[rogue yam]

I think the "were never held liable for it" was referring to the white rapists, not the black victims.

Of course that is what the author meant. My point, which I think I made sufficiently clear, is that the author made a boneheaded mistake in his first sentence. If one is in the business of writing opinion pieces, this is unacceptable.

[zaxxon]

Point taken, and sorry I misunderstood your post. I'm reminded of a quote from the Bertolucci pic "The Last Emperor,":

Reginald Johnston: "Words are important."
Emperor Pu Yi: "Why are words important?"
Reginald Johnston: "If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say, and a gentleman should always mean what he says."