When one of my friends was 15, both of her parents were murdered. Police never found out who did it, but from that day on her world was turned upside down. She had nightmares, she became angry lashing out at the world, she had to go live with her grandparents and change schools, she dealt with a lot of depression and always the thought that she never got a chance to say goodbye to either of her parents.
Now just imagine if by some miracle all these years later, the killer was found along with proof that he did in fact kill her parents. What if this guy now had 2 young children and worked in a school and was a prominent figure in the community? Do we assume that he should not go to jail because now he's a "better person?"
This is the question that has bothered me in so many of the responses in relation to Bill Cosby. This whole idea that he's now just this sad old man who is blind and shouldn't just die in prison. People are still pointing to all the good he's done as some sort of justification for not wanting him to go to jail?
But what about all the bad he's done?
What about the women he's scarred and tried to silence with his money and power over all these years? What about the struggles they had to endure? I cannot imagine approaching my friend and telling her that the killer of her parents is such a decent person now that he deserves no jail time for what he did to her family. I can't imagine telling an aunt that we should just let Bill Cosby be because he's old and not seek justice for her if that were her.
It's easy to divorce yourself from the situation if it's not you or your family, but I know if this happened to your family, a lot more people would have a different opinion, but because of the passage of time, or his age, or his celebrity status, or his philanthropic work, people forget that there are very real victims of these crimes who have been waiting decades for this day to come, and why should they be denied that? Why should we, who are not victims of the abuse, the rape, the druggings, the silencing--- be so easily able to say, let him walk?
This isn't a case of he said, she said now. This is and was a case in which wrong doing was admitted in court. This was a grown man at the time who decided to do what he did and repeated these actions over and over again...because he could, and now justice has caught up with him, and I for one am glad of it. People should know that if someone does wrong to you, that there can actually be some form of justice given for the hell and pain and suffering you or your family and friends have had to endure as a result.
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