Off The Press

Off the Press, this Duke Lax rape case is coming to a head.  Ames Alexander, Sharif Durhams and David Perlmutt, all of the Charlotte Observer, report, 2 Duke Lacrosse players arrested. With the formal indictment of two members of the Duke Lacrosse team, we can get ready for the real craziness to begin.  As Hunter S. Thompson quipped, "when the going gets tough, the weird turn pro."  Already Jesse Jackson, Sr has been spotted preening around the Raleigh-Durham area.  Stephen A. Smith, of the Philadelphia Inquirer, writes, Jesse Jackson needs to butt out of the Duke situation.

True dat!

Mind you, as crazy as things will get, it won't come close to the epic circus of the O.J. Simpson trial. 

"Why  not?" My sense of justice cries out!

Going back to the source, I found my answer in Los Angeles.  Los Angeles Times columnist J.A.Adande tackles the question in a post in his blog, overtime.  In an entry, Lacrosse examination,  Adande blogs about an article by Erin Texeira in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  Texereira places the Duke case as the latest example of the sexual objectification of Black women by White men which extends back into the days of slavery.  Responding to a criticism of the article by  radio host Tom Leykis, Adande seconds Texeira's assertion.  Adande writes:

Leykis dismissed the notion. I usually agree with him, but in this case I didn't. I've seen this dynamic at work before. One example that pops to mind was my trip to Mardi Gras in New Orleans during college. When white women removed their tops and flashed the mostly white crowd on Bourbon Street, people were respectful and didn't touch. But when a black woman lifted up her shirt men immediately began grabbing her breasts. All of a sudden it was all right. It's okay, we're entitled to this. The double standard was apparent to me immediately and still resonates today.

So it's easy to believe that the white members of the Duke lacrosse team made racially disparaging remarks to the African American women they hired to strip for them at their party -- especially because a neighbor said he heard some insults when the women were outside. The men were in their castle, the women their subjects.

Adande points are reasonable, but some of the comments in response to his entry are off the hook. The sheer ignorance on display is staggering: 

Maybe the stripper is trying to emulate Cynthia McKinney, another black woman making false accusations and crying racism. There really isn't any difference between them. One sells her body, the other sells her soul.

Oh, come on! Those women were voluntarily participating in an activity that you are calling demaeaning. What, they were forced at gunpoint to strip

One VERY relevant fact you left out is that the DA is up for re-election in a few weeks. Making his posturing all the more suspect.

And on and on..ad nausem.  It's a crying shame; here we are in the 21st century and we are still as backward as ever. 

Orlando Sentinel columnist Jemele Hill, herself a Black woman, writes, Duke case shows the dichotomy of public perception.  Eschewing a race-based approach to the case, Hill tackles the issues raise by the Duke rape case from a gender-based perspective.  She writes:

But there is a playbook for these rape trials that involve athletes, and it is well followed. No matter how much evidence a woman might have to support her claim, she can forget about any jury believing her.

If you're not familiar with the playbook, here it is: Hire powerful lawyers. Make sure what really winds up being on trial is the woman's actions, sexual history and profession. Crystallize that only women from a certain background, who wear a certain type of clothing, do a certain thing for a living and come from a certain part of town are worthy of justice.

Which is to say, very few.

"It definitely speaks to the fact that how a lot of people view victims is negative," said Jenna Cawley, president of the Orlando chapter of the National Organization for Women. "They think if they have any type of sexual history, it should be exploited. Women that speak up at all, even when it's to report a sexual crime, they're treated very poorly. It's a cultural sickness."

Predictably, the Duke case will come down to whose word means more -- a lacrosse player with an expensive attorney or a stripper?

And the lacrosse player will win that every single time.

Sad, but usually true.

out.

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• #1 Comment from monponsett 
  5/2/06 6:24 PM | Permalink

  As is the case with most women using their vaginas and breasts to make money... she's not mad that she got 3 on 1'd... she's mad that she didn't profit from it.