. 

But that doesn’t mean that certain “barriers” don’t exist. When I was in college, I was sitting in a class when, for reasons that still remains a mystery to me, a deathly pallid blond female student blurted out that she was not a “racist,” but would never “marry” a black man. It being a southern school, such beliefs didn’t have to be enunciated out loud; they were just assumed; but coming out of the silly mouth of a supposedly “educated” person, the response from those present was perplexed silence. To my way of thinking, there is a fine line between racism and making decisions based on race, and she crossed that line just by opening her mouth; she must have had race on the brain for some time, and was trying to “rationalize” her feelings of prejudice by reshaping it into a form that would allow a certain measure of “moral” equilibrium—as if claiming not to be a racist “negates” a racist thought. Of course, she could have just said “I don’t find black skin attractive,” rather than make the insinuation there is something “wrong” with a man who is black—or any other male from a non-white, non-racially “pure” group. 

I don’t know all the “facts” in the Winston case, but one thing I do know is that in our society, tall, chiseled white people with blond hair are regarded as the pinnacle of human creation (or so the Nazis believed), and the women are especially seen as the “height” of female “perfection.” Of course this is propaganda, but they believe it and act as if it is true. While there might be some short-term “feel-good” barrier breaking, in the long-run, social pressure is always stronger. It is a mistake, for example, for a black male athlete to assume that his “fame” is enough to overcome prevailing social mores; for white women, after the initial allure of an interracial coupling has worn off, they wonder how they ever got themselves into a relationship that is frowned upon by family, friends and provincials generally. It should be pointed out, however, that the dynamic is much the opposite between white males and minority females; but then again, I prefer to see myself as a soldier--not a strumpet.

The bottom line is that non-white males like Winston should know that they are asking for trouble getting involved with white—and especially blond—women. They don’t regard the dynamics of the relationship the same way you do; they are “superior” and you are “inferior”—and if you don’t know your “place,” you might find yourself in a police blotter. It is better to avoid—just look straight ahead and keep walking.