Daphne Macklin
1 min readAug 13, 2020

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My worse moment as an attorney happened the morning after I had spent the night supporting a sexual assault victim as a rape crisis volunteer. The woman had been assaulted by a man who she knew as a family friend who had offered her a ride as an alternative to waiting for a bus. Rather than a ride, she was attacked and then driven to what her assaillant thought was a remote rural area IN ANOTHER COUNTY! where she was pushed out of the car.

Fortunately, there was a house nearby, the residents were willing to help a young Black woman who had appeared at their door late at night. The local sheriff's department responded promptly, connected with the police force in the location where the woman had been attacked and arrested the perpetrator.

I had taken the woman for some breakfast after her long, horrible night. I offered to be her support person at court. I remember she shook her head and said no, she was not going to be responsible for sending another Black man to prison.

Just how perverse is a justice system that discourages a woman from having a man who attacked her so viciously face some form of justice. Black prosecutors are needed to make certain that Black victims of crime get justice.

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