The Nation - News from Oct. 9, 1988

Tawana Brawley and her advisers, in Chicago for a meeting with Black Muslin leader Louis Farrakhan, called a news conference at which the black teen-ager stood by her story of rape, racism and humiliation by a gang of white men. It was Brawley’s first public comment since a grand jury report concluded she made up the story to avoid punishment for skipping school and staying out late. An adviser, the Rev. Al Sharpton, told the news conference he had found two witnesses to the alleged attack, but refused to elaborate during the hourlong session dominated by searing rhetoric directed at the grand jury, New York Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams and the New York Times. “People are trying to ruin my life to protect their friends and political careers. I have a story to tell and evidence to back it up,” Brawley’s statement said in part.