sexual assault
-
![Bye, Phylicia: Social Media Reacts to Phylicia Rashad's Message of Support for Bill Cosby's Overturned Sexual Assault Conviction [Updated]](https://assets-server.theroot.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/25153302/e3b6f67a8092d7f68668b7cf5662cba0-300x169.jpg)
Bye, Phylicia: Social Media Reacts to Phylicia Rashad's Message of Support for Bill Cosby's Overturned Sexual Assault Conviction [Updated]
‘The Cosby Show’ actress’ tweet sparked mass outrage and disappointment.
-
'We Have to Ensure Accountability': Anita Hill to Launch an App Identifying Serial Abusers in Entertainment
Prior to being portrayed by Kerry Washington in 2016’s Confirmation (HBO), few people would’ve associated esteemed attorney and academic Anita Hill with Hollywood. Understandably, the longtime professor of women’s studies and social policy and law in Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management had largely stayed out of the spotlight after reluctantly entering…
-
Louisville Metro Police Accused of Hiding More Than 730,000 Records Related to Sexual Abuse of Minors by Officers
The Louisville Metro Police Department is accused of concealing at least 738,000 records documenting the sexual abuse of minors who participated in the Explorer Scouts Program—the department’s mentoring program for youth considering professions in law enforcement—by two police officers and then lying to keep the records from coming to light. The Courier-Journal reports that the…
-
Former Louisville Officer Involved in Breonna Taylor Shooting Faces Lawsuit for Sexual Assault
In June, The Root reported that former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison—one of three officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor and the only officer facing charges related to the shooting (essentially for the bullets that missed, but whatever)—was accused of sexual assault by two women who posted about their experiences on social media. On…
-
Op-Ed: Alicia Garza on the Insidious Silencing of Black Women Sexual Assault Survivors: 'We Are Told to Be Quiet'
I was in high school when I was assaulted by someone I knew. I grew up believing rape happened to people who didn’t know better—or should have known better. My stories of sexual violence, the ones I believed, were those in which a woman had agency and didn’t use it. When I was assaulted, I…
-
How Does Phylicia Rashad Feel About People Who Can No Longer Watch The Cosby Show Due to Bill Cosby's Sexual Assault Conviction?
It’s been about five years since Phylicia Rashad’s comments about the women who accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault and misconduct prompted a flurry of discussion, debate and disappointment—and now, she’s speaking out once again. In 2015, the quote “forget these women” made the rounds in the news cycle, in reference to Rashad’s interview with…
-
With Help From Ayanna Pressley and Anita Hill, Me Too Launches Its First Survivors’ Agenda Summit
In the three years since the Me Too movement entered mainstream discourse, much progress has been made—namely, belated focus upon long-alleged, and in some cases, now-convicted predators, and the beginning of a reframing of the way in which we acknowledge and speak about the spectrum of sexual abuse, from harassment to assault. For Tarana Burke,…
-
Me Too and Essence to Host the Black Women and Girls Survivor Town Hall Featuring Tarana Burke and Angelica Ross
We are in the midst of a renewed focus upon Black safety and survival—and Black female political power—and yet, as we were reminded by our peers at Essence today, “While Black women have the highest turnout rate at the polls, they also have the [second] highest rates of sexual assault,” eclipsed only by Native American…