From the AP:
A murder charge against the woman who falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her is but the latest problem for a woman friends say is still haunted by the stigma of the lacrosse case.
Crystal Mangum, 32, was indicted Monday on a charge of first-degree murder and two counts of larceny. She has been in jail since April 3, when police charged her with assault in the stabbing of her boyfriend Reginald Daye, 46. He died after nearly two weeks at a hospital.
As for the poor bastard Ms. Mangum is alleged to have stabbed to death this month, well, his problems are over, so let's get right back to Crystal's troubles.
Friends said Mangum has never recovered from the stigma brought by the lacrosse case and has been involved in a string of questionable relationships in an attempt to provide stability for her children.
Mangum, who is black, falsely accused the white lacrosse players of raping her at a 2006 party for which she was hired to perform as a stripper. The case heightened long-standing tensions in Durham about race, class and the privileged status of college athletes. ...
Okay, most of this article sounds like it was written by Oprah's friend Gayle, but the last line almost makes up for the rest:
Even when Daye's nephew talked to a 911 dispatcher after the stabbing, he referenced the notoriety Mangum still carries.
"It's Crystal Mangum. THE Crystal Mangum," said the nephew, whose name was removed from a publicly-released version of the emergency call. "I told him she was trouble from the damn beginning."
I think the AP Style Guide should recommend that all news stories try to end with a quote from somebody who sounds like Chris Rock's grandfather. Maybe the NYT should have talked to the nephew before running two dozen stories based on the assumption that Crystal Mangum was obviously telling the truth about the Great White Defendants.
Did the AP really have to turn her into the victim in the first sentence?
ReplyDeleteIs it just me, or has the AP gone completely insane?
ReplyDeleteIIRC, shortly before the Duke rape hoax, Mangum stole a taxi cab, drove it drunk at 100 mph, tried to run over a cop, and finally trashed a police cruiser with it...and ended up with a slap on the wrist. Hell, if I did even half that shit, I'd probably get a good 7 years at least.
ReplyDeleteClever title.
ReplyDeleteSteve, you should go check out Amanda Marcotte's discussion over at bloggingheads.tv with some guy who writes for Nationalreview.com. As they discuss the "pick up artist community", one can almost detect a twinkle in Marcotte's eye as she recalls her numerous pumpings and dumpings.
ReplyDeleteI was confused about her name for awhile because "Cristal Magnum" is a perfect stripper name. I thought maybe that was just her stage name and she had misspelled it as Crystal Mangum, but no.
ReplyDelete"still haunted by the stigma of the lacrosse case"
ReplyDeleteAh, yes: Remember how horribly she was stigmatized in connection with that case? Lambasted by the media, targeted by letters from the university signed by hundreds of faculty members, hounded by an overzealous prosecutor. She really was treated horribly by all parties involved. Or am I misremembering things?
Some people never learn.
ReplyDelete"Maybe the NYT should have talked to her nephew before running two dozen stories based on the assumption that Crystal Mangum was obviously telling the truth."
ReplyDeleteUm, that's Reginald Daye's nephew; i.e. the relative of the guy she murdered.
"... a woman friends say is still haunted ... "
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she's gonna find out the true meaning of haunted soon. It all depends on whether Mr. Daye settled all his affairs on earth.
To paraphrase Robert DeNero "I haven't even begin to haunt, bitch!"
A regular Rosa Parks - breaking down barriers of sex, race and facts to promote social justice.
ReplyDeleteBetter to have fried those "innocent" rich white boys than for Crystal to suffer the ignominity of publically being caught out on her completely fabricated racial shakedown attempt. As if the words "rich white boys" could ever be associated with anything but "guilty guilty guilty".
"It's Crystal Mangum. THE Crystal Mangum"
ReplyDeleteuh who?
would be a normal reaction.
Want to hear Truth's thoughts on this one. May be too painful for him though
ReplyDeletethe Seattle Times link to this story read: 'Discredited Duke Rape Accuser' in trouble again, with quotes in original, like there's some doubt about this status.
ReplyDeleteDid the AP really have to turn her into the victim in the first sentence?
ReplyDeleteThe media is still pissed off that the Duke Lacrosse team didn't actually rape anyone. The were not fulfilling their assigned role that they would most definitely play in a Hollywood film, that of the malevolent prep school WASP oppressors. Didn't you get the memo?
It speaks well to the intellectual honesty of Atlantic blogger Ta-Naheshi Coates that in his own blog he straight out comes out and says Crystal Mangum is a criminal and a liar who unjustly accused innocent young men, and calls out the people who supported her and stood by her for ideological reasons.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/04/revisiting-the-duke-rape-case/237559/
'dumb skanks', 'poor bastard'...
ReplyDeleteWhat's with the language champ? It's just not your voice, it sounds off. Your tone is what makes you effective as much as anything else. Snap out of it.
Yes the AP has gone insane. Trouble is, twenty six years of Oprah have convinced her female audience that the AP's contention: Mangum is a victim, is the "truth."
ReplyDeletePC is not just some mind-control rays by nebulous conspirators, it like junk food "TASTES GOOD" emotionally for the consumer, which is mostly White women. Pre-destined victims, victimizers, villains, and heroes, shown by status and ...
Sexual attractiveness! is what PC is all about. Charlie Sheen drops the N word all the time, but he's a hero. The Duke Lacrosse guys the villains. That's Oprah's legacy.
She deserves life in prison for all of the hurt that this vile woman has inflicted on people during her lifetime.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing that she was never prosecuted for blatantly lying about the fake rape. She should have at least been ordered to see a psychiatrist.
Tawana Brawley, Mangum, and the Jena Six should do a reality show together.
ReplyDeletePoooooor girl. She's still 'haunted by the stigma' of the Duke Lacrosse case. Oh boo hoo, I cry for her.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll bet she will now be 'haunted' by the 'stigma' of having stabbed and murdered some guy.
Oh my, a helpless victim of depression. She needs help!
Of course, it all goes back to the trauma of slavery. Old Girl River, Cry me a River.
If, instead of getting a wrist slap for all her serious crimes, she were convicted and put in prison, that Reginald Daye guy would not have been dead today.
ReplyDeleteYes.Even when she stabs someone to daeth, words are twisted to paint her as a 'victim'.
ReplyDeleteThe irony of the Lacrosse team rape hoax was that the varsity lads specified a white stripper with the agency, who in time-honored American fashion sold them a pig-in-the-poke.
She's just channeling Omar Thornton's pain.
ReplyDeleteLest we forget: The lacrosse players were exonerated by James Watson.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_lacrosse_case
On December 13, 2006, defense attorneys filed court papers stating that the private lab had found DNA from multiple males in Mangum's body— but none that belonged to the accused players.[
"As for the poor bastard Ms. Mangum is alleged to have stabbed to death this month, well, his problems are over, so let's get right back to Crystal's troubles."
ReplyDeleteLove the sensitivity there, Steve-O.
"Sexual attractiveness! is what PC is all about. Charlie Sheen drops the N word all the time,"
He does?
It is amazing that she was never prosecuted for blatantly lying about the fake rape.
ReplyDeleteIn a civilized country like China, that is grounds for the death penalty.
I, for one, welcome this change in tone. Keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI wish for more Mangums, Brawleys, Jayson Blairs, etc. They are making our job much easier.
ReplyDeleteIf Mangum is a victim, Obama is the messiah.
ReplyDeleteIf a white woman had lied about rape involving innocent black men, would AP(which should be called APE)say she's 'haunted by the stigma..'
ReplyDeleteBtw, let us all pray for Don Imus. He's still haunted by the stigma of having said 'nappy headed hos'.
And so is one of those basketball players who tweetered that 'Japs' got what they deserved. I'm sure she's haunted too--though she wasn't stigmatized half as much as Imus. I think she still plays on her team and her friends are sticking by her.
Our culture has created this image of the Negro as deep, soulful, spiritual, etc, etc. So, black rage is never just black rage, and black lunacy is never just black lunacy. It be soulful black rage, as we see in all those movies. So, we assume that even when blacks do wrong, they are spiritually haunted. And whatever blacks do, it is associated with 'noble suffering'.
"Is it just me, or has the AP gone completely insane?"
ReplyDeleteAP has gone completely APE.
Give the AP a little credit. He or she said it was a false accusation, albeit not in the lead, and she is still identified as black, even though she is now the arrested.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8459813/Britons-shot-in-Florida-killed-as-part-of-gang-initiation.html
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the gang members will be haunted by the stigma of having killed two innocent white folks. It's not THEIR fault. It will be our fault for stigmatizing them. So, we must remove these stigmas from criminal blacks who will be emotionally scarred and 'haunted'. We 'racists' must stop psychologically whipping and branding them.
Why did Omar Thorton do what he did? He was 'stigmatized' by his peers.
Why did Jayson Blair write BS? Because he was 'stigmatized' by the journalistic community.
Wait a minute... weren't they stigmatized AFTER they did something wrong?
But no matter. We mustn't stigmatize blacks, Jews, gays, welfare cheats, bad students, people-of-color with horrible credit ratings(if anything, we should give them zero-down housing loans), Wall Street sharks--especially if Jewish(if anything, we should bail them out with our money)--, thug rapppers, gays who got HIV through gay behavior, illegal aliens, etc.
Why, it would be 'insensitive' and hurt their 'self-esteem'. Don't we all 'want them to succeed'?
But if a ballplayer says a gay slur, fine him $100,000 and stigmatize him until he gets on his knees and apologizes.
Btw, why wasn't the entire Duke academic and media community NOT stigmatized for what they did with the Lacrosse case? They got off scot-free, just like Wall Street sharks. Some people get to do anything and walk away free. And they still seem to shamelessly carry on with their BS.
Perhaps Mike Nifong can become her pen pal if she ends up in prison.
ReplyDelete"Some people say blacks don't like Jews. Hell, we ain't got time to distinguish between y'all. We just hate white people!" [raucous cheers]
ReplyDeleteEven if they weren't doing their reflexive race pandering, the AP obviously doesn't understand black life. Getting caught trying to scam Whitey does not result in "stigma." It's just, oh well, try to run it better next time. Kind of like when a federal judge in San Francisco got caught lying about his brother being lynched by the KKK. Interviewed after issuing a retraction, he said, "It could have been true."
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to the money our dear Rev. Jackson gave her? I guess it didnt last too long,and somehow the Rev lost touch with the child. Remember how he stuck his fat face into this,full of righteous indignation? He got a good look at Crystal(and presumably a good whiff of same) dropped a few bucks("Now this is fo college,Crystal!")and hightailed it the 'F' outta there. He is a cruel,naasty, mean, duplicitous, rotten son-of-a-bitch,as he left the boys and their families to be terrorized by the Governmentmedia,when in fact the fat-headed piece of excrement could have actually FIXED the problem and used his power to actually DO the "healing" he is always running his fat mouth about.But its not like he is a "Christian" or anything,so why bother? As far as plungin the knife into some poor guys chest- now she's really gonna be stigmatized!(At least the victims privacy will be respected;you wont hear NUFFIN about him-unless its about how he "abused" dear Crystal. His plans,his rap ability,his smile...nope!Nada!) I would steer clear of this one,all you jailhouse lesbians!Steer clear! When she gets out in 3 years or so,lets hope she has her life "turned around".
ReplyDelete"frankie shot albert, shot him three or four times..."
ReplyDeletefrankie ended up in the asylum. in the underbelly, people can be nuts.
"If, instead of getting a wrist slap for all her serious crimes, she were convicted and put in prison,"
ReplyDeleteThe same thought occurred to me. A lot of the time, young back criminals are personally better off having the book thrown at them.
"...she never recovered from the stigma of the Duke Lacrosse case.."
ReplyDeleteSo then WHY DID SHE DO IT? Why did she lie and make false accusations that caused the "stigma" in the first place? A self-caused "stigma" is the least of what she should have had to worry about. She should have been put in prison for a long time. The guy she just killed might still have been alive.
This may be off topic, but it could help some young white guys out there;
ReplyDeleteIf you are going to have a stag, frat party, or whatever and you are going to have female 'entertainment' of one variety or another, then make ABSOLUTELY SURE the 'ladies' in question are white. This would never have become a major media firestorm had Magnum been white. All the black race-pimps and the P.C. crowd went ballistic because she was black. Had she been white it would have been a very different story.
"If you are going to have a stag, frat party, or whatever and you are going to have female 'entertainment' of one variety or another, then make ABSOLUTELY SURE the 'ladies' in question are white."
ReplyDeleteLet me guess, another 'family values conservative?'
"I wish for more Mangums, Brawleys, Jayson Blairs, etc. They are making our job much easier."
ReplyDeleteTrue, they are making our job much easier. We need more of them--but we also need more national media coverage of their misdeeds.
Compare the coverage of the Duke Lacrosse Case with that of the Knoxville Atrocity. In the former, the black criminal was in the national spotlight as a victim and is still portrayed that way. In the latter, there was minimal national coverage of truly horrific black on white crimes. Did what happened in Knoxville receive even 1/10 of the coverage--and outrage--of what didn't happen in Durham?
"make ABSOLUTELY SURE the 'ladies' in question are white"
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, those young "gentlemen" from Duke did specify Caucasian ecdysiasts only but were double-crossed by the supplier (which started all the trouble).
The Lonesome Stigma of Crystal Mangum.
ReplyDelete"If you are going to have a stag, frat party, or whatever and you are going to have female 'entertainment' of one variety or another, then make ABSOLUTELY SURE the 'ladies' in question are white."
ReplyDeleteWhat they did was sooooo stupid--besides, the woman was gross-looking--that they almost deserved all the trouble.
She be HOLEANNA.
ReplyDeleteAnybody remember the black church burning hoax?
ReplyDeletePredictable Chimpout. Has anyone heard about the Sarah Coit story. Rich girl from Greenwich dating a black guy in NY gets her eyes ripped out and head chopped off after trying to break up with him. The NYPost said he was "hot-headed". His parents asking people to pray for him and article saying he did the right thing turning himself in. What is with the MSM defending black murderers, it is "f"ing infuriating.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this horrible story totally disappeared. this guy should be put in a zoo and tortured for life!!!screw the judicial system
If you are going to have a stag, frat party, or whatever and you are going to have female 'entertainment' of one variety or another, then make ABSOLUTELY SURE the 'ladies' in question are white.
ReplyDeleteProbably not going to happen very easily in Durham, a 75% black city. Durham is as ghetto as it gets.
Let me guess, another 'family values conservative?'-
ReplyDeleteNothing complex, just based on avoiding BS from blacks and liberals. We all know what the Rev. Jackson said about certain people walking behind him...
The mass media can start by treating black murderers the same way they treat white nerds after a school shooting!
ReplyDelete'Haunted by the stigma'
ReplyDeleteThe AP reporter is attempting empathy (as she learnt at J-school), only she thinks Crystal is Quentin Compson when she's really Benjy.
Crystal jus' bein' Crystal, hhumff, arrumff...
Gilbert Pinfold.
Clever title
ReplyDeleteClever jibe.
A regular Rosa Parks - breaking down barriers of sex, race and facts to promote social justice.
ReplyDeleteNice.
Yes the AP has gone insane.
ReplyDeleteYep. You coulda just stopped there.
I don't find "poor bastard" that much of a deviation in authorial voice. One could easily imagine, say, Evelyn Waugh using the phrase. Not that I've ever read him.
ReplyDeleteWhiskey, part of the appeal of the Duke lacrosse case is that those guys were near the top of the student status heap. Just like how McCoy in "Bonfire of the Vanities" was a "Master of the Universe" turned "Great White Defendant".
Reply to "TRUTH";
ReplyDeleteNo. I am not a "family values conservative". I am simply a white person offering advice to other white people. My original post was sound. I stand by it.
Reply to DUTCHBOY;
Then they should have immediately REFUSED to accept these women and denied them entry. Like I said MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE the females are white.
Reply to anon:
NO. They didn't deserve it. I do agree that she is not the least bit attractive.
Reply to camlost;
All the more reason then to MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE the females are white. Either hold the 'party' somewhere else or don't have strippers. Again MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE the females are white. Nip the problem in the bud! Black strippers at a party should be seen by white guys as like a cross to a vampire. Avoid at all costs.
Maybe this has something to do with the influence of anthropology on our culture. We are not supposed to judge non-white cultures based on white values and assumptions. So, while headhunting or cannibalism sounds gross to us, anthropologists are not supposed to pass judgment but try to 'understand' the other culture.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching some tv documentary on British-Zulu war. In one battle, the Zulus won and tore out the guts of fallen British soldiers. But the narrator didn't treat this as a war atrocity but as African custom where enemy warriors are 'honored' by having their inner spirits released after death(effected via disembowelment). So... maybe the Zulus tore out the guts of fallen soldiers 'out of respect'.
And we often hear that we should UNDERSTAND black culture and black students in schools by its own 'rules' and vibes. There was a FRONTLINE documentary on some California school where, at one point, two white teachers intervened in a fight among black students. One of the black students got all angry and said he did only what was 'right' according to black culture cuz he came to the aid of his friend who was being attacked by other kids. So, the white male teachers meekly agreed that they had been wrong for 'not understanding' what was really happening. They should have been more sensitive of black culture and its rules. (Or maybe the white teachers were just too afraid to say otherwise. It was a pathetic sight nevertheless. The black guys did the fighting and white teachers had tried to stop it, BUT the final narrative was the black kids had just properly acted 'black' while the white teachers had acted insensitively.)
There was some of this in what MacCarthur said about Japan in WWII too. He said Germans were worse than the Japanese cuz Germans, being an advanced people, should have known better than to commit horrible crimes whereas the Japanese were like a 'boy of fourteen'. So, while MacArthur judged the Germans morally, he made a rather anthropological comment on the Japanese. Japanese, trapped in their own exotic and backward culture, really didn't know any better and couldn't be judged by the same standards as the Germans.
And people on the Right also take a similar line when faced with the likes of Hussein's Iraq or Gaddafi's Libya. They say the West shouldn't intervene to save lives or spread human rights because those people are simply different--racially and/or culturally--and shouldn't be judge by our moral standards. We should respect the national/cultural sovereignty of Hussein and Gaddafi to kill lots of people since it's just part of their culture.
There is also the psychological reason for making Crystal Mangum out to be a kind of a victim--if not of white people than of some psychological malady. Jayson Blair of NY Times was ultimately made out to be a victim of psychological problems who needed 'help' and our sympathy.
ReplyDeleteTherapeutism designates some people as victims who do or did crazy things because of forces beyond their control. For example, Roman Polanski has been given a pass for what he did to the 12 yr old girl on the basis that, as a Jew, he must have been traumatized by the Holocaust. Or by Charles Manson's murder of his wife.
Of course, some groups are bigger objects of therapeutic sympathy than others. No one said Mel Gibson is a victim of alcoholism or a troubled childhood. And liberals and leftists don't make Freudian excuses for Nazi criminals.
But it must be said that white folks and the Right also did their share of turning psychopaths, murderers, and other such people into 'misunderstood' figures, or even victims, heroes, and saints. Take Jesse James, an outlaw and a criminal. For a long time, the South made him out to be a kind of misunderstood hero who did what he did because... he was traumatized by the war. And I always felt uncomfortable with Pat Buchanan's willingness to come to the rescue of former Nazi criminals--though he seemed to have been correct about the Demjanjuk case.
The Twoof drinking game...
ReplyDelete"Let me guess, another 'family values conservative?'"
Twoof tries to deflect attention away from black criminality by alleging conservative hypocrisy...everyone take a shot!
"I think the AP Style Guide should recommend that all news stories try to end with a quote from somebody who sounds like Chris Rock's grandfather."
ReplyDeleteWho should only be voiced by the guy who does the voice of the grandfather in the The Boondocks TV Series. Much funnier that way.
"But it must be said that white folks and the Right also did their share of turning psychopaths, murderers, and other such people into 'misunderstood' figures, or even victims, heroes, and saints. Take Jesse James, an outlaw and a criminal. For a long time, the South made him out to be a kind of misunderstood hero who did what he did because... he was traumatized by the war."
ReplyDeleteNot quite. "Traumatized by the war" is a modern liberal trope derived from the psycho-babble of the modern therapeutic state. Unreconstructed Southerners would have tended to see Jesse James as a Robin Hood type - an outlaw fighting for the poor against an unjust establishment. No self-respecting Southerner of the Old School would admit to "trauma". That's for the touchy-feely modern Alan Alda types.
"And I always felt uncomfortable with Pat Buchanan's willingness to come to the rescue of former Nazi criminals--though he seemed to have been correct about the Demjanjuk case."
That's because you're a well indoctrinated (presumably white, gentile) sheeple (sheeperson? whatever). Who cares about triflying things such as justice if it has anything to do with that icky "holocaust" thingie, right?
"For example, Roman Polanski has been given a pass for what he did to the 12 yr old girl on the basis that, as a Jew, he must have been traumatized by the Holocaust. Or by Charles Manson's murder of his wife."
ReplyDeleteReally? I thought he just left the country.
They say the West shouldn't intervene to save lives or spread human rights because those people are simply different--racially and/or culturally--and shouldn't be judge by our moral standards. We should respect the national/cultural sovereignty of Hussein and Gaddafi to kill lots of people since it's just part of their culture.
ReplyDeleteTheoretically, your advocating Western universalism implies that we Westerners must go out and extinguish all other religions and cultures. This is just foolishness.
Practially, we don't have an option other than to accept the world as it is. We don't have enough manpower and wealth to Westernize/enlighten the rest of the world at gun point.
More importantly, enforcing Western enlightment on benighted non-Westerners is not idealism but rank opportunism. If you are sincerely concerned about backward 3rd world governments killing their citizens you'd be arguing for permanant war in sub-Saharan Africa far before any interventions in the Middle East.
And I always felt uncomfortable with Pat Buchanan's willingness to come to the rescue of former Nazi criminals--though he seemed to have been correct about the Demjanjuk case.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard that particular attack on Buchanan before but I'm not a big follower.
You need to provide a link to an article where Buchanan defends "Nazi criminals" because your accusation sounds like an outlandish smear.
"You need to provide a link to an article where Buchanan defends 'Nazi criminals' because your accusation sounds like an outlandish smear."
ReplyDeleteHis entire line on Nazi criminals hunted for justice has been 'let bygones be bygones'.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete"You need to provide a link to an article where Buchanan defends 'Nazi criminals' because your accusation sounds like an outlandish smear."
His entire line on Nazi criminals hunted for justice has been 'let bygones be bygones'.
So many people of power hate Buchanan (much like like Ron Paul), it's hard to know what the truth is about the guy.
That's why it's important to see one of his many critics hold up an essay (or several) of his that shows Buchanan eagerness to "rescues" Nazi criminals.
That claim just rings too crazy without proof.
The Duke rape hoax was more about sex than race. It was less black vs white than male vs female (or, more accurately, males vs feminists).
ReplyDeleteConsider how the case would have played out if the accuser had been white instead of black. Jesse and Al would not have shown up, but otherwise events would have proceeded largely the same. The feminist-dominated media would still have been howling for the boys' heads, the feminist-dominated court system would still have tried to railroad them, and the feminist-dominated Duke faculty would still have proclaimed them guilty without trial.
And most so-called social conservatives would have been at the front of the lynch mob.
The accuser would have been presumed to be truthful because she is female, and the boys presumed to be guilty because they are male. This is what right-thinking people have been taught to believe. As feminists have told us many times, "women don't lie about rape". That is itself a lie, but many people believe it, which is why the default assumption today is that the woman is the victim and the man the victimizer.
The racial angle in this case is a distraction from the real issue, which is the overwhelming power of feminism and gender politics.
In response to Camlost, who stated that Durham is 75% black:
ReplyDeleteThe following is taked directly from Wikipedia:
------
The racial composition of the city was: 45.50% White, 43.81% Black or African American, 3.64% Asian American, 0.31% Native American, 0.04% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 4.75% some other race, and 1.94% two or more races. 8.56% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
-------
"The racial angle in this case is a distraction from the real issue, which is the overwhelming power of feminism and gender politics."
ReplyDeleteHow about the 30,000 or so black on white rapes per annum (2005 stats that get quoted here quite often.) Is that gender politics?
"How about the 30,000 or so black on white rapes per annum (2005 stats that get quoted here quite often.) Is that gender politics?"
ReplyDeleteYou mean as opposed to the 55,000 white on white rapes?
It's not like one event can't highlight multiple issues.
ReplyDeleteOne big issue in the Duke case, I think, is the ability of a publicity-seeking prosecutor to railroad almost anyone. If the defendants hadn't had money for defense lawyers, they'd be in prison for the next decade. If the case hadn't been so incredibly high profile, Mike Nifong would still have his job--after all, prosecutors almost never suffer any consequences, even when they do stuff like intentionally hold back evidence in death row cases and more-or-less try to get the wrong guy executed.
A different issue (the one Steve mostly focused on) is the media desire for a great white defendant--something Mike Nifong was pretty clearly playing to. The interesting man-bites-dog feel of the story (a bunch of rich whites allegedly raping a black woman), the drunken frat-boy and stripper angle, the whole racial justice/teaching moment opportunity for self-righteous preaching, all convinced lots of media types to jump on the bandwagon.
Both those are important stories, but for different reasons. Prosecutors really can and do railroad people for political reasons, and media source really do massively play up/down important facts to push their agenda.
>You mean as opposed to the 55,000 white on white rapes?<
ReplyDeleteNo - more as opposed to the 3 or 4 white on black rapes.
@none of the above:
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. Probably the most important issue highlighted by this case is prosecutorial misconduct. Unfortunately there are prosecutors who railroad people in order to get lots of convictions because it makes their record look good. Career advancement comes before justice.
Who knows how often it happens? In low-profile cases that don't get much media attention, and among defendants who don't have enough money to hire good lawyers, it probably happens a lot.
Paul Craig Roberts has written a ggod book about this:
http://www.amazon.com/Tyranny-Good-Intentions-Prosecutors-Constitution/dp/0307396061/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303536127&sr=1-2