Tawana Brawley
Neighborhood Boundaries Cody, Kat and Sarah- Wappinger Falls is located in Dutchess County, New York, which is approximately 76 miles Northwest from New York City along the Hudson River. Neighboring towns of Wappinger Falls are Myers Corner to the Northeast, Middle Hope to the Southwest, Hughsonville to the southwest, and Howland to the Northwest. At the time of the incident, Tawana Brawley was living on Carmine Drive. She was found at her previous apartment complex on Carnaby Drive, which is 3miles from Carmine Drive.
Community Profile Wappingers Falls has an area of 2.955square kilometers and a population of 4,605 people. The town is made up of 90% Caucasian, 5% African American, 4% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 4% Hispanic. Wappingers Falls is not a very diverse town. Minorities only make up 13% of the town. The median household income is $59,722. The Median home value is $157,600. 74% of the population are homeowners and 26% rent homes. Wappingers Falls is a town that is not very diverse and it is mostly middle-class.
Tawana Brawley Tawana Brawley was a black, fifteen-year-old high school student when she was put in the national spotlight. She lived in Wappinger Falls, NY on Carmine drive. She lived in an apartment with her mother, Glenda Brawley, her half-brother Tyice, and her mother’s boyfriend Ralph King. Tawana Brawley was found wrapped in a plastic garbage bag partly unconscious at 17 Carnaby drive. Her body and clothes was smeared with feces. She had racial slurs written on her stomach and face in charcoal. Some of her hair was cut off. Some accounts say that her blouse was full of burn holes, and the crotch of her pants was burned as well. Some accounts leave out important evidence that just adds to the idea that she lie about the whole thing. Some accounts say that she was missing for four days, and others say that a woman while cleaning saw Brawley get in a garbage bag and do this stuff to herself. Brawley later claimed that she had been abducted and raped by six white law enforcement officers. When she was found she was taken to a hospital where she said she would only talk with a black police officer. She told him that she was raped a lot by a white cop in the woods and at least three others. She told him that that officer who she saw the badge of was about 32 years old and wore dark clothing. She also said that the car being driven was dark as well but she couldn’t see who was driving it. She also said that the white officer had referred to someone else as “son”. A few days after Brawley was found, Harry Crist, Jr., a part time policeman who fit the description of Brawley committed suicide. Alton H Maddox and Rev Al Sharpton advised Brawley on what steps she should take in getting the guilty people in trouble. They told her what to tell the media and how to act in public. It was their plan that made many people believe what Brawley said was the truth. On October 6, 1988 the Grand Jury Report was released. The Grand Jury said that there “was no medical or forensic evidence that a sexual assault was commited on Tawana Brawley.” They also said “no plant material was found on Ms. Brawley or her clothing” even though she said she was assaulted in the woods. They also said that “items and instruments necessary to create the condition in which Tawana Brawley appeared on Saturday, November 28, were present inside of or in the immediate vicinity” of that apartment. As Brawley said in her speech before the trial of her advisors she never lied about what happened to her and she stands by that to this day.
Reactions Many people around the country had strong emotional reactions toward Tawana Brawley. Some people supported her and some some supporting Brawley and some mad at her and wanting her punished. Many important people and celebrities publicly told of their reaction to the incident. One of the most notable people who reacted to the case was Spike Lee. At first, he believed that she was telling the truth, but after he heard the decision of the grand jury he changed his mind. He realized that what she said could have been false and stated, “maybe what I thought happened didn’t happen.” He was one of the many blacks that changed his minds about supporting her. Brawley also upset people in positions of authority such as the police and detectives. She made their job hard and made them scared that she might blame them for raping her. They knew she was lying the whole time and they knew that she could accuse them at any moment. They have said that, “they don’t give a damn about her”. On December 14, 1987, the Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, led a march of 1,000 people supporting Brawley. Bill Cosby put up a $25,000 reward for information leading to the truth in the Brawley incident. On April 4, 1988 Al Sharpton and Pete Seeger and others setup a large protest in support of Brawley. There was also a large march in the middle of Manhattan in support of Brawley. Mike Tyson gave Brawley a Rolex watch showing his support of her, and showing that he believed everything she was saying. Everyday that the grand jury investigated the case, there were protesters outside the building led by Al Sharpton. The community of Wappingers Falls had a strong reaction but it was not seen on the national stage because the community is so small consisting of 4,605 people. The community must have been mad at the police officers who would have committed such a crime. And then they must have felt extremely betrayed by Brawley once it was decided that she lied the whole time.
Results The Tawana Brawley ordeal has taken a very long time. A trial surrounding the Brawley incident took place four years ago which is 10 years after the alleged incident. The case against the police officers never went to trial because in 1988 the grand jury decided that nothing every happened to Brawley, that Brawley had lied about the whole thing. Ten years later in 1997 Brawley’s former advisors Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox, and lawyer C. Vernon Mason were sued by Steven Pagones. Pagones is one of the six men accused by Brawley for raping her in 1987. He was a local prosecutor and fit the vague description he sought damages for defamation. On July 13, 1998 after a eight month long trial a jury found the advisors liable. The jury awarded Pagones $345,000 in damages. Sharpton paid $65,000, Madox $95,000, and Mason $185,000. Brawley changed her name to Maryam Muhammad. Brawley spoke on August 24, 1998 at a banquet in Fort Greene, Brooklyn saying that her fight for justice is just beginning. She thanked her advisors Sharpton and Maddox for standing by her. She had prior told supporters in Brooklyn, in December of 1997 that she always told the truth about the attack.
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