Today there was a move toward justice in the case of the three Duke lacrosse team members who were accused of raping and beating a black stripper in March of 2006.

As you no doubt know by now, those accused college students didn't rape or beat anyone. Nonetheless, they were dogged and persecuted relentlessly by Durham County's Democrat District Attorney Mike Nifong, even as the case against them crumbled. Nifong lied, misrepresented evidence, manipulated witnesses and brought an indictment against the students without even interviewing the alleged "rape victim." His actions were clearly political in nature, motivated by his desire to win black votes during a hotly contested local primary.

Just a few minutes ago, a legal disciplinary committee found Mike Nifong guilty of his egregious and reprehensible misconduct. Nifong has been disbarred and will probably never practice law again. Now, God willing, Nifong will have criminal (or at least civil) charges brought against him. Losing his license to practice law isn't enough. Nifong should face the very fate he tried so hard to rig for the Duke lacrosse players: Lafong should face jail time.

Of course, Mike Nifong isn't the only scumbag in this case. Here's a list of other people who need to be brought to account for their crimes.

Crystal Gail Mangum
Meet the lying stripper (and career criminal) who falsely accused the Duke lacrosse team members of raping her. Crystal Mangum is walking, talking trash and she deserves to serve time for the heinous false charges that she brought against those three boys. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has said that it is "not in the best interest of justice" to charge Mangum for her crimes? Why not? WHY THE HELL NOT?? Falsely accusing a man of rape is just about the closest thing that a woman can do to actually committing rape. Charges like the ones she brought will hang over these three boys for the rest of their lives. They've been hounded and threatened and dogged for more than a year now, all because this woman lied. She should have to answer for that.

Duke President Richard Brodhead
Dick Brodhead just couldn't wait to see the three lacrosse players swing for their crimes. While one of the students had already graduated before the false charges were brought, the other two were suspended right away. Brodhead told WRAL TV that "if our students did what is alleged, it is appalling to the worst degree. If they didn’t do it, whatever they did is bad enough." Nice, huh? Whatever they did is bad enough, even if they didn't do anything. Great job backing up your students, there, Dick. In January of 2007, after it was obvious even to comatose people that the accused students were innocent, Brodhead allowed the two suspended students to return to Duke, saying "We have decided that the right and fair thing to do is to welcome back (the two students) to resume their studies at Duke for the spring semester." No, that's not the right thing to do. The right thing to do is wait until they're convicted and then and only then should you suspend them. Of course, doing the right thing isn't as important as doing the politically correct thing. Right, Dick?

Academic Wildman Houston Baker
After the false charges were brought against the three Duke students, English Professor Houston Baker wrote an emotionally unhinged letter to the school Administration, demanding to know "what have Duke and its leadership done to address this horrific, racist incident alleged to have occurred in a university-owned property in the presence of members of one of its athletic teams?" Baker was ready to precede the administration and the very rule of law by convicting the lacrosse team of barbaric racism: "Receiving emails and telephone calls of concern from friends nationally and internationally, we have been deeply embarrassed by the silence that seems to surround this white, male athletic team's racist assaults (by words, certainly - deeds, possibly) in our community … Young, white, violent, drunken men among us - implicitly boasted by our athletic directors and administrators - have injured lives." Except, of course, they were innocent. I'll be waiting for Baker's letter of apology to those he's falsely accused, but I won't be holding my breath.

Protest-Happy Whack Jobs
Now, God knows that college students aren't the kind to march, protest and generally raise hell without a good reason (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!), but many members of Duke's student body just couldn't wait to get out in the street waving signs and demanding the heads of the accused lacrosse players. Signs featuring pictures of the three students were crafted into wanted posters, declaring them guilty of rape simply as a matter of fact. Members of the New Black Panthers (AKA: The Black Klan) came to Duke wearing combat boots and military fatigues and looking for whitey's blood. One of the Black Panthers whispered to one of the accused students that he was "a dead man." The Panthers weren't allowed on campus itself, but they did protest outside of the lacrosse team members' residence, looking very spiffy and GI Joe-ish in their cute little outfits. So when will they be apologizing? Not today? Oh, I suppose their schedule is full. After all, there are other 20-something white boys all over the world, and all of them need harassing.

Al Sharpton
Do I even need to mention this putz? We all know what Al Sharpton is all about. He's made a career out of bringing false charges of rape and kidnapping, provoking violence, making threats, telling lies and race bating. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that Big Al weighed in on the Duke rape charges, too. Sharpton went on the Bill O'Reilly program on Fox News and proceeded to offer analysis of the DNA, the prosecutor's case, and the racist elements of the so-called "rape." Of course, Al isn't going to apologize for anything he's said or done here. He's never apologized for any of his offense, and there's no reason to start now.

It all comes down to this: Giving allegations of rape against Duke students to the media was like throwing raw beef to hungry dogs. The American media just loves this kind of thing, it fits right into their leftist agenda. All the elements were there, all the sensationalism: Rich boys assaulting a poor woman, white boys assaulting a black woman, (any boys assaulting any woman, for that matter). The media ate it up and had these boys convicted in the court of public opinion before they knew what had hit them. And, of course, all the usual suspects chimed in. The riff raff from academia, media whores, the we'll-protest-anything crowd, and, of course, crooked politicians in the DA's office. Nobody ever asked if these boys had actually done anything before the accusations started flying. And once it turned out that they were innocent, everybody just lost interest.

More must be done. Disbarring Mike Nifong was a good start. Let's hope it's just a start.

Labels: News, Politics