White Freshman Who Terrorized Her Black Roommate Gets Privilege

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In America, White Women Can Get Away With Almost Anything
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HARTFORD COURANT VIA GETTY IMAGES
Brianna Brochu, right, listens as Judge Omar A. Williams addresses her in Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut, on Monday.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entr...a-brochu-roommate_us_5aabfb61e4b0337adf83827f

Former University of Hartford student Brianna Brochu used bodily fluids, including spit and menstrual blood, to contaminate the belongings of her roommate, Chennel “Jazzy” Rowe. Brochu admitted to licking Rowe’s utensils and smearing blood from a tampon onto Rowe’s backpack, but told police she hadn’t done other things she bragged about in now-deleted Instagram posts: adding “moldy clam dip” to her roommate’s lotion and putting Rowe’s toothbrush in “places where the sun doesn’t shine.”

That Brochu’s punishment came more in the form of losing a scholarship than in the form of legal censure suggests Rowe’s victimization was deemed acceptable.

The court gave Brochu “accelerated rehabilitation” and special probation on Monday, basically declaring that the malice with which she acted should not be treated as a reflection on her character. The legal system essentially asserted that her reveling in getting rid of her roommate, whom she called “Jamaican Barbie,” was not inspired by hate.

For those who understand the need to declare not only #BlackLivesMatter but also #SayHerName, this outcome was not surprising. Especially when compared to their white peers, black girls and women receive much harsher treatment for minor mischief. Indeed, black girls and women don’t even have to victimize other people to feel the full force of the law and the public’s disapproval.

This case places a spotlight on how wedded Americans remain to the idea that white women and girls simply do not perpetrate violence.

Because both the perpetrator and victim are women, this case offers an opportunity to consider how gender inflects the racism that greases the wheels of the U.S. (in)justice system. It places a spotlight on how wedded Americans remain to the idea that white women and girls simply do not perpetrate violence. This idea is so seductive that, even when a white woman’s violence cannot be denied, it is apparently part of our American duty to ensure she gets another chance to go back to her presumably natural state of innocence and virtue.

As the Me Too and Time’s Up movements highlight how white women’s victimization hasn’t been taken seriously, it may be tempting to downplay white women’s aggression. That would be a mistake. After all, before it sparked coalition-building across race and class, Me Too demonstrated that white women can assume their own efforts to be unprecedented when they don’t consider women of color. It’s dangerous to critique sexism by flattening out the category “woman” in ways that ignore racism. Doing so can easily erase the work of women of color, as well as their varied experiences with violence.

Black women know better than most: White women sometimes revel in doing great harm.

The dynamic at work in the Brochu case is not at all unusual or exclusive to women, though, so understanding the gender dynamics shouldn’t obscure the broader context. When people of color are wronged by white people, the common response is to find fault with the person of color. When everyone is so busy blaming the victim — black and brown people are just too sensitive, always reading bad intentions into harmless words and deeds — who has time to consider how the perpetrator could improve?

Professor David Leonard has consistently identified Americans’ insistence on manufacturing innocence for white people. The legal system approaches white people with a commitment to “continually aid and abet with innocence,” he wrote in 2013. Mass murderers provide the best example, according to Leonard: The people shooting up schools, churches and movie theaters are overwhelmingly white and male, and the courts, media and American public find ways to humanize them as “troubled” individuals and sympathize with them.

Violence based on a person’s identity has everything to do with the deeply held belief that the only real citizens are straight white men.

The Brochu case involves two young women, and the same dynamic is at play. There was evidence that Brochu’s actions were premeditated and continued over time out of sheer malice and racial hatred, but the court manufactured innocence for her. Understanding the ease with which this happened, and why Brochu’s defense could confidently press for more and more leniency, requires facing a basic truth about Americans’ resistance to acknowledging hate crimes.

My research on the similarities between lynchings 100 years ago and anti-LGBTQ violence today has taught me that violence based on a person’s identity has everything to do with the deeply held belief that the only real citizens are straight white men. Everyone else is a “guest” who should be grateful if they are tolerated and left unmolested. Facing this reality requires acknowledging a simple fact that all Americans are taught to avoid noticing: It matters that the nation’s laws overwhelmingly originated with straight white men. We lie when we act as if that fact is neutral.

White men have a gender and a race that shapes their experiences and worldview just as much as gender and race inform my experiences and perspective as a black woman. American laws have been written to reflect the biases and values of white men. Indeed, they have mostly emerged from white men’s feelings, especially their fear of losing an iota of power. This is true no matter how much everyone is encouraged to pretend that American jurisprudence is detached and based on reason, not emotion.

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HARTFORD COURANT VIA GETTY IMAGES
Chennel “Jazzy” Rowe, Brochu’s former roommate, leaves Superior Court in Hartford on Monday.

It is because a small number of people who are not straight white men ― and who overcame tremendous obstacles to become attorneys and judges, spilling untold amounts of blood and ink to do so ― that some American statutes actually aim to project marginalized groups.

Overall, American jurisprudence has evolved to ensure that “real” citizens (white men) keep their license to do harm because others must sometimes be reminded that they are not truly citizens. Depending on how close someone comes to being a white male ― the demographic that is unquestionably the “real” citizen ― the law will extend similar license, as long as their victim is even more of a “guest.”

In the Brochu case, a lesser citizen, a white woman, did harm to a black woman. No problem. Let’s manufacture some innocence!

This tendency does not simply affect the victims of white criminals; it shapes American culture. Manufacturing innocence for the most despicable white perpetrators inevitably means also manufacturing merit for white people whose only virtue is that they aren’t aggressively terrible.

In other words: As court decisions align with broader values and undeniable patterns in media coverage and public opinion, it is clear that white people hold themselves and each other to incredibly low standards.

If systematically poisoning your roommate with bodily fluids doesn’t bring consequences, white men and women who would not do something so disgusting can think of themselves as damn near angelic — even as they do nothing to make this country less hostile for anyone but themselves. This is surely why the U.S. is full of cities where some high schools look like college campuses while high schools down the street look and feel like prisons. Brianna Brochu has held up a mirror not only to the American criminal justice system but also to society at large. When will all the good and decent white people hold themselves and each other to higher standards?
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Not surprised whatsoever. When I heard of this, I knew the court would make light of the situation, and try to play it off as something very minor. Embarrassing.
:smh::smh::smh::smh::smh:
 
hand2handking said:
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Here's the thing about this woman. You see her every day, everwhere. Not her inparticular, but women just like her. At work carrying her coffee like an olympic torch. At the mall just hanging out or 'power-walking'. In the grocery store eating food she hasn't paid for yet. Texting on the phone while driving about to swerve in your lane. Dragging her dirty feet kids through WalMart who are acting like 2-4 yr old chimpazees. At the beach looking like a beached whale. In the parking lot about to rear end you or back into you because her driving sucks.

At all of these places, when she sees you she asks herself, "what are they doing here?". She is plotting and planning to let you know you don't belong in her space or in her view and she will call upon the power of white Greyskull to get on some racist b.s, then throw a tantrum when she gets checked on it.

"American (white) woman, stay away from me
American (white) woman, mama let me be
Don't come hangin, around my door
I don't wanna see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growin old with you
Now woman, I said stay away,
American (white) woman, listen what I say". - Lenny Kravitz
 
In other news, this dude got thrown the book
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grocery-worker-admits-to-semen-tainted-yogurt/

I realize semen is in a different realm than period blood

The fact that she posted stuff online bragging about it sickens me. It shows it wasn't just a one time thing. Knowing your victim and doing bad countless times shows a pattern of neglect and willfulness. No remorse.

Dude in NM does it once and they have him for 3 years. That was back 7 yrs too. No one has learned.


Wasn't there some fast food workers who messed with cops meals who got thrown the book too. It just doesn't make sense.

Crime doesn't fit the punishment

This was 11 years back.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2007/0...arrested-for-serving-cop-salty-hamburger.html
Judge refused to dismiss the charges. This person probably still had a criminal record compared to this girl who did it countless times. Let that sink in.
 
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Woman Seeks to Start Diversity Group
Student's alleged property tampering inspires woman to launch new diversity group in Connecticut.
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https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...18-11-19/woman-seeks-to-start-diversity-group

HARWINTON, Conn. (AP) — Giovanna Adams is hoping to educate the rural communities of Burlington and Harwinton with a diversity group that aims to start conversations on what she believes is an underlying racial discrimination that exists in small towns.

Adams launched Harwinton and Burlington for Diversity, also known as HB4 Diversity, in November 2017 after hearing about an incident in which a former University of Hartford freshman had been accused of smearing bodily fluid on her black roommate's backpack and other personal items. The accused student, Brianna Brochu of Harwinton, was charged and removed from the university.

"That incident made me want to do something in town to spark change," said Adams, also of Harwinton. "I didn't want any more incidents like that happening. When I heard about that incident, I thought it was disgusting. Hearing people's thoughts on whether or not it was a racist act was mind-boggling. But when I found out (Brochu) was from Harwinton, it was disturbing to know that was produced here."

HB4 Diversity consists of seven additional team members, each bringing his or her own skill set on diversity training. The group also consists of three Board of Education liaisons. Adams said the goal is to work together to bring educational tools to the community and schools to make them more aware of the discrimination that's happening.

"In all small towns without diversity, there's more of an underlying, covert type of racism," Adams said. "People will question if the things they say are racist. We see that more than anything else."

Adams said she had to delete the group's public Facebook page two months ago due to comments rebuking HB4 Diversity's efforts.

"Some people are not ready to accept and understand what privilege is about," Adams said. "When you're not used to talking about things like this, people can go on the defense."

During the group's first year, Adams started a diversity book club. She said the group meets seasonally to discuss a fiction and nonfiction books with a theme of diversity. She said she uses the club as a way to start conversations with residents about how the books relate to diversity issues in their own communities.

"My No. 1 goal is just to start a dialogue so people can feel comfortable when talking about race and diversity," Adams said. "I'm trying to start slowly with this group because it can be threatening to people. They get nervous when talking about topics like race and discrimination."

Harwinton First Selectman Michael R. Criss said he is looking forward to working with Burlington First Selectman Ted Shafer on bringing more awareness to diversity issues in the towns and their Region 10 schools.

"I'm here for passing along information to make sure Harwinton continues to be a great community," Criss said. "This is a great effort for Harwinton, Burlington and Region 10 to partner on and encourage a better way of life moving into a new era. Discrimination, no matter what it is, is unacceptable. You just don't do it. It's wrong."

By the end of this year, Adams said she hopes her nonprofit will become a 501-C. She said she also hopes to bring workshops and speakers into Region 10 schools, and create support groups for the LGBTQ community.

"We're doing this not to change everyone, but because we love the community and want to see it do better for the kids," Adams said. "Everything we do as adults trickles down to the children."

Adams said those interested in getting involved with any upcoming community events should look to the group's website, hb4diversity.org, for updates.
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Exclusive: Jazzy Rowe, Student Who Was Tormented By Her White Roommate, Speaks Out On Sentencing
University of Hartford student Chennel "Jazzy" Rowe talks with Blavity about her case against Brianna Brochu and how she has yet to receive justice.
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Photo credit:Instagram

https://blavity.com/exclusive-jazzy...y-her-white-roommate-speaks-out-on-sentencing

In October, Chennel “Jazzy” Rowe, a black University of Hartford student, was silently, yet violently, terrorized by her white roommate Brianna Brochu.

Unbeknownst to Rowe, Brochu was contaminating her personal care items, poisoning her food, and tainting her backpack with bloody tampons. Rowe became suspiciously ill one month before Brochu’s infamous Instagram post was leaked.

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The school was slow in responding to Rowe’s claims. To be exact, two weeks passed before there was any police involvement and it only happened after Rowe took her angst to Facebook. Due to social media exposure and outrage, Brochu was eventually expelled from the college. Her scholarship was revoked and she was arrested for breach of peace and criminal mischief, pending charges for hate crimes. In the midst of it all, Rowe clearly maintained her composure.

On Wednesday, Brochu was sentenced to probation, which includes writing two essays and completing 200 hours of community service. It was a much lesser charge than the NAACP hoped for in the case. Several news reports of the sentencing claimed that Rowe's presence at the court was because she was in full “support” of her attacker. Connecticut’s News 8 states that she supported Accelerated Rehabilitation, that she did not oppose the lenient plea deal and had hopeful words for her underhanded ex-roommate. People who followed this twisted tale were quite disturbed by this news and raised a million dollar question: why do some black people feel the need to appease white tears in the face of their own black injustice?

The infamous internet troll Tariq Nasheed accused the 19-year-old of "mammyism" and the number of attacks Rowe has received since these reports surfaced is astounding. She's experienced injustice and now anti-blackness. One Instagram user scornfully accused her of having Stockholm Syndrome. Rowe begs to differ. Her responses on social media are in stark contrast to those reports and attacks. Over four months, I personally reviewed how frequently she tweeted her anger, Facebooked her disappointment and Instagrammed her lack of faith in the criminal justice system.

For an exclusive interview with Blavity, in her innocent but gutsy voice, Chennel “Jazzy” Rowe gets candid about her horrifying ordeal. She wastes no time establishing herself far from being a stool pigeon, but rather a black woman who understands the politics of race and bull**** in America.

Blavity: What were your initial thoughts after finding out you were violated by Brianna Brochu?

Rowe: When I first found out, I couldn’t believe what was going on. Literally, when the two resident assistants told me my entire body started shaking uncontrollably. I couldn’t believe it. I was mad as hell and at the same time in disbelief, and realizing I was sick the whole time because of what she was doing. I felt blindsided because the things she was using were right in my face and I didn’t realize it. I thought I was sick because of something else.

Did the discovery incite rage?

JR: I didn’t want to be violent toward her. When I thought about it initially -- her being white -- I felt like me touching her would make my situation ten times worse; regardless if she were in the wrong or not.

What was the reaction of your peers? School faculty? Your parents?

JR: My peers automatically wanted to fight her. I had to convince them that it would only make it worse for us. They were upset -- hella mad. My professors were telling me to go reach out to different people on campus to help me, but I was getting the runaround because no one knew what to do or how to approach it. I told my parents over the phone. My mom was crying; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing was real. My dad was mad. He couldn’t even stay on the phone; he was like "Jazz, I need to call you back.” He was furious. My mom was contacting the school like crazy and couldn’t get answers until I did the Facebook Live. My dad reached out to lawyers.

A lot of kids were mad. I was getting glares and side-eyes from the white kids as if I stepped out of my boundaries. I was really anxious walking around campus and looking around at who was following me. I was paranoid.

What support, if any, did you receive from the school? The public?

JR: The entire black student body was by my side. They related to me. After they found out about me, they started speaking up about incidents they were having on campus with white students and public safety. The Black Student Union had big meetings, where all the black kids showed up. That’s one thing about it, the black community on campus stuck together. I appreciated the public support. The public helped get things moving. If the public didn’t get involved the school wouldn’t have acted. Once the school realized their reputation was on the line, they started responding.

Would you share your medical prognosis? How has the incident affected your mental health?

JR: I had to have a lot of testing done. I had to go to doctor appointments a lot. I was missing a lot of school. I was hospitalized. I had CT scans to track the bacteria. The bacteria affected my nasal and sinus passages to the point my face swells badly. I was on a really strong antibiotic to get rid of it and that also has a lot of side effects. I have to be treated with this strength of antibiotic, for now on, for the slightest sickness I may feel. I’m able to take on a job now. I have to take medication. I lost a lot of weight and we’re working on that getting it back. This has affected my mental health to the point I’m not sleeping at night. I see a psychologist once a week and take long-term meds for that, too.

Why are you not currently enrolled in classes?

JR: The doctor said I was stressing myself and healthwise I wasn’t ready and need to focus on getting better. My health is interrupting my ability to go school. I’m upset by that and feel like time is being wasted. I have a lot more schooling ahead of me.

Was this a racially motivated hate crime? Why do you think it was not treated as such?

JR: When I first mentioned the situation online, I never framed it as racial. The only thing I said about race was how things were being handled. If the roles were reversed and I did those things to her I would have been locked up. But when I observed who she hung out with, the people she associated with on social media to bash me they were all white. The prosecutor said based on their investigation and interviews (of all white people) and because she doesn’t use racial slurs or anything it doesn’t classify as a hate crime --even though she referred to my ethnicity, it is not a racial slur.

Why do you think she received a lesser charge?

JR: I asked my lawyer that question, and why she couldn’t get charged with attempted murder and basically he said: “it's because she didn’t try to kill you.” The proof that we had just didn’t support it.

Do you hate Brianna Brochu?

JR: I don’t hate her. I just strongly dislike her for what she’s done to me. Till this day she has no explanation for why she’s done this.

How do you feel about the sentencing? Do you consider it fair and reasonable?

JR: I don’t. I really don’t. Even though [Brochu] was eligible for the rehab program and everyone knew she would get it, we had some request for her to do in addition to the rehab program and probation. One of them was for her to volunteer and serve in a civil rights or nonprofit organization so she could learn about the struggles of black or oppressed people. The judge told her she could do community service wherever she chose -- like she could tutor kids in her own neighborhood. It’s unfair because Brianna has always stated she never wanted to go to college in the first place only went because she won an art competition and scholarship to Hartford. Being expelled from school meant nothing to her. She’s working and going on with her life as planned. She gets what she wants inadvertently by almost, and possibly, killing me if I didn’t find out. Her criminal record will be cleared, she will do community service and write two little essays about her experience doing 200 hours -- that’s nothing, a middle schooler can do that. In New York, you have to do 100 hours of community service just to graduate high school. If she finishes her service early her probation ends. Where’s the punishment for her crime?

Was there #JusticeforJazzy?

JR: No.

Do you think race played a part in the leniency Brochu received?

JR: I don’t think race played apart in the judge’s decision. She was just eligible for the rehab and probation. I feel like he had no choice in that, but I do feel like he was wrong for denying my request.

Do you feel slighted as a black woman or vindicated in any way?

JR: Yes, I feel like if I was [white] and she was [black] she would have gotten a real punishment. I feel like what they gave her was child’s play. It’s frustrating. She gets to go on with her life unaffected and unpunished for what she’s done to me, and I have to go on with my life affected -- and punished by what she’s done to me.

Your statement at court, even though it was mature and dignified, it gives the impression that you have forgiven Brochu, have you?

JR: In my statement, I said nothing about forgiving anybody. It started with me expressing who I am as a person and all the things I faced because of what she’s done. I don’t forgive her. She has no remorse. The reports about her lawyer apologizing to me on her behalf are untrue. Her lawyer never apologized to me and she never apologized to me. I got no apology whatsoever. They didn't even look at me.

The media has given you backlash for not responding a particular way. Even I am taken back by your poise and control. Have you suppressed your anger?

JR: People haven’t seen my anger. I feel like the media, the public wants to see that stereotypical crazy black woman reaction from me. A huge part of me is not the person that’s gonna go off in public. Yes, I’m really upset. People say I’m too calm [about the incident] and they can’t take me seriously. There are times my parents have to calm me down or I’m in my attorney’s office extremely frustrated and crying uncontrollably. There are certain [things] I wasn’t allowed to say or do. It’s frustrating when I have to sit back to let people talk for me or allow people to assume things that aren’t true about me. I cry out all my anger because I feel trapped.

What are your thoughts about National Walk Out Day? Do you wish there was a similar response to calling out racism in schools and cases like yours?

JR: Yes. There could have been a bigger response because lots of students go through similar things. They can relate to the racism. Because most people ignore it, kids ignore it and think that’s how they are supposed to be treated; this is especially true for black women. It’s one thing to be black, but it’s harder to be a black woman. They expect you to take further abuse -- not stand up yourself, not say anything.

What else do you want people to know about your experience?

JR: That this wasn’t a case between her and me, and I had no control or input on the outcome. I did not go to court support her. I, along with my family, the NAACP and the general public attended to see a glimpse of justice served. It wasn't. Please stop spreading the fake news.

What is next for Chenell "Jazzy" Rowe?

JR: I hope to be cleared by the doctors so I can return to school by next spring. I’m working to cover these medical bills. I hope to be less guarded moving forward.

What is your takeaway from this experience?

JR: I’ve learned what people are capable of.
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A beating wouldnt even be worth it...
This girl poisoned, hospitalized, and impeded education and career opportunities for someone who from what I can tell did little or nothing to provoke malice.

A beating isn't life altering. The Scales aren't balanced. They never will be.

And stories like these that whites refuse to accept as wrongful are the reason reparations ARE a valid request of the federal government... Even though the discussions being had about them are total fluff to get blacks to the polls.
 
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