Posted on 12/24/2006 6:00:25 AM PST by Raebie
RAPE CASE Blacks aren't judging Nifong
Community leaders await next step after dropping of charges
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ fordonez@charlotteobserver.com
While scrutiny of the Durham district attorney's handling of the Duke lacrosse case intensifies, key members of the county's influential black community still back the prosecutor, though cautiously.
The district attorney, Mike Nifong, dropped rape charges Friday against former players David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann after the 28-year-old accuser said she was unsure whether the players had penetrated her.
The move spurred outrage against the district attorney for continuing a case many legal experts say has completely unraveled.
But several members of Durham County's African American community said they believe Nifong is keeping his word to fully investigate.
"It's not going in our favor at this point," said Durham County commissioner Michael Page, adding that he felt Nifong would continue only if he had evidence of something occurring that deserved punishment.
"The question is what and who did it."
Cora Cole-McFadden, Durham's mayor pro tem, said she thinks Nifong is doing what he believes is right.
"I'd rather not be judgmental," she said. "I'm certainly anxious to see how this legal process is going to work."
The Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the NAACP, urged patience.
"This is not a sound-bite case," Barber said. "We do not want a rush to judgment or a delay of justice."
The support of the African American community has been key for Nifong, who has received strong support among black voters.
More than a third of registered voters in Durham County are African American.
The accuser, an N.C. Central University student hired to perform as a stripper at a team party in March, has long said that three lacrosse team members raped her in a bathroom. On Thursday, however, she told an investigator that she was no longer sure that a penis was the body part that penetrated her.
The defendants still face at least 20 years in prison if convicted on the remaining charges of first-degree sexual offense and one count of kidnapping.
Nifong hasn't returned requests for comment. He told The New York Times on Thursday that the accuser is determined to continue. He said he will prosecute the players unless "she tells me these are not the right guys."
The players' lawyers and family have demanded the case be dropped based on lack of DNA evidence and questions about the accuser's credibility.
"It's hard to figure out how this DA is playing this," said Kevin Finnerty, father of Collin Finnerty. "It's pretty obvious to us that from the outset this man has been using this case for his own personal and political gain."
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., and state Rep. Stephen LaRoque, a Lenoir County Republican, among others, have called for Nifong to be investigated for possible prosecutorial misconduct.
The Rev. Frederick Davis, pastor of First Calvary Baptist in Durham, said he is withholding judgment on Nifong until the case is over. He expressed concern of the media storm is having on the accuser stating he hopes she is receiving the proper counseling and family support.
"My prayers are with her," he said.
Here they have a chance to heal things up, to stop being black racists, to show a regard for truth politics over vcitimology politics, and they seem to be choosing to walk down the narrow Alley of Pettiness, rather than Boulevard of Harmony.
This whole case is a legalised WHITE LYNCHING.
Why havent the boys lawyers called for a change of venue. It seems obvious these boys wont get a fair trial in Durham.
This whole thing is a Kerry botched joke.
No rape occurred.
****"The question is what and who did it." *****
Now that was a funny statement. Durham County Commissionr Michael Page isnt even sure she was raped by a human.
They have plenty of semen samples,looks like half the town had a shot at her. Yet none of them match the young men on trial.
The Rev. Frederick Davis, pastor of First Calvary Baptist in Durham,"My prayers are with her," he said.
You are praying for the wrong one Rev. she isnt the victim of this mugging,she is the mugger.
Nifong should be investigating charges against this lying scumbag.
Chilling.
How disappointing.
How disgusting.
Kind of like how radical Muslims control the debate in the Muslim world so to is it for the ghetto blacks that have so much influence in black culture. To blacks a thug or a pimp is only that way in reaction to his surroundings and they are certainly seen in a neutral light or even exalted as the standard.
Look at all the "victims" that have been defended by "black leaders".
Tooky, O.J., Sean Bell, The Duke Stripper.
I don't think it's "they" that are hanging 3 whites. ..I think it is a self-interested WHITE prosecutor that is slyly leveraging African-American angst for his own political gain. It is a strategy that is used repeatedly because. . .IT STILL WORKS. . .sadly. It is the ironic and sad continuation of misfortune that African-Americans would be freed from one slavery only to be ensnared into another.
Barber said. "We do not want a rush to judgment or a delay of justice."
There has already been a rush to judgement and a delay in justice AGAINST these young men.
"key members of the county's influential black community still back the prosecutor"
If all white males are responsible for the history of transgressions against black people, all white males are intrinsically guilty. If they're all guilty, how could any accusation be unfair? This is the inevitable consequence of condemning an entire people because of the color of their skin. It's racist and wrong, and those who make such condemnations forfeit their credibility.
Early in the case there was a rumor that she had performed for a black fraternity at her school.
What if she was raped earlier that day by five guys? What if the 5 DNA sources actually raped her but they were black? Would Nifong want that information out?
It's obvious the blacks are bigoted and prejudiced.
A good description of the twisted psychopathology that cripples a large contingent of the Black community. The inablity to distinguish past from present is a sign of mental illness.
"He expressed concern of the media storm is having on the accuser stating he hopes she is receiving the proper counseling and family support."
Its sad that the Durham black community still supports this accuser and her actions. They obviously know that she has mental issues. I guess they rationalize her behaviour as her attempt to make a living for herself and her children, which, to them, they see as a perfectly logical employment strategy. They now wait for MASSA Nifong to pull a rabbit out of his @ss. That community needs a little soul searching.
And this seems like a plot right out of Shakespeare, or the Venerable Homer:
"Sing, O goddess, the wrath of Nifong, the DA of Durham, the ruinous wrath he brought on the WASP youths woes innumerable, and hurled into Hades many strong souls of heroes, and gave their bodies to be a prey to racists, media dogs and all winged fowls; and so the counsel of his dark, hidden thoughts wrought out its accomplishment from the day when first strife parted lacrosse members and their university."
Au contaire, it will embolden them. The more someone gets away with something, the further he tries to "push the envelope".
"My prayers are with her," he said.
My prayers are against her, and for the victims of her crime.
This isn't just a race issue. What that woman has done will damage the credibility of women everywhere who are truly sexually assaulted.
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