It's simply entrenched racism. When sexual assault allegations are against a black man, the allegations are usually equated to facts regardless of the evidence to back the allegations or not. Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna died in a horrible helicopter accident and the media couldn't even let the 2003 sexual assault allegations against Bryant ride for even 24 hours while his family grieves.  He was accused, not convicted. The accuser didn't want to take the stand. The accuser asked prosecutors to drop the case. The accuser took a cash settlement. In the United States, women turn down men's sexual advances all day, every day. At no point does Bryant's accuser ever say that he forced her clothes off. So why did the accuser go to Bryant's room after her shift?  I haven't heard one single story in the #metoo era about any women getting pregnant from all of these alleged sexual assaults.  Is that because when women get pregnant by rich men it's #timetoshop and #meWON rather than #timesup and #metoo? I don't believe in the death penalty. However, if we're going to have a death penalty, then I think rape should be a capital crime. That said, our combined legal, media, and social climate seems to be aimed at incentivizing rape accusers by pressuring wealthy men into financial settlements as opposed to ensuring that men who rape women are held accountable for their crimes.  The state does not need the accuser to testify in order for the state to bring a case and we've seen this done several times, especially to black men.

The narrative is that Bryant got away with rape when the narrative could just as easily be that Katelyn Faber lied to police in order to attain a lucrative financial settlement. The difference is that she didn't get arrested and charged for her supposed crime.  It's true that Bryant initially lied to the police about the incident.  Likewise, Faber also initially lied to the police about the incident (fact check me). The medical examiners didn't find any semen matching Bryant's DNA but they did find multiple men's semen (multiple) on the underwear that she wore to her rape examination (fact check me). Black men have been accused of raping white women since we arrived in the Americas and have often been convicted without a shred of evidence beyond the allegation itself. I don't know if Bryant raped the woman or not but if the prosecutors didn't pursue the case because Faber wouldn't testify against Bryant then that means that without Faber's testimony the prosecutors didn't feel that the rest of the evidence was strong enough to convict Bryant. Think about that for a moment. So the case was primarily based on Faber's word and not the evidence collected. Bryant was a millionaire several times over. He had a beautiful wife. He lived in Hollywood with the most beautiful women in the world pursuing him all the time. He's in a different hotel in the country every other night with the most beautiful women in the world pursuing him all the time. ...but Bryant was supposedly so enamored with this one white woman working as a hotel receptionist that he decides to rape her within hours of meeting her? I can't speak for other people but I find that extremely difficult to believe. Is it possible that Bryant raped the woman?  ...yes.  Is it possible that that Faber fabricated the story for reasons of her own?  ...yes.  In either event, the fact is that Bryant’s family couldn't even get a full 24 hours to mourn him without having to deal with this coming back up in the media is offensive to me. Every few weeks, it seems, there is a black man being released from prison or having a conviction overturned on false rape (or murder) charges and we celebrate their release and lament the racial bias in this country (Central Park 5, Brian Banks, and many others). However, when black men like Kobe Bryant, Nate Parker, Jameis Winston, and a few others, do not have their allegations lead to a conviction, the media just treats the allegations like de facto convictions anyway.

The sexual assault allegation against Bryant from 2003 is a part of his story and his story should be told.  However, it seems disrespectful to me that the story is continuing to be told by media outlets as if the allegation was a de facto conviction. The story being told is as if Bryant got away with a crime when we/they don't know that to be the case.  Some of the recent articles after Bryant’s death drudging up the sexual assault allegations read like that of a prosecutor trying to outline a case against Bryant.   Articles of the like are telling the story as if it's unconscionable that a white woman would ever lie on a rich black man for a financial windfall.  That is their right to do so. ...but, to me, it shows the racism behind the stories.  To many white men, it's a tremendously grievous insult that any white woman, especially an attractive white woman, would choose a black man over a white man. There seems to be some kind of psychological defense mechanism in place for many white men, when it comes to a white woman accusing a black man of rape, as many white men feel compelled to support any and all rape accusations or theories of rape rather than accept that a white woman willingly chose to be with a black man rather than a white man.  At least, that's what seems to be at the heart of the matter.  There is no greater insult to a white man in the United States than a white woman choosing a black man over him as her mate.    

Now even more media outlets are bringing up the sexual assault allegations against Bryant. They just can't help themselves.  An article recently posted on a major online media outlet details the sexual assault allegations against Bryant as if the allegations should be taken at face value. The author says that Bryant's defense team "attacked" the alleged victim.  Bryant was facing four years in prison.  Was Bryant's defense team supposed to assist the victim in the case in convicting him? So the idea that a white woman might engage a rich black and famous black man for financial pursuits is not something that should be considered as a possible motive for filing false accusations?  Why should the woman's name be anonymous while alleging sexual assault allegations while the man's name is being dragged through the mud? So if the man has others who have accused him of sexual assault those allegations should be brought forward but if the woman has made previously false allegations then those allegations should have no bearing on the case?  When a man is accused of sexual assault only his character and past behavior should be assessed but the character and past behavior of the woman accusing him is off-limits?  ...really?  How about neither person's name be in the media until there is a conviction in the case? If Bryant had been convicted in the case, I could more understand the case being brought up so quickly. However, the fact that Faber refused to testify and that none of the authors of the articles seem to be looking at her refusal to testify as a possibility that she might have been lying and didn't want to be cross-examined on the stand shows me the blatant racism that is accompanying these articles about Bryant.

Some people point to Bryant's public statement that was released as a condition of the prosecutors dropping the charges. Think about why the prosecutors would demand such a statement from Bryant when their (the prosecutors') own witness is the one refusing to testify. Why did the prosecutors not demand that Faber testify instead of demanding that Bryant agree to make the public statement?! ...and instead of coercing Bryant to do a quasi mea culpa, why didn't the prosecutors attempt to prove their case in court instead?  After all, Faber did bring a civil suit against Bryant.  Wouldn't Faber, presumably, be planing to testify in the civil trial?  So, what evidence would Faber be testifying to in the civil case that would have been "different" than what she'd have to testify to in the criminal case?  ...not much.

Vanessa Bryant has to deal with the loss of her husband and her daughter in an unspeakably horrific accident but to a historically pervasive and entrenched racist segment of this country what is more important than all of the lives that were lost in the accident is that a white woman accused a black man of raping her nearly 20 years ago.  ...because even if Katelyn Faber voluntarily chose to go to Kobe Bryant's hotel room that evening after her shift and had consensual sex with him, and we don't know whether she did or not, it's still an unforgivable slight to many in the eyes of white America that a white woman chose to be with a black man and the racists in this country will look for any and all opportunities to exact retribution for the slight.  ...even when the family of the man is grieving inconsolably.  

Let me put this another way. If Katelyn Faber had died in a horrific helicopter accident with her child and several others, does anyone reading this think that the day after she died that the mainstream news media outlets would have written stories about how Faber possibly fabricated a rape accusation against Kobe Bryant, a married man that she had just met, to get money from him?  Would the mainstream media write articles calling her character into question? Would these same media outlets talk about the lies that Faber told to the police? Would the mainstream media remind you that Faber had underwear with DNA from multiple men on them, none of which matched Bryant? Would these media outlets tell you that DNA evidence discovered from the underwear seemed to suggest that Faber had consensual sex with another man after she claimed that Bryant raped her (fact check me)?  Would the media outlets cast doubt on Faber's credibility for failing to hold Bryant accountable by not testifying against him in court?  Would the mainstream media feel that these details are in any way relevant the day after she died, while her family is grieving?  ...no.  Of course, the mainstream media would not do this to Katelyn Faber.  

So then, why do this to Kobe Bryant?