Many people have weighed in about a rape case involving Nate Parker who wrote, directed and stars in the upcoming film Birth of a Nation and one of those people happens to be another of the film's stars Gabrielle Union.
In an essay published in the Los Angeles Times, Union admitted that she was raped several years ago and hearing about Parker's rape case sickened her.
“Twenty-four years ago I was raped at gunpoint in the cold, dark backroom of the Payless shoe store where I was then working,” the actress wrote. “Two years ago I signed on to a brilliant script called The Birth of a Nation, to play a woman who was raped. One month ago I was sent a story about Nate Parker, the very talented writer, director and star of this film. Seventeen years ago Nate Parker was accused and acquitted of sexual assault. Four years ago the woman who accused him committed suicide.
“Since Nate Parker’s story was revealed to me, I have found myself in a state of stomach-churning confusion,” she continued. “I took this role because I related to the experience … I knew I could walk out of our movie and speak to the audience about what it feels like to be a survivor.”
In 1999, Parker and another Penn State student, Jean Celestin, who also worked on The Birth of a Nation, were accused of raping a female classmate. The case went to trial and Parker was acquitted in 2001. Celestin was initially convicted but later had that conviction overturned in 2005. He was granted a new trial, however, the accuser refused to testify again. In 2012, she took her own life.
Union went on to say that after reading the trial transcripts she still does not know the truth about what happened on that night 17 years ago, but she hopes that this film will bring awareness to the issue of sexual violence.