Gabrielle Union addressed the rape allegations that continue to follow Nate Parker, her costar in The Birth of a Nation, in an op-ed piece for the Los Angeles Times, which was published on Friday, September 2.
As previously reported, Parker, 36,
and his college roommate were accused of sexual assault when he
attended Penn State University in 1999. He was acquitted, but his past
recently resurfaced when he began promoting the new movie, which he both
wrote, directed and stars in.
Union, 43, was raped at gunpoint when she was 19 years old. She first
publicly opened up about her own sexual assault during an appearance on
The View in February 2014.
"Rape is a wound that throbs
long after it heals. And for some of us the throbbing gets too loud.
Post-traumatic stress syndrome is very real and chips away at the soul
and sanity of so many of us who have survived sexual violence. Since
Nate Parker's story was revealed to me, I have found myself in a state
of stomach-churning confusion," Union wrote in her piece for the L.A. Times."As important and ground-breaking as this film is, I cannot take these
allegations lightly. On that night, 17-odd years ago, did Nate have his
date's consent? It's very possible he thought he did. Yet by his own
admission he did not have verbal affirmation; and even if she never said
'no,' silence certainly does not equal 'yes.' Although it's often
difficult to read and understand body language, the fact that some
individuals interpret the absence of a 'no' as a 'yes' is problematic at
least, criminal at worst," she continued. "Regardless of what I think
may have happened that night 17 years ago, after reading all 700 pages
of the trial transcript, I still don't actually know. Nor does anyone
who was not in that room."
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