ABSTRACT
We will probably never know what happened! The shocking news came over the media: Internet, the international news broadcasts, and world newspapers. A black man accused New York City police offi cers of his sodomy at a Brooklyn station. The black man was obviously out of his mind. We need not stretch our imaginations too far to wonder why. After all, many men engage in sodomy. Some men and women prefer anal penetration as part of their normal sexual acts.2 Some men prefer anally to penetrate their sexual partners. What was unique about the case of Abner Louima was the forced sodomy of a black male at the hands of state agents at the end of the 20th century. What was even more disturbing is the societal reaction to the “rape”: for most organizations, it was not a major event.3 Organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), National Organization of Women (NOW), the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum , the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and other progressive organizations said little. Leaders did not suggest another Million Man March to protest such abuse. However, larger questions lurk behind these immediate ones: How did some police offi cers come to believe they could avoid prosecution behind this particular act? Does such an attitude have group psychology origins? If so, what are the cultural mechanisms that allow for the production of such thinking and would it be possible to remain sane in a culture that produced such a worldview?
