Wells also sought to call out the complicity of white women in this racial terror propagated against Black men. Not only weren’t they victims, but they were often engaging in consensual, though illicit, sexual relationships with Black men. Sometimes these women would cry rape when they were caught in the act. Sometimes the white men in their lives would cry rape for them. These white women’s tears proved deadly for Black men and Black communities. Meanwhile, the white men who were outraged over the rape of white women often raped Black women with impunity.
