Dr. Boyce Watkins; Bethany Storro, Acid-face Woman, Apologizes to African Americans…

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(ThyBlackMan.com) In case you don’t recall, Bethany Storro was the woman in Washington who threw acid on her own face and then claimed that a black woman did it. Storro recently pleaded guilty to making a false statement to a public official and was sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence. She must also complete community service, continue her mental health treatment and repay the $4,000 in police overtime that was charged as a result of her false statement.

Most interesting was the fact that Storro apologized to African Americans everywhere for the lie that she told to the police. Arguing that she was “genuinely and desperately sorry,” Storro sought sympathy from the judge right before her sentencing. It’s hard to know if the apology from the 28-year old was legitimate, but there’s no question that she is remorseful about what happened to her.

It can be easily argued that Storro is likely more remorseful about being caught than she is about actually telling her lie. African Americans are sick and tired of being portrayed as criminals, and Storro’s story could have easily led to the arrest of an innocent man or woman. There are quite a few black folks behind bars today as the result of someone seeking out the most convenient suspect, and police buying into society’s long-held stereotypes. The police, however, must be given credit for not believing Storro’s story and doing a thorough investigation into the matter; not every cop is corrupt, in spite of what some people might think.

At the same time, it should be acknowledged that Storro appears to have a serious mental health problem. It’s hard to imagine what it would take for a young woman to throw acid on her own face. So, while I am disappointed in the actions of this clearly disturbed woman, there is a large part of me that feels sorry for her.

The whole incident was sad, disgusting and highly unfortunate. Let’s hope it never happens again.

Staff Writer; Dr. Boyce Watkins

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. For more information, please visit http://BoyceWatkins.com.

Dreggor Gade says:

April 21, 2011 at 10:11 am

Fundamentally, this boils down to a mental health situation. After reading other articles about how the sentencing for her case was decided, it is clear that this is a mental health issue. The race issue, well, it’s terrible, but such a small part of this woman’s lies and actions. She endangered the well being of an entire community and potentially the lives of people who she could have placed in jail and life-long public scrutiny. Terrible.

Overall, though, this is a case where mental health and criminal behavior need to be the center of focus. That’s really the only way to bring clarity to the case. Only once the mental behavior is understood can people like you or I speculate exactly why this woman turned to a racist stereotype with any certainty. Was it a psychopathic, calculated fabrication intended to cause harm? Or was it as has come out in court, that she attempted to commit suicide with the acid but panicked and came up with the cockamamie story because she was suicidal, depressed, and suffering with mental illness?

I don’t know. Maybe the judge was even unsure. The fact that Storro apologized is meaningless and unremarkable; of course practically anyone will apologize in order to reduce his or her court sentence. It would only have meaning if she intentionally did not apologize. That would be an actual statement. However, that was not the case. The racial element in play here can only be understood in this story by first having a clear understanding of the mental illness that spawned both the incident and the false statements she gave to the police and media. Until then, it is impossible to tell just how and why the racial component first came into play.