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| The biggest scandal |
| 2006-05-19 |
| By Thomas Sowell May 17, 2006 The worst thing said in the case involving rape charges against Duke University students was not said by either the prosecutor or the defense attorneys, or even by any of the accusers or the accused. It was said by a student at North Carolina Central University, a black institution attended by the stripper who made rape charges against Duke lacrosse players. According to Newsweek, the young man at NCCU said that he wanted to see the Duke students prosecuted, "whether it happened or not. It would be justice for things that happened in the past." This is the ugly attitude that is casting a cloud over this whole case. More important, this collective guilt and collective revenge attitude has for years been poisoning race relations in this country. It has torn apart other countries around the world, from the Balkans to Sri Lanka to Rwanda. Nor is there any reason to think that the United States is exempt from such polarization. At one time, the black civil rights leadership aimed at putting an end to racism, and especially to the perversion of the law to convict people because of their race, regardless of guilt or innocence. Today, this young man at NCCU represents the culmination of a new racist trend promoted by current black "leaders" to make group entitlements paramount, including seeking group revenge rather than individual justice in courts of law. This attitude poisoned the O.J. Simpson case and it is now polarizing reactions to the Duke University case. Racial polarization is a dangerous game, especially dangerous for minorities in the long run. Tragically, the way the Duke case is being handled, it looks as if District Attorney Michael Nifong is pandering to these ugly feelings. Legal experts seem baffled as to why he is proceeding in the way that he is because it is hard to explain legally. It is not hard to explain politically, however. The District Attorney may well owe his recent election victory to having tapped into the kinds of racial resentments expressed by the young man at North Carolina Central University. Now Mr. Nifong is riding a tiger and cannot safely get off. His bet best may be to let this case drag on until it fizzles out, long after the media have lost interest. His extraordinary postponement of the trial for a year suggests he understands that. In the meantime, the taxi driver who provided the first airtight alibi for one of the accused Duke lacrosse players has been picked up by the police on a flimsy, three-year-old charge, supposedly about shoplifting. He was held for five hours for questioning -- reportedly not about shoplifting, but about the Duke rape charges. Does this smell to high heaven or what? The taxi driver himself is not accused of shoplifting. But two women who were passengers in his cab were. Since when are taxi drivers held responsible for what their passengers did before or after being in their cab? What purpose can this harassing of the taxi driver serve? His account of what happened in the Duke rape case has already been corroborated by a surveillance camera at the bank to which he took one of the lacrosse players, as well as by other time-stamped records indicating where his passenger was during the time when he was supposed to be raping a stripper. If the prosecution cannot discredit the taxi driver's statement in a court of law, what can they gain by harassing him? One thing they can gain could be to at least stop the cabbie from going on television again to repeat what he has said before. If nothing else, the harassment can serve as a warning to anybody else who might feel like coming forward with testimony that undermines the prosecution's case. Is this America or some banana republic? Some people in the media saw this case from day one as a matter of taking sides rather than seeking the truth. They want to be on the politically correct side -- for a black woman against white men -- and the facts be damned. If such attitudes prevail, we will indeed become a banana republic. Or worse. |
| Posted by:mcsegeek1 |
| #10 "young man at NCCU" obviously not a criminal justice major, must be poly sci |
| Posted by: Xenophon 2006-05-19 22:20 |
| #9 she's made similar accusations in teh past. Nifong should be recalled and charged with misuse of funds for re-election. She's a liar and he's inflamed racial tensions for his own beefit. Remove his BAR license. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-19 21:54 |
| #8 I'm about 3 hours from Durham. The news said that the accuser is former navy but she did not serve her full enlistment. She *claims* she got thrown out of the navy for getting pregnant - my bullshit meter immediately spiked. If one digs deeper I've got a "country boy special breakfast" that says she was thrown out either for psych or medical incapabilities or some other gold brick shit. I've never heard of any females in recent history being asked to leave the mil for having kids out of wedlock. If that we're the case then about 10% of the Marine females I know would've been asked to leave years ago. If I were the defense attorney for these guys I'd be digging up her mil record - I bet it's full of *irregularities*. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-05-19 21:19 |
| #7 This is out of Nifong's hands. One of those three young men comes from a family sufficiently well off to finance a lawsuit on behalf of the entire team and the former coach against Nifong, personally and officially, the city of Derm and Duke University for denial of civil rights, malicious prosecution and defamation with damages based on the impact on the earnings of 30 Duke grads over the next 40 years. If Nifong doesn't bring the case, you only need to file the suit in the Federal District Court of the kid from New Hampshire and start negotiating with the insurance companies. Derm will be the big loser, but they deserve it if they want to let Nifong play these racist games. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-05-19 18:34 |
| #6 IMHO - this is a bad choice (2 black strippers with criminal records and diminished capacity) a POS lying self-interested Prosecutor facing a reelection, and a bored MSM. Could eventually lead to racial inflamed wars... Thks DA Nifong, asshole |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-05-19 18:02 |
| #5 So much for the right to a speedy trial..... (Or to innocence until proven guilty for that matter...) |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-05-19 17:35 |
| #4 Gotta wait 'til after the fall elections, Steve. When the DA is safely reelected, the charges can be quietly dropped. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-05-19 17:28 |
| #3 Trial put off for a year? I don't know North Carolina law at all, but isn't there a way for the defense to force the trial to start? Justice delayed is justice denied. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-05-19 17:22 |
| #2 The race baiting industry is indeed partially responsible but the real fault lies both with those on the political left who never met a minority who wasn't a victim in need of compensation and with all of us for failing to say, "Enough!" and put a stop to this nonsense. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2006-05-19 16:42 |
| #1 According to Newsweek, the young man at NCCU said that he wanted to see the Duke students prosecuted, "whether it happened or not. It would be justice for things that happened in the past." Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and the 'reparations' crowd are directly responsible for this attitude. If you want a race war, this is definitely the way to go. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-05-19 16:17 |