What... IF... ?

OK!!
I've had it!!! First, let me thank Rippa for getting me started on this tangent and for reminding me of the Central Park Jogger's case.

My blast asks, "What if the Duke players had been black, and their accuser white?"

I'm not looking for an opinion here, so much as a critical look at this complex question. However, I believe honest people, or those aware of the racism we live with, will already know the answer to this question.

* * *

People? Have the Black and Latino/a middle class (and wannbe-be middle class) lost their mind? We do not live in a color-blind society where equality reins and justice is blind. The recent case of Michael Vick, the tremendously talented and apparently equally stupid quarterback for the Atlanta falcons, made me think about the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of the American public.

Let's get real here: Vick was stupid on several counts not the least of then being committing a crime while being famous, rich, and black. For you people of color out there that are clinging to the delusion that we live in a color-blind society, please go out there and try to marry one of the Bush or Kennedy girls -- go ahead!

Moreover, if you think that the Vick case is clear-cut, think again: where are all the animal lovers when these athletes, both black and white, beat up on their pregnant wives? Where are these bleeding hearts when we're literally blowing up kids in Iraq? I don't see these people when (mostly white) guys shoot Bambi while ESPN blithely records it for those boring-assed hunting segments.

Don't misunderstand me, what Vick did was criminal and cruel -- I am not excusing his behavior. However, I smell a huge hypocrisy here and I wonder where our priorities lie. I guess if we could teach wives, Bambi, and cows to fetch, then the dog lovers would make a stink about it, huh? Can we have a little consistency here, folks?

Which brings me to old news: the recent Duke Lacrosse team allegations of rape? Which brings us back to my question, "What if the Duke lacrosse team players had been black, and the stripper white?" Now before you get your shit in a twist about how justice is blind and DNA doesn't lie, let's look at the history, why don't we?

We all remember the revelations of the house the Duke players rented: booze involved as well as underage drinking. In addition, two women who, since they were referred to as "exotic dancers," we can assume were scantily clad performers from the school of rump shaking, video ho's.

Then came the rape allegations. One of the women, a student at North Carolina Central University, said three of the players dragged her into a bathroom and beat, choked and raped her.

Truth be told: one Duke player was suspended from the university after sending an e-mail in which he said he'd like to kill and skin strippers. After that, the results of DNA tests done on 46 players, which their defense lawyers stated would prove that no players were involved (eventually the charges were dropped). Then we learned that a police officer for Durham, N.C. - the location of both Duke and North Carolina Central - said the woman was passed out drunk in a car on the night of the alleged rape. We also learned she was once charged with trying to run over a cop while driving a stolen car.

No wonder this story had legs! It just got better and better! LOL!

The real kicker came when some folks of an ad hoc - and no doubt hastily formed - organization called the Committee for Fairness to Duke Families hired lawyer Bob Bennett to act as their spokesperson. Bennett was former President Clinton's lawyer in the Paula Jones' sexual harassment case.

Yeehawww! Great PR move, folks.

"It is unfortunate that members of the Duke community, players and families are being judged before all the facts are in," Bennett said, according to several news stories. "A lot of innocent young people and the families are being hurt and, unfortunately, this situation is being abused by people with separate agendas. It is grossly unfair, and cool heads must prevail."

Wait! Hold on there a second, buddy! It was almost hilarious the way the news outlets rushed into making Duke's lacrosse players victims. I will cede the point that they may or may not have been unfairly accused of rape. But it was hard for me to feel their pain.

The investigation into the alleged rape went apace. From the outset, no one had been charged. Not one Duke player had to do time in Durham's city jail while awaiting a bail hearing.

Which brings me back to my point and thought process: that's a better deal than three young men got in an incident at Mount Hebron High School in Howard County two years before the duke incident.

You see? I don't deal in opinions, I deal in critical thinking -- big fuckin' difference...

A review of that case may prove instructive regarding my question. Three Mount Hebron boys, ages 18, 16, and 15 at the time, were charged with rape. A girl said one of them held her wrists, another watched at a restroom door, and the third forced himself on her sexually. The three were charged as adults and denied bail.

As in the Duke incident, the girl's story soon began to fall apart. She later admitted the sex was consensual. What was the difference in this case? The girl was white. The three boys she accused were black. That's a complete flip-flop of the situation in Durham.

In the Duke incident, the "exotic dancer" was black. The three men she accused are white. Many folks - of all races - might ask if a double standard isn't at work in Durham. If three black football players at North Carolina Central had been accused of raping a white "exotic dancer," (and I doubt she would have been characterized that way) would local officials have waited until the results of DNA tests before charging anyone?

It's a good question, I believe. Moreover, it's a question not easily addressed through simplistic formulations derived from a naive notion that justice is either fair or color-blind.

As an aside, a more glaring example is the infamous case of the Central Park Jogger. You may remember that in that case, the men charged did time -- real time -- only to be exonerated 10-13 years later! That case also served to fuel the conservative propaganda that crack-addicted single black women on welfare were giving birth to fatherless and irredeemable predatory sociopaths. People: I am not making this shit up!

Fear of a black man is nothing new. It's fairly easy to document white fear of black dick, please don't make me do it because I'll do it in the most unpleasant manner. Objectifying black (and Latina) women as sex objects is also nothing new. In fact, for 100s of years, women of color were legally raped in the USA. All have a historical precedence and while it may (or may not) be true that even if the Duke players had been black, they would've eventually been exonerated, it would've played of very much differently then it did.

Love,

Eddie