http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/
Not fit to lead
Richard Brodhead, president of Duke University, must think all of us are so stupid we are buying into his assertions now, that he believes all involved in the LAX debacle should be presumed innocent until proven guilty. That's a far cry from his public view when the so called rape occurred. He jumped on District Attorney Mike Nifong's corrupt bandwagon and fed the players to the wolves. Now he has even invited the two undergraduates back to Duke.
Brodhead chose to condemn the players before the evidence was in. Now that all of us have found Nifong to be less than honest and honorable, it appears Brodhead is attempting to change horses in the middle of the stream. He has done a terrible injustice to the three victims -- yes the three young men are the victims, not the accuser.
It appears she saw a ripe money tree and decided to harvest her crop. Nifong and Brodhead were right there to hold the money bags.
Could Brodhead now fear that he and Duke will be sued? Could his job be in jeopardy? I hope so, because he has not shown the objectivity, wisdom and loyalty to hold the position of president at Duke University.
Louise Rigsbee
Durham
January 21, 2007
Where's the compassion for the least among us?
I find the letters about the Duke lacrosse case very disturbing.
The enraged outcry about judicial misconduct in this case was noticeably absent for Alan Gell, who faced a death penalty as a result of prosecutorial skullduggery. Alan was poor, unconnected, and without a prestigious legal team.
What strikes me about the lacrosse case is how so many are outraged about three privileged young men experiencing unfairness, and the level of hateful vitriol directed at those who suggest this case is about more than legal culpability.
I notice that these young men (and their parents) insist on innocence without taking responsibility for their behavior on the night in question. Apparently hiring dancers, monstrous drunkenness, racist, degrading name-calling and harassment are not grounds for moral outrage. Forget the team's culture of long-standing irresponsible and unaccountable behavior. Forget the prevalent elitist, racist, sexist behavior on campus exposed by this case. Forget the larger context of violence against women.
Instead, decry with wrath and resentment any threat to assumed privilege while remaining silent about insidious injustice that happens to nameless people every day. My hope is that we might instead hold equivalent compassion and concern for everyone in this community.
Tema Okun
Durham
January 21, 2007
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212007/tv/fe...il_mushnick.htm
FESTERING ISSUES IN DUKE LACROSSE CASE
By PHIL MUSHNICK
January 21, 2007 -- On one hand, "60 Minutes" lately has done an admirable and thorough job, devoting two full segments to the wishful-thinking American justice system that left three Duke lacrosse players indicted for rape.
On the other hand, what took it so long? "60 Minutes" could've reached many of the same conclusions 10 months ago, when the charges against the students were first made.
And where's everyone else in the news media who rashly fueled an episode of mob and racial injustice, so reminiscent of what American blacks suffered for decades?
If the news media is disinclined to step forward to admit that it prompted erroneous and dangerous conclusions -- white people doing dirt to black people, yet again! -- why hasn't the case's evisceration been given the same blaring treatment as when the NAACP rallies were held? Or when a Duke professor called for the entire lacrosse team to be expelled in order to rid the school of the "drunken white male privilege loosed among us," and when the indictments were issued?
The news media, in this pathetic case of abandoning justice to pander to every sensibility except justice, was as guilty as Durham County D.A. Mike Nifong, the desperate fellow who needed Raleigh's African-American vote to get reelected, even if it meant sending innocent people to prison. The media, always gutless in affairs that become immersed in race, essentially fanned imaginary flames after the first cries of "Fire!"
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