End the Lacrosse Cover-Up

Bleacher Report ^ | May 11, 2010 | R. B. Parrish

[CondorFlight]

Before the attempted frame-up of innocent lacrosse players in Durham, lacrosse had a good reputation. It may have been seen as an elite sport (or, more truly, a regionally delineated sport); but it was also seen as honest, fun, exciting, and one of the few “sports” remaining which still concerned itself with “sportsmanship”.

Then came the lies and the false accusations, and a university which was more concerned with the immediate PR fallout than with standing behind its falsely-accused students. And since it fit the convenient narrative which was being constructed, lacrosse was also lambasted.

In Durham, three lacrosse players (curiously, from the wealthiest families on the team) were accused of gang raping a stripper (who had a history of making false charges about gang-rape and other assaults). The entire lacrosse team was cleared of the charges by DNA testing two weeks before anyone was arrested.

But that was not the desired outcome.

The case divided immediately into “us” vs. “them”: rich vs. poor; male vs. female; black vs. white; student vs. townie; athlete vs. scholar. So many activists sought to use the charges to campaign for their own niche agendas that the case became one of those which was “too important for innocence to be allowed as a defense."

[truthguy]

It's been several years since these innocent players were cleared but the fallout from this is still around.

What amazed me was how fast the story was dropped by MSM. Where are the made for TV Movies about the injustice of the whole affair? If the players falsely charged were black (role reversal) you can bet your life savings this story wouldn't have been dropped like a hot potato.

But the story that shouldn't have been dropped and should have been reported in more detail was the reprehensible behavior of the Duke professors and the president of the University. Their behavior was nothing short of despicable. I don't know how the Duke president can look at himself in the mirror. What a pathetic POS he is. He knew that the Lacrosse players were innocent and yet he didn't back them. Beyond despicable! He was the supreme coward and yet he kept his job. What's that say about the Duke community?

These are not the kind of people you would want to be in a foxhole with.

[abb]

ping

[Boiler Plate]

Anybody who lets their kid attend Duke is a fool.

[Enterprise]

Agree! I wish someone with a deep bank account would either make a movie of this or a mini series. It would be spectacular if at different points in the movie they would intersperse comments by Nancy Grace, even as doubts grow and information begins to accumulate that this whole thing was a false allegation compounded by Mike Nifong’s intransigence.

[truthguy]

Yes and this is where we as conservatives (and some not so conservative) have fallen down. We don't have the media savvy to pursue this. Like I said if the roles were reversed, we would have been bombarded with movies, books, TV specials, presidential commissions, UN Conferences, you name it. But the whole thing went away as if it never happened. The behavior of the Duke president and faculty was never called into account. The MSM dropped it because it didn't fit their ideology. It's that simple. When I brought it up to some liberals and social do-gooders they ignored and and didn't want to talk about it. Why? I think it's a fascinating topic on a lot of levels. The liberals just wanted it to go away and for the most part it did.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

One thing you all must take into account is the three young men and their families may not WANT to have the story publicized. Having gone through exactly the same thing with our son, the LAST thing we wanted was publicity. It was devastating to us and not easily recovered from. It took us years to get back to where we were. Victims are ALWAYS assaulted twice — once from the crime and again through the trial. In this case, having to go through it the third time might be all she wrote.

These young men were raised to be real life contributors, to pick up the mantle of responsibility and earn livings, support families and make contributions to society within the private sector. They aren’t fodder for Hollywood stories, nor are they desirous of the type of fame attached to what probably almost took their lives. To quote John F. Kennedy, Jr. when asked if he intended to see the movie “JFK”, he replied something to the effect that he didn’t find stories about his father’s assassination a form of entertainment. No matter WHAT you think of the Kennedy family as a whole, I completely understood his point of view.

[Deb]

I thought one of the players was the son of a 9/11 NYPD first responder and was at Duke on a scholarship.

[truthguy]

Having the story publicized would have been the best thing for them. It would have further exonerated them. In the minds of many these guys did something wrong. Many people (mostly liberals and you know who) still think they were guilty of something. This was a lost opportunity to report things as they truly were. This would have been the best thing for these students. It would not have hurt them and probably would have helped a lot.

And the Duke president and faculty got off the hook for some of thes most reprehensible behavior imaginable. That in itself was an injustice.

[CondorFlight]

“I thought one of the players was the son of a 9/11 NYPD first responder and was at Duke on a scholarship.”

One of them was; but he was not one of the accused.

The father of one of the accused was raised by a black family (making his “grandparents” black); the father of another one of the accused built medical clinics in Africa (after a childhood friend felt called to minister there).

These people weren’t stereotypes or cardboard figures (even though the MSM preferred it that way).

[Constitutions Grandchild]

In my very humble opinion, the greatest thing we can do for these young men is allow them their privacy and give them our respect for showing what honorable people do when they are confronted with the worst possible crime, the attempt to destroy their reputations and ravage their honor.

If there are still people out there who believe they are guilty, they will have to get happy in the same old rags. The trial is OVER and the decision is final. Ms. Mangum is still her zany self, the President of Duke is still a silly man, the Prosecutor is still out of a job and his life is destroyed. The only people who still have integrity and honor are those families that worked within the system, stood the test of horrendous threats and have kept on in spite of every attempt to derail them.

I find these men and their families heroic, laudable and without shame.

[EyeGuy]

And the racist environment in Durham itself, is what, in the first place, made the criminal Nifong believe he could score political points simply by prosecuting WHITE boys...the facts be damned.

The whore, Duke faculty and administration, Durham cops and Nifong, all guilty. But let’s not forget the “good” “citizens” of Durham.

[Deb]

You could tell they were all good people and it broke my heart to see what was happening. Geraldo still hasn’t apologized for branding them “guilty” and the “spoiled sons of privilege”.

[truthguy]

The trial is OVER and the decision is final.

There was NEVER a trial. It never got that far.

I guess I look at this case as more than just 3 innocents who were unjustly accused of something they didn't do. I do respect your opinion and I wish these young men the best. But there are other issues here that need to be emphasized. This is MUCH bigger than the buffoons at Duke. The behavior of the MSM is beyond reprehensible and this has huge implications beyond this case. For a faculty and administration to not back students they they KNEW were innocent is something that needs further commentary.

[84rules]

As a Maryland Terrapin, I already have enough reason to hate Duke. This article convinces me that I have not misplaced that hate.

[ltc8k6]

Well said.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

I’m certain there were many students (and even some faculty) who backed the students. We nearly had riots on campus with our son, but the administration put a lid on it, because no one wanted a confrontation with certain elements in the black community. The administration admitted to us privately they knew it was a bunch of hogwash, but there was nothing they could do except try to maintain order among the students.

Time goes by, people forget, you’re still stuck with the fallout. Justice delayed is justice denied. We had cars of thugs parked at the foot of our driveway on several occasions, we had reporters trespassing on our property trying to get photographs inside our home. We had vandalism, we had threats, attempts at extortion to make it go away.

May God forgive those who frightened us beyond our wildest imaginings. When you make a stand, sometimes you stand alone. It is nonetheless a stand of honor — no whining. My family and my son will always have that. The others, not so much.

[DrC]

“we would have been bombarded with movies, books, TV specials, presidential commissions, UN Conferences, you name it”

Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson did write a very thorough and fair book about this sordid affair. If anyone wanted to make a movie, they likely could do so based entirely on the book’s details rather than harassing the principals any further.
http://www.amazon.com/Until-Proven-Innocent-Correctness-Injustices/dp/0312369123

[Jrabbit]

Yep. And neither has Nancy disGrace.

[Deb]

Happily I had forgotten she even exists.