Venoy Overton might be a lot of things: a once-great college athlete, a disgraced alumnus, and, now, in danger of violating the plea agreement he made earlier this year in regards to the misdemeanor charges of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
But Overton is not — at this writing — a convicted pimp, and that’s something at least a few Huskies need to remember.
The breadth of the English language gives its users the opportunity and the pleasure to say the same thing in so many different ways. Usually, this lets us say exactly what we mean (which of us could have gotten through our composition credits without Synonym.com?).
But in some contexts, such as the law, it’s important that very specific words be used and that their very specific definitions be understood.
One Dailyuw.com reader (“Keep him in jail”) commented on The Daily’s June 3 news story about the most recent charges against Overton, “Seriously, does this idiot not take a hint? First he rapes a minor, and now he’s playing at being a pimp.”
I appreciate the willingness to comment on the issue, because it’s an active readership that keeps a news source relevant. However, “Keep him in jail,” Overton has only allegedly acted as a pimp — or, to be more specific, he’s allegedly guilty of promoting prostitution in the second degree, which is a Class C felony.
Thankfully, erroneous claims within comments are usually self-correcting: Another reader (“Reader”) replied, “Venoy is guilty of many things but rape of a minor isn’t among them (at least that we know of).” “Reader,” that’s exactly how I would have phrased it — and similar to the way I have.
It was in another arena that I first heard statements that troubled me in the same way “Keep him in jail”’s words did. Before Overton’s name was even associated with the then-redacted police report in which a 16-year-old girl accused him of sexual assault, my women studies class was deep into a conversation that included phrases like “the basketball player who raped that girl” and “that athlete-rapist,” shouted across dozens of rows of the lecture room. The accusations outlined in that police report never even amounted to sexual-assault charges, much less a conviction; the phrasing used during that in-class conversation, then, was especially distasteful in hindsight.
When a person is in a prominent leadership position, as UW student-athletes often are, it shows exceedingly poor judgment for that person to provide alcohol to teenagers. Knowing that he would be held in the public’s view to a higher standard of behavior should have caused Overton to avoid such incriminating situations. The poor choices we know he has made can influence the way we talk about him. It is very difficult for someone to rid his or her name of a sex scandal, even if it turns out to be a rumor. Indeed, once a prominent individual is brought to trial, the elevated publicity of such charges can mean a guilty verdict rendered by the public before the legal proceedings are over, and a bad name long after. Although the alleged rape charges against Kobe Bryant several years ago were later dropped, people still refer to “The Kobe Bryant rape case” as if the rape had legally existed.
Promoting prostitution is a serious crime, and one for which its commissioners have to be held responsible. If Overton is guilty of the accusations laid out in the charging documents, that puts him among the lowest of the low and confirms behavior involving dangerous, sex-related offenses. That’s exactly why it’s so dangerous and discourteous to suggest he is already. Until and unless Overton is found guilty of the most recent charges against him, let’s refrain from calling him a pimp; the law rightfully allows him the benefit of the doubt, and the language surrounding his name should too.
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