Letters to the Editor
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there is no satisfying way to resolve this, if convicting someone of rape requires evidence
then some rapists will get away with it. The position of many feminists, usually not clearly stated, is that the injustices created by simply accepting the word of any woman (unless there is clear proof she is lying, insane, etc) are fewer than with the alternative (requiring corroborating evidence). Conversations are always complicated when you have to say things and not say them simultaneously.
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Clearly Nifong erred
In assuming that going after white preppy Duke in black Durham would get him a parade amd possibly the next opening for mayor in Durham.
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Due Process
Due process of law, while certainly not perfect, is still generally a fair sight better than jumping to conclusions. I would rather see coverage of statistical trends than individual cases.
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Race and Ideologically Driven Reporting
Approaching the Duke "rape" story from the perspective of race is necessarily an ideological decision. Interracial rape is an overwhelming black on white problem (85% to 15%), making this a story of race is legitimate in that it is a relatively rare event. However, nowhere in this story is the rarity of this type of event ever discussed. Therefore, this can't be the case of reporters getting tired of reporting yet another white woman raped by a black man and fgcusing on the novelty of it all. One is drawn to the conclusion that race is being brought into the discussion for other reasons.
What then is the reason for making race such a huge issue in this case? Is it to try to paint blacks and whites as equally complicit in interracial sexual violence? Is it because reporters, a largely non-athletic bunch, are resentful and biased against white athletes? Is it because white males are the only easy target left?
Can we think of any non-ideological reasons for the emphasis on race in this story?
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Would it be totally naive to bring up the "presumption of innocence" principle?
"And last Friday's case roundup, written by Duff Wilson and Jonathan D. Glater, didn't suggest that accused team members David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Colin Finnerty are guilty; it called the case "ambiguous." "
"But by assuming these factors add up to the players' innocence, isn't Taylor making the same errors of foregone conclusion he accuses the Times of making?"
Both of these statements seem to completely ignore the judicial presumption of innocence. Nothing can take away the court of public opinion-- people will always talk, react and judge people based on the things they read in the press. However, one would expect the New York Times, of all newspapers, to have the journalistic integrity to avoid convicting the players in the pages of their newspaper. The New York Times should present the facts, sure, but reserve judgement until a guilty verdict has been handed down (unless the story is that the investigation or trial of a potentially guilty person was mishandled). It's not even clear this will go to trial, so the presumption of innocence has to be respected. The Times essentially presuming the lacrosse players' guilt is just as offensive as the conservative press constantly referring to the alleged victim as "the stripper" an portraying her as a lying slut. The coverage on both sides was tabloidesque and awful. For the record, I'm one of the people who, upon hearing about the Duke case, immediately thought "Yes-- finally they caught some classic, dumb-ass, misogynistic date-raping jocks in the act and they'll send their sorry white asses to jail as a message to all the rest of the misogynistic date-raping jocks out there!" But then, I didn't write it in the Times and I'm not responsible for delivering the facts to millions.
We should expect more neutral coverage from the media, particularly when it comes to individual legal processes where people's lives and futures are in the balance. If I knew I could ruin someone's life with an article, I'd think damn hard about jumping to conclusions. Why does the so-called liberal press hold back for years in analyzing and critiquing Bush's government policies (an arena in which the 4th estate has a historically important role to play), and then rush to embarrass itself by jumping into the fray in a case where it has no business rendering judgements and just ends up looking biased and stupid. By the way, the Times (correctly) calls for a presumption of innocence and fair trials for the Guantanamo detainees; I guess we liberals are so mired in stereotypes that we'd rather give due process to potential terrorists (because they're disenfranchised underdogs) than to priveleged white jocks (because we figure they could use a kick in the shins). And we wonder why we don't win more elections...
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Presumption of Presumption of Guilt
The Times essentially presuming the lacrosse players' guilt...
The article under debate called the evidence ambiguous. That does not constitute a presumption of guilt.
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Race statistics
The statistics on interracial rape quoted above are a bit misleading. It stands to reason that more white women are going to be raped by black men than black women are going to be raped by white men simply because there are many more white women. These statistics are often trotted out by white supremacist groups and they are absolutely ridiculous since yes, if you just count the number of white victims there will always be more because they are a vastly larger pool of individuals to begin with. So, if men were raping without regard to race, 85% of the victims would be non-Black and 15% would be Black because that's (roughly) the makeup of the population.
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My goodness
Is this the sound of Salon backpedaling on the Duke {alleged} rape case? Where are all the Salon LWs who "knew" just what kind of entitled rapists these jocks were?
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Well, it's nice to see
That there's at least a little acknowledgement on the part of Broadsheet that they unfairly jumped the gun on this one. I can only hope that if these guys are found not guilty in court that there will be a more meaningful mea culpa.
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Reverse this situation
First of, I would sign my posts "Anonymous" if I posted this racist drivel, too: "Interracial rape is an overwhelming black on white problem (85% to 15%), making this a story of race is legitimate in that it is a relatively rare event."
Where are you getting your facts? From a 1906 Klan rally? That is such a spurious "statistic" driven by the old racist stereotype of the black beast.
People I know in Durham have remarked to me that this wouldn't even be in the national media if this was NC A&T's basketball team and some white party girl from Duke. She would be the angel wronged and the black team members (most from NC, not rich kids from the Northeast with influential parents) would already be convicted by now.
The justice system is always flawed. The only time privileged whites seem to notice is when those flaws bite them.
And the reason race is a part of this discussion? Ask those lacrosse players, who shouted racial slurs so loudly to these women that the neighbors heard them -- and told the police. That's in the record. Those little Yankee racists made this about race as soon as the n-word crossed their lips.