Tawana Vicenia Brawley
Tawana Vicenia Brawley (born December 15, 1971) is an African-American woman from New York who gained notoriety in November 1987 at age 15 when she accused four white men of kidnapping and raping her over a 4-day period. On November 28, 1987, Brawley was found in a trash bag after having been missing for four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, New York. She had racial slurs written on her body and was covered in feces. Brawley accused four white men of having raped her. The charges received widespread national attention in part because of the appalling condition in which she had been left, her young age, and the professional status of the persons she accused of the crime (including police officers and a prosecuting attorney). Brawley's advisers—Al Sharpton, Alton H. Maddox, and C. Vernon Mason—also helped in bringing the case to national prominence. After hearing evidence, a grand jury concluded in October 1988 that Brawley had not been the victim of a forcible sexual assault, and that she herself may have created the appearance of such an attack. Steven Pagones, the New York prosecutor whom Brawley had accused as being one of her assailants, later successfully sued Brawley, and her three advisers, for defamation.
Brawley received considerable support from the African-American community. Some academics have suggested that Brawley was victimized by biased reporting that had credited racial stereotypes. The mainstream media's coverage drew heated criticism from the African-American press, and from many black leaders who professed to believe the teenager and her narrative. The grand jury's conclusions decreased support for Brawley and her advisers; Brawley's family have continued to assert that the allegations were true.
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