http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/ed...al/16507607.htm
Posted on Sun, Jan. 21, 2007
Letters | Letters
Students are victims
Re: "Nifong belatedly does the right thing," Commentary, Jan. 17:
Ruth Sheehan's attempts at fairness are admirable, but they fall flat when she includes the Duke University lacrosse players in her list of villains.
Sheehan commits the error of blaming the victims when she criticizes the students for the company they kept, implying that even though they aren't rapists, they're nonetheless guilty of bad taste.
The last time I checked, bad taste and immoral behavior were not considered crimes in this country, and certainly not enough to justify the unconscionable treatment these three young men received.
I doubt Sheehan would agree that even though the Scottsboro boys were railroaded by a racist system, they were at some level responsible for the tragedy because of their itinerant lifestyles. It is equally unlikely that she'd blame the young woman who was murdered after bar-hopping in Manhattan for her untimely end.
The fact that the Duke defendants are white and privileged should make no difference in our evaluation of justice; they don't deserve to be placed in the writer's rogue's gallery.
Christine Flowers
Philadelphia
cmf1261@aol.com
Pinging with Sunday's DukeLax news
Very nice point in this letter that the Ruth Sheehan's of the world are blaming the victims in this situation. I guess they rationalize it because of who the victims are?
Also as Professor Johnson noted on his site, John Podhoretz wrote two essays about this case. The one below is the first one.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01172007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/senseless_opedcolumnists_john_podhoretz.htm?page=0