While over 30 women have now come forward to publicly accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault only a handful have decided to tell their story in their own words, in detail. Jewel Allison was one of the first women to come forward last November but she has waited until now to give a detailed account of her encounter with Cosby back in the late 80's. Like many of the legendary comedian's accusers, Allison has been dragged through the mud a bit for waiting so long to speak up and as it turns out, her reasoning was more complicated than just clear cut fear.
Allison penned an essay that ran in The Washington Post on Friday and in it, she explained that aside from fearing that people might not believe her, she didn't want to lay blame on another African-American man because there were already plenty of bad examples.
"As an African-American woman, I felt the stakes for me were even higher. Historic images of black men being vilified en masse as sexually violent sent chills through my body. Telling my story wouldn't only help bring down Cosby; I feared it would undermine the entire African-American community. I did not want to see yet another African-American man vilified in the media. As I debated whether to come forward, I struggled with where my allegiances should lie - with the women who were sexually victimized or with black America, which had been systemically victimized." explained Allison.
So many other accusers simply feared going up against a powerhouse like Cosby, who the general public believed was just like his then-character, Cliff Huxtable. Allison is the first to really give a secondary reason to complicate matters for her. As for Cosby, his career is clearly not what it once was and he is relying on concert dates to keep working.
Did you read Allison's essay? What are your thoughts on her story versus Cosby's chronic denials? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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