How did Daniel Holtzclaw get away with it for so long? Because his victims were thought of as unrapeable

Over 1000 police officers were decertified for sexual assault between 2009 and 2014. These police officers are part of a larger system in the United States which sanctions the abuse of Black women, silences them after they have been abused, and delegitimises their pain

Daniel Holtzclaw picked out vulnerable and troubled black women in poor neighbourhoods to sexually abuse (AP)

There are few things more consistent than gendered and racial hatred in the United States. The Daniel Holtzclaw case represents a space where those two things intersect. Sadly, this also reflects how certain demographics, like Black women, go overlooked by systems of justice and are susceptible to exploitation by the very authorities meant to protect them.

In what has been called the “greatest abuse of police authority”, Holtzclaw was found guilty Thursday of 18 counts of rape, sexual battery, and forcible oral sodomy. The all White jury - comprised of eight White men and four White women - deliberated for four days before recommending 263 years in prison as the punishment for Holtzclaw’s crimes committed between December 2013 and June 2014.

Holtzclaw, 29, was an Oklahoma City police officer up until January 2015 when allegations of rape and sexual abuse came from over a dozen Black women around the northeast area of the city. This area is reportedly one of the poorest in the area.

For the most part, these women were said to have prior criminal issues like warrants and drug offenses which Holtzclaw used to intimidate, exploit, and abuse them. These women’s accounts detailed the predatory behavior of Holtzclaw which included following women home, threatening them with legal retribution, and forcing them into sexual acts all while on duty and in uniform. They felt compelled to comply with Holtzclaw because they were concerned he might arrest them.

While this is a momentary cause for celebration, in that it criminalises this man who preyed upon vulnerable Black women, it does beg the question: how was he able to do this for months before any other police authorities noticed?

The answer is simple: in the United States, Black women have been stereotyped as hyper-sexed, caricatured as physically resilient and incapable of feeling pain, and have been rendered invisible by most in the mainstream media.

For centuries, Black women’s bodies have existed a objects for public exploitation. It wasn’t until 1959 in the case of Betty Jean Owens that a harsh sentence was issued for the brutal rape of a Black woman by four White men. For decades and even centuries before that, Black women were raped and murdered with virtual impunity. Historically, rape has really only mattered to most White people if it happened to White women. This story is no different.

The negative ideas about Black women in the United States leaves them susceptible to types of brutality that their male counterparts don’t face. This is especially unsettling when it has been determined that over 1000 police officers were decertified for sexual assault between 2009 and 2014. These police officers are part of a larger system in the United States which sanctions the abuse of Black women, silences them after they have been abused, and delegitimises their pain by rarely criminalizing the perpetrators of this cycle.

These narratives are often used to justify harsher treatment from police authorities and has resulted in staggering rates of incarceration for this social group. Many of these incarcerated women have also been victims of sexual abuse while imprisoned.

In essence, Daniel Holtzclaw knew to rape women who would be seen as “unrapeable” and whose personal lives and the stigma attached to them might overshadow his decisions to sexual assault them. The worst part about it is, he was right - at least to some extent. He was able to prey on these women for months without consequence. And, now, the mainstream news isn’t holding him fully accountable either.

Thankfully, Holtzclaw was finally held responsible for his crimes. But this case does highlight the fact that so many Black women were abused before anyone even noticed - a fact that I, as a US citizen, feel very ashamed of.