50 signatures reached
To: Governor Roy Cooper (North Carolina), Attorney General Josh Stein (North Carolina), President Vincent Cooper (Duke University), President Thomas Owens (Duke University Hospital)
Justice for Crystal Mangum
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1. Release Crystal Mangum from prison and return her safely to her family.
2. Provide restitution to Crystal and her children for wrongful time served, miscarriage of justice, and loss of social and economic opportunity.
3. Ensure access to compassionate care for all victims of sexual assault, abuse, and victimization, regardless of social position or ability to pay. This includes access to specially trained, culturally-responsive therapists, counselors, mentors, and healing modalities of our choosing.
4. Divest from prisons that incarcerate survivors and reinvest in programs that support our wellness (e.g. addiction treatment and recovery programs, therapy centers, education scholarships, and job training programs).
2. Provide restitution to Crystal and her children for wrongful time served, miscarriage of justice, and loss of social and economic opportunity.
3. Ensure access to compassionate care for all victims of sexual assault, abuse, and victimization, regardless of social position or ability to pay. This includes access to specially trained, culturally-responsive therapists, counselors, mentors, and healing modalities of our choosing.
4. Divest from prisons that incarcerate survivors and reinvest in programs that support our wellness (e.g. addiction treatment and recovery programs, therapy centers, education scholarships, and job training programs).
Why is this important?
“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
- Ida B. Wells
To Governor Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, the Duke University Administration and President Vincent Cooper, and the Duke University Hospital Administration and President Thomas A. Owens:
In 2006, a young, Black woman contacted the Durham, North Carolina police department alleging she had been raped at an off-campus party held by members of the Duke University Lacrosse Team. As a Black, female freshman student at Duke at the time, I watched that young woman find herself in the center of a vicious legal battle taking place in the public eye. I watched a highly resourced prosecution team use her identity as a young, Black mother working as an exotic dancer to ostracize, villainize, and silence her. Ultimately, they succeeded. The case was dismissed by you, Governor Cooper, and the young woman never saw her day in court.That woman is Crystal Mangum. Say her name.
For years, that very public case and its eventual dismissal defined my college experience. As someone who would experience my own rape at the age of 17 by a group of Duke male student athletes, the message from Duke University, from law enforcement, and from the prosecutors involved in Crystal’s case was loud and clear: Do not believe Black women. I too never saw my day in court. My name is Nana Akua Fobi Duffuor. Say my name.
In 2011, almost five years after gaining notoriety in the “Duke Lacrosse Scandal,” Crystal was tried and convicted of a felony after defending herself in a physical altercation in which her then-boyfriend, Reginald Dae, was inebriated and threatened to kill her. The facts of the case are clear: Regional did not die from the stab wound Crystal inflicted to save her own life; rather, he died from negligence while under the care of Duke Hospital. As devastating as Reginald's untimely death was, we must also ask ourselves, what was Crystal’s alternative?
In this country, too many women, particularly women of color, are incarcerated for defending themselves from their abusers in life-or-death situations. The message from law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges is very simple: You are not worthy of protection and you do not have the right to defend your own life. This rings all the more true if you are a woman of color, poor, transgender, an undocumented immigrant, or work in the sex industry.
That logic, which privileges abusers, coupled with Crystal’s reputation as a “false rape accuser,” earned her inadequate legal defense and an unjust 14-18 year prison sentence that has kept her apart from her three beautiful children for more than seven years. Her children are Anna, R.J., and Kayla. Say their names.
Today, women--particularly women of color--are being incarcerated at alarming rates. Roughly 67% of women in jail are women of color. Nearly half (47%) of black transgender people have been incarcerated in their lifetime. The number of women serving sentences of more than a year grew by 757% between 1977 and 2004--nearly twice the increase of the male prison population.
The majority of these women are survivors of sexual violence, abuse, and victimization. About 75%, and as many as 94%, of women’s prison populations have a history of physical or sexual abuse before being incarcerated. 84% of girls in juvenile detention have experienced family violence. Say our names.
The criminal justice system is not protecting victims, it’s incarcerating them. We demand a change.
Sign the petition today, and join the conversation at http://www.sprintmovement.com/freecrystal
- Ida B. Wells
To Governor Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, the Duke University Administration and President Vincent Cooper, and the Duke University Hospital Administration and President Thomas A. Owens:
In 2006, a young, Black woman contacted the Durham, North Carolina police department alleging she had been raped at an off-campus party held by members of the Duke University Lacrosse Team. As a Black, female freshman student at Duke at the time, I watched that young woman find herself in the center of a vicious legal battle taking place in the public eye. I watched a highly resourced prosecution team use her identity as a young, Black mother working as an exotic dancer to ostracize, villainize, and silence her. Ultimately, they succeeded. The case was dismissed by you, Governor Cooper, and the young woman never saw her day in court.That woman is Crystal Mangum. Say her name.
For years, that very public case and its eventual dismissal defined my college experience. As someone who would experience my own rape at the age of 17 by a group of Duke male student athletes, the message from Duke University, from law enforcement, and from the prosecutors involved in Crystal’s case was loud and clear: Do not believe Black women. I too never saw my day in court. My name is Nana Akua Fobi Duffuor. Say my name.
In 2011, almost five years after gaining notoriety in the “Duke Lacrosse Scandal,” Crystal was tried and convicted of a felony after defending herself in a physical altercation in which her then-boyfriend, Reginald Dae, was inebriated and threatened to kill her. The facts of the case are clear: Regional did not die from the stab wound Crystal inflicted to save her own life; rather, he died from negligence while under the care of Duke Hospital. As devastating as Reginald's untimely death was, we must also ask ourselves, what was Crystal’s alternative?
In this country, too many women, particularly women of color, are incarcerated for defending themselves from their abusers in life-or-death situations. The message from law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges is very simple: You are not worthy of protection and you do not have the right to defend your own life. This rings all the more true if you are a woman of color, poor, transgender, an undocumented immigrant, or work in the sex industry.
That logic, which privileges abusers, coupled with Crystal’s reputation as a “false rape accuser,” earned her inadequate legal defense and an unjust 14-18 year prison sentence that has kept her apart from her three beautiful children for more than seven years. Her children are Anna, R.J., and Kayla. Say their names.
Today, women--particularly women of color--are being incarcerated at alarming rates. Roughly 67% of women in jail are women of color. Nearly half (47%) of black transgender people have been incarcerated in their lifetime. The number of women serving sentences of more than a year grew by 757% between 1977 and 2004--nearly twice the increase of the male prison population.
The majority of these women are survivors of sexual violence, abuse, and victimization. About 75%, and as many as 94%, of women’s prison populations have a history of physical or sexual abuse before being incarcerated. 84% of girls in juvenile detention have experienced family violence. Say our names.
The criminal justice system is not protecting victims, it’s incarcerating them. We demand a change.
Sign the petition today, and join the conversation at http://www.sprintmovement.com/freecrystal
How it will be delivered
We will email the signatures to the North Carolina Governor, Attorney General, Duke University President, and Duke Hospital President.
On Thursday, August 27, 5:00-6:30pm PST (8:00-9:30pm EST) to discuss Crystal's case and our advocacy efforts. Register at https://thisiswhywesprint.eventbrite.com