Public Access America

“I grew up in an era of protest and real change. It seems natural to me to question an order if there is something fishy about it. It seems natural to speak up against injustice and to pressure the authorities to take action against wrong doings.” The Rape of Gertrude Perkins Late one night a young black woman named Gertrude Perkins was walking home from the bus stop when she was accosted by two uniformed white men in a marked police car. They forced her into the car, drove to a secluded area, and raped her. Hours later, she was dumped back at the bus stop with the dire warning to keep her mouth shut or else. Gertrude then faced the choice that every rape victim has--to keep quiet or to report the crime and try to bring the rapists to justice. Only survivors of violent crimes know how difficult it is to come forward and offer evidence against their perpetrators. The rest of us can only imagine. Gertrude had the additional burden of having to go to the police to file a charge against two of their own