It’s that good ol’ day named Thursday. For many in college, it’s the beginning of the weekend but not for me. I’m finishing up some work, and I’m trying to get a bit more work done for this weekend. However, tomorrow is the Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand concert, and I’ll definitely get to relax and have a little fun around 7:00 PM. I’m whole-heartedly looking forward to it. Since nothing really interesting has happened to me since yesterday’s more of the same, I thought I’d talk a little about the media frenzy that’s taking place over here on the Duke University campus.
For those living under a rock for the past few weeks, I’m talking about the whole Duke Lacrosse rape scandal which has been a driving catalyst for protests and growing tension between Duke and the Durham community at large. As it stands, the Duke LAX team is charged with raping an African American female “dancer” (also a student at North Carolina Central University) who was hired for a team party at an off-campus house. However, one thing is becoming increasingly clear throughout this whole case, this is not just a rape case, but rather, it’s a chance for people to use a horrible incident to promote their own personal agendas. We have women’s groups claiming that this is evidence of a misogynistic culture. We have African American groups claiming this is evidence of a systemic culture of racism on campus. We have the Durham community claimining that this is proof of an entitled, supremist culture that is found here at Duke. As a result of all the protests and media attention, tensions between Duke, Durham, and NCCU have escalated to dangerous levels. In fact, we’ve had at least one case of Duke students assaulted off campus by members of North Carolina Central University as well as threats of gang violence against members of the Duke Lacrosse team.
Apparently, members of the Durham, NCCU, and even the Duke community have forgotten about the presumption of innocence until one has been proven guilty. Thus, they are calling for action before any concrete evidence of wrong-doing been brought to light. No charges have been pressed; DNA evidence is still pending; and right now, the whole case is a “he said, she said” situation. Right now, I’m just waiting for more information to be made available to the public, and until then, I am not going to jump to any conclusions. In fact, I just recently learned that the woman who is making the accusations of rape has a criminal record and also accepts jobs for one-on-one dancing. I find these facts to be cause for suspicion, but I haven’t heard much media coverage given to either fact. I just wish people would stop stirring the waters and wait for some real facts concerning this case instead of continuning to raise the tensions between the University and the community. This is especially true when most people are only giving credence to one side of the story.
So until the results of the DNA test come back, I’ll be reserving my own judgment, but I just wish more could just do the same.
