In case you haven't heard, the rape case against the men accused in what is commonly referred to as the "Duke lacrosse rape case" has been dropped. The reason? The accuser now can't "remember" if her alleged attackers actually had vaginal sex with her. The D.A. says he's still pursuing sexual assault and kidnapping charges.
There are so many reasons to be disgusted with the prosecution in this case. First, the accuser from day one has had trouble getting her story straight. Second, the men have been exonerated by DNA tests. Third, the D.A. withheld those DNA tests for months. Fourth, while he doesn't have a shred of evidence, he's pushing forward with other charges. Luckily, many of his former supporters, including some black people whom he successfully tried to manipulate, are backing down.
But the worst of the worst is the evil done in the court of public opinion by so many on the left who, in typical fashion, wanted these young men hung in the court of public opinion before they were tried in a court of law. When the accusations came out, women's groups and black groups descended on Durham, claiming that this was another case of women and blacks being attacked by white men. But it's the racists and sexists like Jesse Jackson who are the evil perpetrators in this case. Racist (some call them "minority") groups and women's groups should send personal apologiest to the young men accused in this case, and they should send checks - lots of them - for the unjust way they attacked the characters of these young men and got them suspended from Duke (they were reinstated this week).
Hopefully we as a culture can learn to not jump to conclusions, and to stay away from whipping out accusations of sexism, racism and homophobia where they don't exist. But as long as there are politicians who can use these to get ahead, unfortunately we'll continue to here them.
I am not shocked at the actions of the prosecutor in this case at all. It seems that so many prosecutors are out to make a name for themselves or believe so much in stomping out crime that they forget that it is important to go after actual criminals, not anyone that is accused of something. It is also vital to use facts.
Posted by: Brian | January 08, 2007 at 09:03 PM
I agree, it's unjust that these men should have been characterized as rapists.
We always tell women that they need to be more careful and not put themselves in situations where they could be raped.
Perhaps men need to be more careful about putting themselves in situations where they could be accused of rape. This may sound like a radical notion, but perhaps a group of men belonging to the same sports team should not hire a random stripper in a college town to dance, alone, in their house. I'll admit, as a gay man who was not a part of a team sport in college, I many not understand that culture, but I'd say a little commen sense is in order.
Posted by: Tim Wilson | January 08, 2007 at 11:32 AM
I doubt that any of these groups would try to right their wrongs of publicly attacking and destroying innocent young men.
Black racist are just racists and don't care about being right or wrong. They will just lay in wait for a suitable environment to flurish and claim that others are racists as they continue to remain blind to their own actions.
Women's groups are deserately trying new ways to "spin" the Nifong Rape Case into an attack against women (i.e. "now all rape victims won't be believed", "this sets the women's rights movement 20 years", etc...), completely ignoring the true victims of the Nifong Rape case who had their lives ripped apart by the "rape accuser" who made the false claim of rape. Women's groups do not want to give up their owner ship of the "victim's card" because marketing that only women are victims, while ignoring the victimization of men and boys have gain women's groups multi billions in federal and state aid.
Posted by: Nice Guy | January 08, 2007 at 08:51 AM