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Comments from an AP history
and government teacher in Raleigh, NC.
e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com
Commissions earned from selling items through Amazon will go towards buying materials for my classes. Thank you.
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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Duke lacrosse case to be dropped
ABC News is reporting that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is set to announce that he is dropping the case against the Duke lacrosse players. It was just a little over the year ago that we were stunned to hear the allegations against the Duke players.
At the time, one of my first reactions was that the story sounded like the plot of a TV movie with the Duke players filling in as the stereotypical wealthy and good-looking athletes - those stock players who have figured as the bad guys in movies from Animal House to all the Revenge of the Nerds movies. Those types are always the bad guys which says something about how our culture views wealthy and popular teenagers. It seemed to me that this was one of those movies turned into a drama of the week. Well, it soon turned out that this case was just as fictional as those movies of the week. Except it was our justice system in my state that was being used to trash the reputations and lives of these players all because an unstable woman made wild allegations and a politically ambitious District Attorney. It was even more discouraging to see the university that my two daughters had and were attending seem to immediately act as if these young men were guilty and their own teachers became part of the howling pack.
Is it all going to be over with a statement from the Attorney General and the Duke officials? I have no idea if there are civil cases that the players could bring against the town of Durham, but what concerns me is how a representative of the legal system could so go off the rails and trump up a case. I know I've read about this happening in the Jim Crow South, but this case certainly opened up my eyes to how the same thing is going on today. And I wonder how many other cases there are out there where this is happening and because the accused are not from well-to-do families who are willing to spend what it takes to expose the truth and the national press wasn't there to focus public attention on every twist and turn of the case. Mike Nifong has to answer for not only how he trampled the rights of these young men, but for how he trashed the principles of justice that are the bulwark of this country.Labels: Duke
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ABC News is reporting that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is set to announce that he is dropping the case against the Duke lacrosse players. It was just a little over the year ago that we were stunned to hear the allegations against the Duke players.
At the time, one of my first reactions was that the story sounded like the plot of a TV movie with the Duke players filling in as the stereotypical wealthy and good-looking athletes - those stock players who have figured as the bad guys in movies from Animal House to all the Revenge of the Nerds movies. Those types are always the bad guys which says something about how our culture views wealthy and popular teenagers. It seemed to me that this was one of those movies turned into a drama of the week. Well, it soon turned out that this case was just as fictional as those movies of the week. Except it was our justice system in my state that was being used to trash the reputations and lives of these players all because an unstable woman made wild allegations and a politically ambitious District Attorney. It was even more discouraging to see the university that my two daughters had and were attending seem to immediately act as if these young men were guilty and their own teachers became part of the howling pack.
Is it all going to be over with a statement from the Attorney General and the Duke officials? I have no idea if there are civil cases that the players could bring against the town of Durham, but what concerns me is how a representative of the legal system could so go off the rails and trump up a case. I know I've read about this happening in the Jim Crow South, but this case certainly opened up my eyes to how the same thing is going on today. And I wonder how many other cases there are out there where this is happening and because the accused are not from well-to-do families who are willing to spend what it takes to expose the truth and the national press wasn't there to focus public attention on every twist and turn of the case. Mike Nifong has to answer for not only how he trampled the rights of these young men, but for how he trashed the principles of justice that are the bulwark of this country.
0 comments
ABC News is reporting that North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper is set to announce that he is dropping the case against the Duke lacrosse players. It was just a little over the year ago that we were stunned to hear the allegations against the Duke players.
At the time, one of my first reactions was that the story sounded like the plot of a TV movie with the Duke players filling in as the stereotypical wealthy and good-looking athletes - those stock players who have figured as the bad guys in movies from Animal House to all the Revenge of the Nerds movies. Those types are always the bad guys which says something about how our culture views wealthy and popular teenagers. It seemed to me that this was one of those movies turned into a drama of the week. Well, it soon turned out that this case was just as fictional as those movies of the week. Except it was our justice system in my state that was being used to trash the reputations and lives of these players all because an unstable woman made wild allegations and a politically ambitious District Attorney. It was even more discouraging to see the university that my two daughters had and were attending seem to immediately act as if these young men were guilty and their own teachers became part of the howling pack.
Is it all going to be over with a statement from the Attorney General and the Duke officials? I have no idea if there are civil cases that the players could bring against the town of Durham, but what concerns me is how a representative of the legal system could so go off the rails and trump up a case. I know I've read about this happening in the Jim Crow South, but this case certainly opened up my eyes to how the same thing is going on today. And I wonder how many other cases there are out there where this is happening and because the accused are not from well-to-do families who are willing to spend what it takes to expose the truth and the national press wasn't there to focus public attention on every twist and turn of the case. Mike Nifong has to answer for not only how he trampled the rights of these young men, but for how he trashed the principles of justice that are the bulwark of this country.
Labels: Duke
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