Steve, check this out:
blogs.abcnews.com
Terry Moran of ABC News says the Duke lacrosse players don't deserve as much sympathy as they are getting because:
Okay, you've had your fun....cherry picking what Moran said. He didn't say the three lacrosse players did not deserve sympathy. In fact, they do. What he said was that these guys were not as pure as the wind driven snow. Some of them are probably buttholes. In fact, C. Finnerty was convicted of gay bashing in DC.
More importantly, there are poor people in this country who experience this lack of quality in the justice system and there is no one defending them. That was the point he was making.......that the poor get screwed while the rich can afford to make sure justice is done correctly. That doesn't excuse Niphong's BS but it sure makes you wonder what's going on in these disunited states.
One last point only slightly related to this case.......women of color get kidnapped all the time in this country......why does the media only cover the kidnappings of white blond women?
From Terry Moran:
So as we rightly cover the vindication of these young men and focus on the genuine ordeal they have endured, let us also remember a few other things:
They were part of a team that collected $800 to purchase the time of two strippers.
Their team specifically requested at least one white stripper.
During the incident, racial epithets were hurled at the strippers.
Colin Finnerty was charged with assault in Washington, DC, in 2005:
EDIT.[On March 23, the same day he was ordered to provide DNA samples in Durham for the gang rape investigation, Finnerty was in Washington to face a misdemeanor charge of simple assault.
According to court records, Finnerty and two former Chaminade teammates attacked a man who was driving by The Georgetown Inn on Wisconsin Avenue in the early hours of Nov. 5, "busting his lip and bruising his chin."
The man said that he told them to stop "calling him gay and ... derogatory names."
Finnerty, who entered a diversion program, was ordered to perform 25 hours of community service in Washington by fall, said his attorney, Stephen J. McCool. If he performs the service and avoids new arrests, the assault charges will be dropped, McCool said.
Finnerty is from Garden City, N.Y., a fairly affluent Long Island bedroom community about 26 miles east of New York City. His father, Kevin J. Finnerty, is a senior official with Bear Stearns, a securities trading, investment banking and brokerage firm with headquarters in New York.]
newsobserver.com
The young men were able to retain a battery of top-flight attorneys, investigators and media strategists.
As students of Duke University or other elite institutions, these young men will get on with their privileged lives. There is a very large cushion under them--the one that softens the blows of life for most of those who go to Duke or similar places, and have connections through family, friends and school to all kinds of prospects for success. They are very differently situated in life from, say, the young women of the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
And, MOST IMPORTANT, there are many, many cases of prosecutorial misconduct across our country every year. The media covers few, if any, of these cases. Most of the victims in these cases are poor or minority Americans--or both. I would hate to say the color of their skin is one reason journalists do not focus on these victims of injustices perpetrated by police and prosecutors, but I am afraid if we ask ourselves the question honestly, we would likely find that it is. Look for a moment at what James Giles endured:
I hope we all keep him and others in mind, as we cover the celebrated exoneration of well-heeled, well-connected, well-publicized young men whose conduct, while not illegal, was not entirely admirable, either. They aren't heroes. They aren't boys. They are young men who were victimized by a reckless prosecutor--and had the resources the fight him off. |
