REVISITING THE DUKE UNIVERSITY LACROSSE CASE: THE REAL DEAL
Privilege, Race, Gender and Class
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
This writer believes in setting the environmental scene, in particular the historical background when evaluating and assessing a topic such as the Duke University Lacrosse Case; it is important to give the outside readers some demographics and social variables to help them to analyze the underlying issues of race and class that permeated this most controversial case. The city of Durham was founded 1853, which it gets its name from one Barlett Durham who was a medical doctor by profession. Durham is passionately called the Bull City and the City of Medicine. It has a sister city of the same name Durham, England.
But prior to medicine, Durham was considered a huge textile and tobacco town and thrived off African slave labor. The first established Tobacco Company was called Green’s Tobacco (which specialized in a tobacco crop that was called brightleaf, a sweet tasting tobacco) and Washington Duke, the patriarch of Duke University which was initially named Trinity College became big in the tobacco industry. Jewish Merchants entered at some point along with the Dukes and took the tobacco industry in Durham to the next level with the establishment of Liggett and Myers and American Tobacco companies.
Their wealth was amassed on the backs of African slave labor—these plantation owners such as the Camerons , Mangums, Seamans, etc., reaped huge amounts of wealth which set a quasi-Dynastic bloodline of inherited wealth that has been passed down from generation to generation amongst these aristocratic white families. Let me say this, right off the back—there is Durham and there is Duke University , a city within a city, which functions as the most powerful entity in Durham and perhaps in all of North Carolina; next to Bank of America which is headquartered in Charlotte, the second largest banking city in America .
Thus, just like under the institution of slavery Duke probably is the second largest employer within the city of Durham. Duke University answers to no one, but themselves; so just imagine for one moment a poor African American woman accusing three of the white aristocrat of a criminal act such as sexual assault—these boys were symbolic representatives of the prominent and prestigious Duke University. Duke University has had a history of handsomely rewarding their allies and friends and severely punishing their enemies and political adversaries.
Many lawyers in Durham will not even represent a plaintiff who has perhaps filed a legitimate legal grievance against a powerful defendant like Duke University because of the fear of political and/or economic reprisals. Durham is a city of approximately 44% percent Caucasian and 43% African American and next to Atlanta, Georgia per capita income Durham has it share of black millionaires and a powerful influential black bourgeoisie class.
Thus, at the turn of the 20th Century prominent black families emerged who were recipients of Duke philanthropy money led to establishing themselves in banking and finance, insurance business, funeral services, etc., black bourgeoisie families such as the Moores, Merricks, Spauldings, Willards, Pearsons, Warrens, Shepards, Kennedys, etc, stood front and center and many of these black entrepreneurs appeared to have been from miscegenation relationships. Booker T. Washington, the founder of Tuskegee Institute and the Negro Business League who visited Durham in the early 1900 stated he hadn’t seen nor found a more economic progressive Negro any place in the United States as the one he found in Durham. The Chicago University trained sociologist, E. Franklin Frazier who authored the book titled, “The Black Bourgeoisie” drew the same conclusion. Blacks in Durham at the turn of the century had established their own insurance company in North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, Mechanics and Farmers Bank and North Carolina Mutual Savings Company. (Reference: Andre D. Vann and Beverly Washington Jones; "Durham's Hayti").
Black Durham was thriving and Parrish Street in Durham was coined “The Black Wall Street” of the south. Also, black Durham had Hayti an economic and social hub where they owned two movie theaters, a printing press, black newspaper, a hospital, grocery stories, clothing shops, beauty schools, barber shops, clubs, etc., Hayti existed and functioned with complete autonym based on Jim Crow laws and segregation (1896-1965). They attracted James Brown, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Byrd Parker, Bobby Blue Bland, Otis Redding, Billie Holiday and since Durham was the home of Clyde McPhatter, Shirley Caesar and Pigmeat Markham all of them perfomed local acts because during that time of segregation many of these artists had no other choice but to perform on the ‘chitlin' circuit. (Reference: Earlie Thorpe; “The Central Theme of Black History).
Most historians refer to a thriving section in Tulsa, Oklahoma in the early 1900s as “Black Wall Street” in which in 1921 Tulsa Race Riot spearheaded by Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups and an entire black economic metropolis was burned down, which led to the killing of innocent men, women, and children in Tulsa. But Durham historically has been overlooked as the “The Black Wall Street” by some historians because of the infatuation with the sensationalism associated with Tulsa tragedy. (Reference: Jay Jay Wilson and Ron Wallace; "Black Wall Street").
Durham’s black leadership (many entered the black Boule on the ground floor in 1904, a fraternity modeled after the Skull Bones of Yale University that recruited bourgeoisie light skinned blacks —privilege and class) historically has always had a civil relationship with the white power structure, which was partially based on conciliatory and accommodation lines of acquiescence to power, but with a passive militancy under-girded by the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) principled in bootstrap economic philosophy of pulling yourself up the economic and social latter by being thrifty, hard working and doing for-self. (Reference: Tim Wise; “White Like Me; Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son”
The white power structure did not view their economic passivity as threatening or confrontational within the social dynamics of power relations. The great non-traditional historian Joel Augustus Rogers in his book titled, “World’s Great Men of Color” dedicated a chapter to Durham’s black economic moguls and North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company. The founders of North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company in 1889 were John Merrick, Dr. Aaron M. Moore and Charles C. Spaulding. Merrick who was a barber by trade, served as the personal barber of Washington Duke. (Reference: Joel Augustus Rogers; "World's Great Men of Color").
Merrick had the ear of the Duke Tobacco extraordinaire and strategically used this personal relationship to solicit philanthropy help from one of the wealthiest tobacco plantation owners in south in order to aid in black economic enterprises such as North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company. Also, Washington Duke’s son James Buchanan Duke and other white philanthropist helped Dr. James E. Shepard (a two term North Carolina Grand Master of Prince Hall Masonic Fraternity) establish North Carolina Central University (formerly the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua) in 1909, the first African American state funded Liberal Arts University. White Rock Baptist Church (founded in 1866) which was once led by Dr. Reverend Mark Miles Fisher perhaps the most influential and prominent black church in Durham yesterday and today, along with Saint Joseph African American Methodist Episcopal Church (founded in 1869), which has always housed the black brain trust of Durham. (Reference: Dorothy Phelps Jones; “The End of an Era’)
African Americans intellectuals and the black political bourgeoisie founded the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People in 1935, one of the most effective political action groups in Durham and perhaps in all of North Carolina; they have over a seventy year continued history and have had a huge political voice in the life of Durham politics. The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black people has lobbied to get black and progressive candidates elected to city, county, state and federal offices. The recent November 4, 2008 election, it was Durham Committee that was instrumental in propelling a little known State Senator named Kate Hagan to the United States Senate defeating veteran U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, a senatorial seat that was once held by the racist and controversial Senator Jesse Helms.
This election symbolically ended four (4) decades of Jesse Helms divisive politics and turned North Carolina from a Red State into a Blue State; newly elected Senator Hagan owes her victory partially to the African American electorate, which she received over 90% of the black vote. Also, North Carolina elected its first female Governor Beverly Purdue, but believe me, these high level politicians courted the Durham Committee for the endorsement of their candidacy. No doubt this political action group possesses political power to sway the electoral process in North Carolina.
Thus, in 2006 Dr. Lavonia Allison, Chairwoman of the organization of Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People who had endorsed incumbent Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong for District Attorney Re-election. DA Nifong was running against a formidable and competent former Assistant District Attorney Freda Black. Assistant D.A. Freda Black worked under former District Attorney Jim Hardin who has since been promoted to a judgeship and next to the Duke University Lacrosse Case they presided over perhaps the largest criminal preceding in the history of Durham, North Carolina—the criminal case of Michael Peterson, a former mayoral candidate and prominent novelist who was also employed by the "Herald-Sun" newspaper, the oldest newspaper in Durham.
Peterson was accused and convicted on October 10 2003 of murdering his wife in their over million dollar mansion by beating her to death with what police described as blowtorch and throwing her down a swirling staircase. This legal case attracted national and international attention and became a very high profile case. It attracted a British news outlet that had shot hours of court proceedings footage for a documentary and even "Life Time" television did a movie based on the Peterson story. Michael Peterson hired a formidable and high powered legal team led my Attorney David Rudolf; they even hired forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee who came to the public eye during the famous O.J. Simpson Trial, which Attorney Johnnie Cochran assembled the legal dream team. Simpson was allegedly accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown-Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The Los Angles, California Courts rendered a not guilty verdict against Simpson. (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: Race: Navigating the Color Line).
Moreover, D.A. Hardin and Assistant D.A. Black presented a case, which the jury agreed that based on all the evidence and the legal standard of an unreasonable doubt, a jury found Peterson guilty of first degree murder of his wife Kathleen Peterson. Durham had never had this type of media coverage—CNN, BBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Court-TV, TBS, etc., and various cable networks along with a host of newspapers—national and international print media and radio outlets surrounded the Durham County Judicial Building. This was unprecedented in the history of Durham until in March 2006 all hell broke loose with the Duke University Lacrosse Case where an African Americans stripper accused three white defendants who were members of Duke Lacrosse team of sexual assault that took place across the street from Duke University East Campus.
Durham is the home of the highly rated and former two time National Colligate Athletic Association (NCAA ) national champions Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, which is a National Basketball Association (NBA)—unofficial farm team that is coached by future Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski who is considered a goodwill ambassador for the entire NCAA. The allege sexual assault had upended the squeaky clean reputation and character of one of the most well respected and sought-after academic university in the world and is passionately called the "Ivy League School of the South."
Duke possesses one of the most preeminent medical school programs in America ranked with the likes of Stanford University, and John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. It attracts faculty from around the world, as well as enroll students from all seven continents and has a very active alumni. Duke University by far attracts the upper crust of our society; it perhaps cost over fifty (50) thousand dollars a year in tuition to attend this prestigious learning institute. How dare an African American woman accuse three white students of sexual assault?
After-all this was Duke University, a symbol of power, privilege, class and exemplar center of learning. This writer knew the Durham Police Chief Steve Chalmers and some of the investigators handling the Lacrosse case. The allege victim Crystal Mangum who was a student at North Carolina Central University by day and was a stripper by night. Some believed that District Attorney Michael Nifong who was running for re-election as Durham's D.A. recklessly and in an abuse of office and power used the Duke Lacrosse Case as a political maneuver, which to lock up the African American vote by assuring this segment that he so-called wasn't going to allow race and class to interfere with pursuing justices for the allege accused victim. Nifong who is white and the three Duke University defendants were white and the alleged victim was African American. But Nifong re-election campaign weighed in the balance and some pundits maintained that he desperately needed the black vote to secure a victory and out of political expediency, he indicted the three alleged defendants of rape and sexual assault, which some believe he did not have sufficient criminal evidence to pursue this case. (Reference: Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson; “Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case”).
Some legal experts has argued that Nifong's criminal case from its inception lacked evidence of DNA and the physical evidence was not substantial enough to warrant a criminal indictment of these Defendants. Durham for months was the media center of the world;. It even made the Michael Peterson legal case appear as child's play. Perhaps because it had all the social and political ingredients that create sensationalism—really race and class was fueling this media blitz. All cameras were aimed at Duke University and the social tension was beginning to heighten on both sides. (Reference: Don Yaeger and Mike Pressler; “It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered”).
The New Black Panther Party for Self Defense in May 2006 and its charismatic leader brother Malik Zulu Shabazz came to Durham (this writer had the opportunity to sit and talk with Malik Zulu Shabazz and his assistant Hashim Nzinga) and led a peaceful march and demonstration on the campus of Duke University for justice. The black community was divided on the presences of the New Black Panther Party coming to Durham, but many loved Shabazz predecessor, the late Dr. Khallid Abdul Muhammad, the former national spokesman of Minister Louis Farrakhan and Nation of Islam; therefore extending themselves to Shabazz and his group. Bruce Bridges of owner of the Know Book Store in Durham was partially responsible for the New Black Panther Party coming to Durham.
Thus, with all the media attention evolving around this case the grassroots of black Durham had never spoken because the talking heads were acquiescing to Duke University, a symbol of power and privilege and this little poor black alleged rape victim and her powerless community had come up against a formidable institution of wealth. The coverage of the Duke Lacrosse Case was sexist, racist and had misogyny written all over the unbalance converge. This writer is taking this opportunity to speak for the voiceless grassroots.
Duke University has the power and wealth to make things go away and many African Americans felt there were some legal mistakes, but they also knew and understood that Duke University had plenty of money and a long political arm. It was perhaps their influence that led to this case unraveling like it did. Thus, even the North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper's decision to drop all formal charges against the three alleged defendants; it has to be assessed within the dynamics of Duke University power and wealth—having the ability to promote any politician with upwardly ambitions and therefore Cooper's legal decision has to be viewed from that context.
This case in one sense, was more about class than race but that is not to suggest that race wasn't lurking in the midst of this legal unraveling. Many believe that the night in question relative to the alleged sexual assault incident—something did happen and we might never know what that something was. Black women and all women have been victims of inequality subjugation, sexism and sexual violation perpetrated by men, which the jurisprudence and the criminal justice system have not fully overcome gender bias and the good ole boy network. African American women historically were raped and assaulted, and were victims of violence for 310 years under the evil system of Chattel Slavery, in which it was against the law for black men to defend their wives and daughters.
The Duke University Lacrosse Case had a lot of historical and social precedence and in their minds the allege victim Crystal Mangum had no rights, duly bound that required a white man to respect. This history lies just beneath the surface and the Duke University Lacrosse Case personified the historical racial and social injustice of white power—the violence and oppression associated with a paternalistic ideology that has been shielded by privilege and wealth. Duke University, no doubt is a racist institution this writer, is writing as an insider who has had a relationship with this institution for many years and my critique is one that is up close and personal. (Reference: Chip Smith; “The Cost of Privilege: Taking On the System of White Supremacy and Racism”).
Duke University in my opinion, for years had been able to hide under the radar, but for a brief moment the Lacrosse Case exposed their pristine hypocrisy while at same time gave the outside world a look into a society that is divided on class and race. The African American Mayor of Durham William "Bill' Bell and all elected and appointed politicians are puppets of Duke University and all of them are fearful of rendering any real critique of Duke because of the potential of economic and political backlash. For example, Duke University used its enormous influence and power to punish District Attorney Michael Nifong and to set an example for other ambitious adversaries who might consider in the future of contesting Duke's power.
Nifong has been character assassinated and has been publicly ridiculed for daring to come up against this historical great tobacco rich and aristocratic dynastic family institution. The North Carolina Bar Association, which is controlled by Duke eventually, disbarred Nifong stripping him of his law license and ability to earn money. There has been more than a few lawsuits that have been settled and even Nifong himself has been sued in Civil Court. The real winners in the Duke University Lacrosse case have been the lawyers.
This writer also believes the victim Crystal Mangum who resides down the street from where I live, and I believe she was also paid off by Duke. Duke in one sense made her to go away. She has recently published her memoirs titled,”The Last Dance for Grace: The Crystal Mangum Story" and willing to bet you she has been very selective at the advisement of her attorneys about how far she was going to go with telling the story because I am quite sure she had signed a clause with Duke University forbidding her of speaking or writing the truth. But everybody else has made money, why not the alleged victim?
Duke University has gone back to its isolation as a city with in a city and has once again refused to extend itself and reach out to the broader community. Moreover, right after the Duke University Lacrosse Case they were eager to exit their Ivory Tower and showed genuine willingness to constructively use their wealth and privileged to build outside alliances. And breakdown some of the elitist barriers which has caused divisiveness in the community that has led to the characterization, of there is Durham and there is Duke. This writer thinks that the Duke University Lacrosse Case gave us all a perfect teaching moment and an opportunity to learn how the perception of race, wealth and privilege were at best artificial contradictions that had created two societies in Durham.
But after the case became unraveled people hurried back to their comfort zones and those who refuse to acknowledge and accept the lessons of history are doomed to repeat those same lessons. This case in many ways was much bigger than Crystal Mangum the alleged victim because the issues of race, class and gender within the context of American society transcends what happened in March 2006 between a stripper and the alleged three white perpetrators. But where do we as a society go from here to redress the larger grievances and to uproot sexism, racism and class-ism the three prongs that lead to the propensity for human chaos?
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of good will of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpret the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlighten world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
STAY AWAKE UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
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36 comments:
I'm curious to find out why you think Duke was on the players side. I take the fact that they have settled two law suites to date and face two more suites by lax players to be evidence that they didn't exactly back the players. Specifics would be appreciated. "I think" doesn't have much force behind it.
Mr. Fontes:
You raise a very good question; if Duke University and their lawyers were not on their side; Duke had the legal right to have made this thing extremely nasty and difficult for the three defendants by contesting their Civil Suits pursuant to a jury trial and letting the courts decide, if they were guilty of negligence. Thus, instead, they cut a deal behind closed doors and did not contest the plaintiff Civil Legal grievances in a court of law. They agreed to an undisclosed amount of settlement money. Yes. This could have been quite-up and go away money based on working immediately to restore their public image and reputation after absorbing a public hit like the alleged lacrosse rape, and did not desire for this case to be lingering and causing more negative publicity for this prominent and prestigious university. However, if Duke did not like these defendants; it would have gotten legally dirty and nasty and they do not have enough long money and lawyers to truly challenge a powerhouse like Duke. They quietly gave them a good financial send off. Now! On the other hand no one can tell me how to answer a question. I guess you were giving me instructions not use "I think"; this part of your comment is unacceptable.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Fahim, I suggest you give up the free thinking thing and track down your english teachers. They owe you some remedial classes.
Mr. Fontes:
You thought that you were going to come on here and not get an intelligent response relative to the Duke Lacrosse case. Your comment is immature and has no merit. Please do not tell me that’s the best argument that you are able to present in this discussion, as far as a point of debate. You sound very emotional and defeated. Now! Lets talk about the issue at hand. You just did not like me telling you that no one can tell me how to respond to a question. Thus, go take some debate 101 courses and come back and let us have a less emotional conversation.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A, Knight-EL
All this is old news about which any university graduate is already well-aware.
Just puffed-up hyperbole designed to make something noble out of bad behavior and constant extortion using "race".
The country has long become bored with this mentality.
President-elect Barack Obama was one of few politicians who called for a federal investigation into the violation of the civil rights of the three INNOCENT lacrosse players.
It's gratifying to know that these perpetual race-baiters voted for him....and you know that they did!
All of a sudden Obama was "black enough" for them.
LOL!!!
Peace Debrah: Here is my response,
“Malcolm X and the American Revolution: The Speeches of Malcolm X”. Minister Malcolm stated, “So I stand here tonight speaking as a victim of what you call democracy. And you can understand what I’m saying if you realize it’s being said through the mouth of a victim; the mouth of one of the oppressed, not through the mouth and eyes of the oppressor. But if you think we’re sitting in the same chair or standing on the same platform, then you won’t understand what I’m talking about. You’d expect me to stand up here and say what you what you would say if you were standing up here. And I ‘d have to be out of my mind. Whenever one is viewing this political system through the eyes of a victim, he sees something different. But today these twenty-two million black people who are victims of American democracy, whether you realize it or not, are viewing your democracy with new eyes. Yesterday our people used to look upon American system as an American dream. But the black people today are beginning to realize that it is an American nightmare.” (Reference: Archie Epps: Malcolm X and the American Revolution: The Speeches of Malcolm X).
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
A nonsensical response.
Malcolm X was killed by his own people in a power grab.
You'll really need to refrain from using archaic quotes as a response to the Lacrosse Hoax where black self-serving racists were out to get a pound of flesh from some "white boys" like a banana-republic Third World regime.
The entire world was a witness to the declasse spectacle.
A prostitute with a long criminal history was dressed-up by the black community to use as a tool for more race-hustling.
And deviant minds still wish to make a heroine out of a destructive whore.
Taxpayers in Durham will suffer because of this woman.
DNA tests showed that she was carrying the semen of at least 5 different strange men on her undergarments and inside her vaginal cavity, her anal cavity, and her mouth.
None matching any Duke lacrosse player.
Productive people who actually contribute to society were harmed greatly by this pathetic spectacle.
Debrah:
I love you racist rightwingers: Here is thought for good ole boys and girls. You did mention taxpayers. Right?
the biggest welfare recipients in the history of American politics, as welfare clients of the taxpayers—some of the largest Banking and Financial institutions in the world; we gifted wrapped these den of thieves $750 billion dollars popular known as the bailout or the new language rescue package, which will eventually cost the American taxpayers over three trillion dollars in the long term.
Now! That’s some real welfare that is being orchestrated by Federal Reserve and the Central Bankers and its puppet the United States Treasury Department low-level operatives Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. How about this one; the billions of dollars the U.S, taxpayers are mandated to pay for Israel in support of reactionary Middle Eastern Foreign Policy is another big welfare ticket? How about this one; the billions of dollars the taxpayers are being burden with in our imperialistic and oppressive military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, which amounts to stealing heroin and oil for the Bush Family. You see welfare is a relative term and it doesn’t always apply to the poor. No, the poor people are ones who can not find viable employment because our government has outsourced American economic business to Twain, China, Vietnam, Mexico, India, and other poor developing nations because they can work these people for slave wages and reap huge profits. Yes, NAFTA commenced under President Bill Clinton and this Democrat was responsible for this Chess Board move.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Mr. Knight--
You present yourself as an uninformed and ill-educated race-baiter who lives inside an archaic bell jar.
I am a Democrat who voted for Barack Obama, if you must know.
Your lazy stereotypes show very little thought.
Some people can't handle the truth because living off lies is easier.
Get used to the fact that using race to get away with bad behavior and irresponsibility has run its course.
To add an overused quote to your never-ending quotes:
The truth shall set you free."
Get some.
Debrah, your above comments are of a racist generalization and it is inexcusable. Your words are stereotypical and full of bigotry against an entire race of people. Thus your thoughts appear to be relegated to a culture of hate and your racism appears to be becoming across based on your mis-portrayal of African people that live in America. Who are historical victims of many injustices including those committed by the nations of Europe and America. This is a fact; pointing out a historical fact does not characterize me as practicing racism in reverse. We live in multi-ethnic and a multi-cultural society; all nations and people have good and bad people within their nation and because some might create situations that is unbecoming; I do not think it is fair to make racist generalizations about an entire ethnic body of a people because of a small minority. All the African Americans, I know do not represent the image you get on BBC, CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc. They are hardworking, decent, taxpaying citizens and consider themselves good Americans. They are not criminals and lawless people. You can not formulate the resolve of these people by watching YouTube clips or viewing the Hip-Hop Culture or watching Flavor Flav act a fool and gather an opinion about African Americans from these forms of mediums. There is much more to us than that.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Mr. Knight--
Please do not try to "school me" about things I already know.
And know well.
Everyone knows that there are many productive people in the black community. Trouble is, the race-hustlers often drown out the good among them.
You might be taken aback how much I do know from first-hand experience.
It's as if you want to assume some alien "other" existence as an excuse for being "misunderstood".
If you have so much about which to be proud, then exhibit that.......
......instead of this sorry avenue you and many others travel.....making excuses for Mangum and her enablers.
I have often wished that this destructive and most unattractive woman were white.
She would have been prosecuted and in jail long ago.
Debrah: President-Elect Obama is TOKEN; HE DOES NOT RESOLVE 310 YEARS OF INJUSTICE. Now!You do not reach the level President-Elect Obama has reached by voting and/or by a ballot box election; voting is only an illusion, in what the masses perceive as their tool of expression pursuant to democracy participation and we are taught this is the highest representation of freedom and liberty that one can exercise in a so-called civilized society. No, I am not willing be duped on a symbol of token success and we call that progress; this so-called progress has been carefully orchestrated and well crafted by those who practiced deception and chicanery to lure the masses of the people to sleep into believing that Obama's appointment resolve 450 years of human injustice and conflict. This election does not begin to resolve the political, economic and social divide that exists inside of America. It is going to take a little more than the appointment of the first so-called first African American president. I and my KEEPING IT REAL THINK Tank are in touch with African Americans on the ground level outside the eye shot of the cameras and many see it just like I am giving to you. I know my point of view is very pessimistic, but one thing about my perspectives whether people agree or disagree, I have remained consistent. Now! I have fought for freedom, justice and equality and even Civil Rights all my adult life on many different levels and fronts. But I know who is running the show.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
"No, I am not willing be duped on a symbol of token success...."
Well, now.
Of course not.
Doing so would mean letting go of a career and a total identity of being a "victim" and of constant race-baiting.......wouldn't it?
Nothing will ever be enough for the freeloading extortionists of society.
That's why most of America---including many Liberals---are so sick of it.
Debrah: How do we change racist liberal value systems like your? It will be an extremely large task to overturn 310 years of dehumanization and historical trauma without being sensitive to the fact that the Africans who were made Chattel Slaves and were stripped of their humanity (this is not a victimization cry or appeal; fact), lost their culture, their rights to a homeland, language, religion, names, etc., This is not essentially a comparison of oppression relative to the Jews or any other oppressed and enslaved people, but the world since Adolph Hitler embraced their (Jews) suffering. But the Jews did not lose their cultural identity (many of them have dual citizenship in America and Israel, which is an identifiable land base, which gives them a collective origin as a people, many Eastern European Jews speaks Yiddish and the majority of them speak Hebrew—a common language is essential to any cultural cohesiveness). They had these essentials in tact in order to make a social and psychological transition (or recovery) from under the oppression of the Germans (1933-1945). The African American has a much more comprehensive and complex predicament because the severity of the oppression. Dr. Leary states right off the back that the study of “Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome” is not design to make other people feel guilty, but solutions will require open and honest communication. But the ultimate solutions will have to be internal and not external. There has to be cultural models (that reinforces African Values and promote self-esteem and positive self-worth outside the system that has been historically structured on racism and was tailored for the dominant society to benefit and prosper. There must be educational models that inspires African American children to want to desire to achieve academically in order to prepare themselves to make a positive contribution to themselves and to the community. The issue of poverty must be addressed; the United States Government can spend over three trillion dollars on a war in Iraq, but will not invest in the poor of these United States. We must have public policy that's sensitive to all its citizens especially the have-nots (who are ordinarily your poor whites, Latinos, and African Americans). Economically there must-be more of an investment in the American people. Black leadership must-be held more accountable to its own constituents and truly work in the three major arenas--political, social and economic for the benefit of African Americans. They have been too self-serving in the past and have been short on solutions. We can not turn the clock back and play the blame game, but at the same time we can not be in denial. Black Churches must move away from this entire prosperity ministry junk and embrace a social Gospel (the Black Church is perhaps the largest institution in black America with tremendous power and influence—they too must play a greater role in helping to solve this dilemma. Lastly, white America and all races must have that long awaited talk on Race and Racism and find comnon areas that all of humanity can work together to rectify some of these historical problems that still plague our nation. Now! I do think reparations have to be part of that discussion. I hope that some of this makes sense to you.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
"Now! I do think reparations have to be part of that discussion. I hope that some of this makes sense to you."
Keep dreamin', baby.
My people did their own work.
It's a daunting hilarity of the highest order to even utter a word about those alive in the year 2008 being given compensation for what happened to other people hundreds of years ago.
Read your history.
Myriad groups of people---white, most prominent among them---have been enslaved through the ages.
Give it up.
The decades of largesse, the lowering of admissions standards at universities, the acceptance that all exchanges must be on a footing of unspoken condescension....etc......etc.....
Doesn't it all get tiresome living inside this realm of plaintive obsolescence?
Debrah: Once again I love you white racist liberals, but white denial is not going to cut it. Yes, Reparations will always be on the table and we will never take if off the table until the African Holocaust has been properly compensated. Here are some words from another one of my mentors: Dr. Martin Luther King stated, “But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One Hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro still languishes in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. . . I have a dream one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A, Knight-EL
"Yes, Reparations will always be on the table and we will never take if off the table...."
Good luck collecting.
The only thing "racist" are bums who want to extort from strangers by using what happened to other people who are long dead.
Dancing on the graves of ancestors requires little effort.
It's just noisy.
Debrah: This is not about profiting, but yes it is about profiting (somebody profited yesterday and are still profiting today).The African slave trade started in the 1555 (slave ship named "Jesus" piloted by Sir John Hawkins and lasted of until 1865). That amounts to 310 years of free slave labor.
Now! We can not cure the problem until unless we first deal with the DENIAL ASPECT. African slavery was not a Hoax or something created in Hollywood for the benefit of an overt and covert agenda. We have not profited from our "HELLOCAUST" But most European nations are still paying reparations to the Zionist Jews for their allege suffering.
All of Europe and America got their financial start based on slave commodity. Madam this argument/debate is not going anywhere anytime soon. Why not deal with it? You are the financial beneficiaries of the GREATEST CRIME EVER COMMITTED either directly or indirectly.
Moreover, and I reject the notion that African Americans are hustling their historical suffering. We have not even received an apology for the wrongdoings of slavery and slavery ended over 150 years ago and not to mention one cent.
Racism has the tendency of confusing and disorientating its embracers and most of all it is a social disease that blinds individual's ability to reason and accept truth. I AM NOT DEALING WITH A WELL COMMERICALIZE AND FINANCED HOAX. I DEALING WITH TRUTH.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
"Racism has the tendency of confusing and disorientating its embracers and most of all it is a social disease that blinds individual's ability to reason and accept truth."
Mr. Knight---
I could not have said it better myself.
Self-actualization is a powerful thing.
Debrah: Poor metaphor for your case and logic. You can not make the victim the criminal and the criminal victim. You make it appear like it is a crime to question the perpetrator. You went straight to the question of money whenever Africans deal with topics of racism. But your metaphor example did not acknowledge the fact that a criminal act took place (Justice was over looked in most of your examples). You can not put the cart before the horse, it will cause confusion; thus, people have to first know and acknowledge that a crime indeed took place. Educate the people on the issue do not incite people with these poor metaphors that you have giving throughout this conversation.
Chattel Slavery was a crime. I have had many conversations with my Caucasian brothers and sisters (yeh my Caucasian family).They have an Organizations called Caucasians for Reparations, you probably can Google search them on line and learn more about this group if you are interested in their work. They are humane and decent people.
We may disagree on some things, but we all agree that Chattel Slavery was a barbaric act committed against African people and Reparations is a just demand. Congress John Conyers (D-Michigan) has put forth a Bill to study the question of Reparations on the floor of the United States Congress,
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight,
Dear Mr. Knight
I must say I am impressed with a blogger that responds to comments such as you do. Most don't. At least you are a man willing to stand behind the comments you make. Sadly, I believe you have the contextualization of the event all wrong. This isn't about women as slaves and white men who 310 years later refuse to stop with the slave owners mentality. This case is much much simpler and more modern day.
This case is about a drug addled sex worker who lied to stay out of mandatory detox. The slanted media you point your finger at didn't exist...at least not as you call it. I read article after article where some author was trying to taint the reputations of the team with no evidence at all. Your history lesson on Durham was quite interesting, but not relevent. Can you quote me any articles that showed the accuser in a poor light. Lets stick with your list, shall we. (CNN, BBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, Court-TV, TBS, etc.
I can find you article after article including that trash by Lara Setrakian (sp?) of they NY Times that did its best to leave the 3 innocent men with a cloud over their heads for the rest of their lives. ESPN couldn't wait to jump on the band wagon and Sports Illustrated put mugshots on the cover and trashed the accused before facts were in. I can point to article after article where the men were trashed but Crystal was called many things, but not a prostitute. She was and the evidence proves it.
In conclusion I must say thank you for the history lesson, but your take on this case is wrong. Even the crime statistics provided by the FBI don't support the finding this is a big race/class/gender problem.
gak: Thank you for the comment; although, we might disagree a bit, but I respect your opinion. Let me first say this relative to the history lesson about Durham. The history was giving to show how white philanthropy and black leadership evolved side by side. Thus, the social, economic, and political progress African Americans made early on was partly assisted by a powerful white establishment such as the Dukes. So, one must have a clear historical understanding of how race relations was shaped early on in Durham. Thus, privilege, race, class, wealth, and gender had certain dynamics relative to black/white relations. The Duke Lacrosse case must be viewed in the context and in the evolution of the power and symbols that have existed in Durham. If you noticed this article was not such much in defense of Crystal Mangum, but it was aimed at offeribg a critique of the collective issues of privilege, class, sexism, and racism that we face in this society. I used sources such as the one written by the former Lacrosse coach Mike Pressler (Reference: Don Yaeger and Mike Pressler; “It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered”). I also used another source that favored the Lacrosse players (Reference: Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson; “Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case”). I cited these sources in the article with the intent of at least brining some objectivity to the table. I was led into a discussion about slavery and racism, which I will never back down from because it was an evil system of injustice. Thank you again for your comment. What do you think?
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
TOP SECRET COMMUNIQUE PROVING
CONSPIRACY TO RAILROAD INNOCENT
DRUNK DUKE ATHLETES
WARNING: MAY INDUCE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE IN LACROSSE CHEERLEADERS.
President Richard H. Brodhead: "This is not the time to rest"
In a speech to the NAACP's 32nd annual Freedom Fund Banquet, Brodhead urges the community to come together and work for a common mission
By Richard H. Brodhead, President, Duke University
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Durham, NC -- Brenda Armstrong was one of the first people I met when I came to Duke and it has been a continual joy and inspiration for me to have her as a colleague and a friend. Brenda, your introduction on my behalf tonight means more to me than you will know.
I see a table full of dignitaries: I see Mayor [Bill] Bell, I see Mayor Pro Tempore [Cora] Cole-McFadden. I see Ellen Reckow of the County Commission, I see so many people who together make this the town and community that it is. You know, I’ve lived here now for three years and this is my home, and I’m happy to come to this gathering of fellow citizens.
And I will add my tribute to those you’re honoring tonight. Very soon after I moved here I met Cora Cole-McFadden and I also met Haywood Holderness. You have all been here longer than I, but you don’t have to be a genius or be here too long to understand what people like Cora and Haywood give to a city like this. And so it’s a great, great honor for me to be on the same platform with them.
I want to say, too, a word of thanks to those who are in leadership positions in the NAACP. I want to say that both for what you have done year after year, and I want to say it personally for the wisdom and assistance you have given me during some difficult times during my tenure in my office.
And now I’ll start. You probably know that the NAACP is about to be 100 years old. The first conversations that led to the forming of it started, I think, in 1905. It was founded officially in 1909. That means that about 40 and a few more years after the end of the American Civil War, the NAACP was founded. The end of the Civil War was a decisive event in the lives of African Americans in this country, an effort to put an end to systematic inequality. But after 40 years had passed, the end of inequality had not yet been achieved. There was a recognition around the turn of the last century that actually there were new forces of inequality, new manifestations of inequality. You probably know it wasn’t right after the Civil War, but rather around the turn of the century that Blacks, having been given the vote, had the vote taken away from them in the South -- in North Carolina, in the year 1900. You probably know that those years saw aggressive efforts to deny chances for economic advancement to Black businessmen, especially in the South. And you probably know that that’s the time when there were systematic efforts to reduce the amount of funding for schooling for African Americans in the South.
In the face of these and other facts, a group of people in this region and through the whole nation decided to get together to fight each of these challenges. But the name they chose for themselves has always struck me as wonderful: the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. They didn’t say they were going to solve problems of housing, of voting, of economics, though they fought on all those grounds. They chose the word “advancement,” and everything that organization proposed to do had, as its ultimate goal, the advancement of Colored People, as they were then called: advancement toward a position of equal social standing and equal opportunity for human fulfillment.
Now I turn forward to the present day, in the year 2006. If we look back exactly the same distance from the present as the founders of the NAACP did to the Civil War, you come to about the year 1963 – the high water mark of the Civil Rights Movement in this country. And Lord knows, things were accomplished during the Civil Rights Movement: the end of legal segregation. To think that nothing was accomplished would be to forget the power of humans to actually make significant differences -- differences some in this room have made and that everyone in this room, myself not least, have benefited from.
But if we now move to the year 2006, we have to acknowledge that with all that’s been accomplished, we, too, know that it’s not as if the problems or the challenges that the Civil Rights Movement dealt with have come to an end.
We still live in the presence of profound inequalities that are mapped onto lines of race in this country. I read the [Durham] Herald-Sun this week -- I read the article that I’m sure many of you read about the persistence of income inequalities for people in this country of minority race and immigrants. I saw the figures and statistics about racial inequalities of home ownership in this country. I know, and you do, about inequalities and the persistent gaps in education in this country, and the quality differences of elementary and high schools in different neighborhoods. Those gaps are even more dangerous than in the past since education is more than ever the key to every possible form of social advancement.
We’re [also] now aware of new forms of inequality, or we’re newly aware of old forms of inequality, that weren’t much focused on at the time of the Civil Rights Movement. I see a table of colleagues from the Duke University Health System, and they and others have helped me understand the different burdens that are borne across racial lines with health issues like diabetes or hypertension or many others. We now begin to understand the environmental dimensions of health issues. If you’re a poor kid, you might live in a place that is likely to have things in the physical environment of your home such that merely by drawing a breath where you live, you could be making yourself unhealthy in a way that will have chronic consequences and sometimes even cognitive consequences.
I mention these things because in the year 2006 as in the year 1909, this is not the time to forget. This is not the time to rest. This is still the time for people to come together and work to reverse these facts. Or to put it another way, this is still a time when the mission of advancement has to be our mission. The mission of advancement to the day when everyone will have an equal hope and standing and everyone will have equal opportunity for personal fulfillment.
I came here -- I grew up elsewhere -- I came here not so long ago and I am now, as you know, the president of Duke. Like many other institutions, Duke participated in the logic of inequality and exclusion. I don’t know if you know that the patrons of Duke -- Washington Duke and his children — were actually quite active in promoting the causes of African Americans in this town. Health care, for instance. They were also active in the founding of what became North Carolina Central University. And I don’t know if you remember what to me remains the single most astonishing fact about Duke: Duke’s gothic campus was built in the heyday of official segregation, but Duke chose a Black architect to design this campus. And it’s unbelievable to think that that person could not physically set foot on the campus, but nevertheless, was judged the most brilliant person to properly design it.
We know other things. We know that though segregation was the rule, the races were never as “separate” in fact as they were in official fiction. If you’ve read the autobiography of John Hope Franklin, you know that when he taught at North Carolina College for Negroes, there was a weekly Sunday basketball game between that school and Duke. It was held at 11 in the morning on Sunday because no one would see them at that hour.
Nevertheless, for all these things, we do know, and I freely acknowledge, that there was a long period when Duke University excluded people on grounds of race. This was widespread at that time. I myself went to a university that excluded women until the year I graduated. I have the acquaintance of the people who were among the first African American undergraduates at Duke – these people are exactly my age. Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, who is going to be at my house tomorrow night, was in the first class. Brenda Armstrong was in the third class. Clarence Newsome, one of our trustees and the head of Shaw University, was in another early class.
The thing that I have found striking is that when Duke went from practicing exclusion, it did not just open its doors grudgingly to a few African-American students. It switched over to the position we now occupy, namely of having it actually be our mission to include, our mission to seek talent from all the parts of the American population, and our mission to give an education that will help empower people for lives that fulfill their talent later on. I can boast of a few things because I did nothing to make them happen, since I’m so new. I was very interested in the issue of Black Enterprise magazine that came out about a month ago that ranked Duke among the top of colleges for African American students. And actually, we gave out about $50 million in financial aid last year to make it possible for people to come here whose families can’t afford it. I find it phenomenal that Duke, which has one of the three or four or five most highly rated medical schools in the world, has the highest level of African-American students in one of the most selective classes in America. This is partly thanks to Brenda Armstrong. I also find it heartening that among my colleagues are well-qualified people with extraordinary positions of responsibility and leadership who come from every origin, but frequently from African American origins. Duke has something called the Institute for Care at the End of Life. It is headed by a person with a dual appointment in medicine and divinity named Richard Payne. If you don’t know him, you better meet him. Our graduate student organization is headed by someone who was just chosen by the Society of Black Engineers as the outstanding graduate student in America, Audrey Ellerbee. When this person is let loose on the world, you better watch out!
In addition to welcoming such students and taking pride in them, we are, as a university, committed to working together in this town to further all the good causes that a university can help with. And so, for instance, I look in the direction of a table from the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership. I’m proud to be at a university that has helped work with Durham partners to rehab well over 100 houses and let families acquire ownership of their own home: people in Walltown, in the Pauli Murray project and other such places who never had this chance before. I’m proud to be at a university that has worked with the Durham School System to tackle a range of problems . . . including one of the worst problems a school system can face, the extraordinary turnover of teachers. Until very recent times in Durham, more than 40 percent of teachers left within their first three years of being hired—which is often just when you’re getting good, just when you begin to know what you’re doing. We’re going to stop that. Duke can’t stop it alone, but we have worked in partnership with the city to help put an end to those things. I’m proud of our efforts to work with the community in healthcare in the Lyon Park clinic, the Walltown Clinic and elsewhere, proud of our effort to bring healthcare out from the hospital into the community, and out from the realm of emergency care to the place where you can access it as part of everyday life, the way that makes the biggest difference.
When I was in college I learned a phrase that I was very pleased with, namely, if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem. Everyone my age was convinced they were part of the solution. But that phrase is still true, it seems to me, and it is my aspiration for Duke University, as a university, to be part of the solution and to have every member of our community -- student, faculty or staff -- have the attitude that they want to be part of the solution. We all know how much we have to work together to achieve these ends.
Let me now speak about a subject you may be wondering if I am going to touch on. There was an event of some fame that erupted last spring on the Duke campus on the borders of Duke and Durham. I will not, on this occasion, say anything about the facts of that case, and I will not, on this occasion, say anything that relates to any person who was a party to that case. But that case has been a burden to us all and I do, in part, know why. I do understand that, not what factually happened -- we don’t know that -- but what was alleged to have happened had a special emotional charge because the idea of white men commandeering black women for their pleasure has a painful history. It has a history one could not ignore, and that history was activated. In the spring, it became part of my work to remind people of the presumption of innocence. More than one person from this city asked me if I thought, if it had been a black man and white women, would that person have enjoyed the same presumption of innocence? If they’d asked me if they would enjoy it from me, my answer would have been, “You bet they would have.” But I understand why people asked that question because, in truth, in our history, among the other unequal advantages people have had, some people have not had the same benefit of those presumptions that others have. And I understand that that is part of the situation we have lived through.
At the same time, I saw a quote from someone -- I never knew who, it was quoted on TV -- who said last spring, “I don’t really care if the accused people are guilty or innocent. I would just be happy to see them convicted.” I saw that quoted by a reporter. (I actually found these sorts of quotes were much more common on TV than in reality.) I saw that statement quoted to a student leader from North Carolina Central University. And you know what he said? He said, “What a stupid thing to say.” He said, “I don’t know anyone who thinks that.” He said, “Everyone I know thinks we should have the truth be established and then let’s have justice be rendered.”
That’s another community value that we have between us, because the world of due process and of justice based on evidence, that’s a world we all need. The day it’s us up there, we’ll need the benefit of the law and due process. We’ll need the benefit of the presumption of innocence. We’ll need the benefit of waiting until the facts are in before judgment is rendered. We all need that. But I must say, people who have not had the full benefit of the law have as much or more to lose as anybody from the opposite world: a world where prejudice is allowed to make decisions through prejudgment, a world in which you can decide whether someone is guilty by deciding what category of humanity they belong to, or a world in which people feel free to reach conclusions without taking the trouble to establish the facts.
That is a dangerous world to live in. That’s not dangerous for some people. That’s dangerous for all people, and that itself is one of the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement. And that’s why it seems to me that everyone who is a party to this issue in this city or elsewhere has got to understand that our collective human fate requires us to stand together for truth and justice, even in the face of difficult situations and emotions.
I express my gratitude here to the Mayor and Chancellor Ammons for standing with me last spring to uphold these values. I express my gratitude to the many ministers, some of whom are here tonight, such as you, Reverend Smith, who met with me during the spring and stepped forward and gave their support. And I want to say, in the coming months, we will be put under fire again, and we will have to remember that at that moment of trial, we’ll again need to protect our own and each other’s humanity, to stand up for the general rights of truth and justice and due process.
I’ll just conclude by saying one of the things I learned during the events of last spring. I had been to North Carolina Central University. I had met James Ammons when I first arrived. We liked each other right away. But strange to say, last spring, he and I were drawn closer together by the events that allegedly divided us. I actually found that to be about the best summary of my whole experience of this story last spring. Everybody who knew this story from TV “knew” that Duke and Durham have this giant chasm between them, as if Duke didn’t employ 40,000 people, more of half of them who live in Durham, among many other paradoxes. But during last spring, Chancellor Ammons and I were not only drawn into as close a friendship as I have with anyone in this town, but actually we were drawn to discover relations between our schools we had not seen before. How was I supposed to know that Duke Law School has a faculty member shared with North Carolina Central Law School who is one of the great national experts in national security law and takes students from both Duke and Central to the national conferences on security law? How was I supposed to know that when North Carolina Central opened those great new biotechnology research buildings and teaching buildings they have on their campus, that my colleagues and Chancellor Ammons’s colleagues were already working together in areas of mutual interest for the benefit of our students? How was I going to know that Tim Tyson, a faculty member at Duke and UNC, had already gotten together with a faculty member from Central to propose a class that’s going to be taught to students of both schools and to everybody else in Durham at the Hayti Heritage Center -- I plan to attend -- on the history of the South in Black and White? How was I to know not just that administrators, but that students would take up this moment as a moment to get to know each other and to learn more things that they could accomplish together? And we’re on that road together because for me that has been the whole point of these last months.
And it also takes me back to what I take to be the point of the NAACP. I say this and I conclude. Every day we have the choice to live for ourselves or to live in such a way as to show our concern for our neighbors and their well-being. Every day we live for our own personal advancement, or we live in such a way to use our powers to advance our brothers and sisters -- the whole human community together. And as you know, no one person and no one group can make enough progress on any of the interesting and hard problems we face. That progress can only be made when people come together and make this work their common mission.
I am honored to be here tonight to salute the NAACP for its long history in the cause of advancement, and I am here to pledge my personal commitment to work in this cause as well. Thank you so much.
http://news.duke.edu/2006/11/naacp.html
The above anonymous commenter appears to be "drunk" on cowardice.
Who are you, dear anonymous? And why do you hide?
This superfluous little offering by Richard Brodhead a few years ago is a great example of the usual fare presented whenever a member of a university administration gets together with leaders of a city or town in which the university is housed.
Town-gown chess playing.
This "speech" is about as impotent as Brodhead's meager apology to the lacrosse players and the entire Duke campus back in September of 2007 for having aided the rush to judgment and for having added fuel to the lynch mob in Durham in the Spring of 2006.
Fundamentally, Brodhead is not a stupid man. He's just a coward.
He's too busy writing poetry to ever get anything significant done, and too personally detached and dishonest to really care about the racial divide unless it affects him at Duke.
He does exactly what most Far Left Liberals do: Placate and acquiesce to the never-ending demands of black "activists".
Demands without responsibility.
It's all such a comical--yet pathetic--carnival show.
" In the spring, it became part of my work to remind people of the presumption of innocence."
This from Richard Brodhead is a total and unadulterated lie.
Brodhead is a liar.
My compliments to anyone that was able to comprehend this jibberish.
I suggest your hire a proof reader for your blog and that you publish this in the English language.
If three rich white boys can't get justice for a false rape accusation, then what chance would three poor black boys have? Less justice for the rich doesn't translate into more justice for the poor.
As for reparations for slavery, I would be all for doing SOMETHING to improve conditions for African Americans in this country, and to guarantee a right to a truly fair trial for all men. I don't think that true progress can be accomplished, however, until you start encouraging the return of traditional family structures by once again making FATHER and HUSBAND respectable titles in the community. Our legal system is hellbent on diminishing fathers and men in general whenever possible.
English? Really give us some examples of your evaluation and critique of the English language relative to the article. Cite some examples, and define for us what you considered to be "jibberish" about the article. BUT HERE IS THE FIRST ENGLISH LESSON, YOU WILL NOT FIND THE WORD "jibberish" in the written word of a standard dictionary; the WORD ACTUALLY SHOULD BE "GIBBERISH;" HERE IS THE MEANING: "spoken or written language perceived as unintelligible or devoid of sense". Moreover, lets be careful about the English language. It can be tricky at times and I think the Britons speak and write a more formal and correct version of the English language; our established lexicon is a bastardize version. Your analysis would be deeply appreciated. Thus, or were you referring to Debrah comments. Please give us some clarity. Now! I must agree with Debrah on this point; if we going to have this conversation at least identify ourselves. What to you think?
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
The blog operator is so hopelessly unskilled in critical thinking, so deeply mired in victimhood, so easily seduced by the superficial, so completely confused by irrelevancies, and, last but not least, so enamored by the empty, unschooled drone of his own voice, that productive debate with him is impossible.
I'm commenting only to register my dismay at the realization that such nonsense exists, and that it has any influence at all in the body politic.
You are an invisible coward and your critique isn't worth two cents. Man or woman up to your position and stop being a ghost. You do not like my position because you can not defeat my position. So, your only defense is insults. But I like and enjoy intellectually beating the hell out you white supremacist racist. Mr/Mrs. Coward is that's the best you got, as far as this debate. I got some spinach and kryptonite—may be that give you some strength and courage. We know at the KEEPING IT REAL Think thank who employs these type tactics.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Duke University has a lot of power and influence in Durham. In this case they did not use that in the ways you are suggesting. If anything they may have actually over-cooperated with law enforcement to an extreme. The release of key card information without a court order and the giving of poor legal advice to the players are 2 examples of this. They also were quick to turn over the investigation (which they could have handled) to Durham Police and quick to discredit their early reports and information from their own Duke University officers.
This is the reason they settled with the 3 indicted players and are still being sued in 2 additional lawsuits by the other players. I don't know if this will result in Duke having to fork over more money to the players or not, that may be a question that is eventually decided by a jury or judge in the civil cases. The players were able to afford a good defense team that used their money and influence to come up with a strategy that got this case dismissed before it went to trial. Even if you do not agree with the result or think that something may have happened the night of the party, it is completely off base to suggest that Duke University could be responsible for the outcome.
Not at all; if I take your logic then one could assume that "Power" is not capable of manipulating matters like this and we know better than that. Let me give you an example, it is against the law to file a false police report in the state of North Carolina, but Ms. Crystal Mangum was never charged with filing fictitious criminal report. Thus, something happened and you and I might not know what that something was/is. Thus, do not perceive legal exoneration as being a position of innocence. Sometime in this country a good legal defense is based on your availability to resources and justice isn't blind, it can be bought and paid for. We saw this in the 1994 when O.J. Simpson was able to put together his legal dream team, but many even to this day feel that he was guilty. So I am really not convince by your argument; we live in a racist and sexist society and this undeniable. I do appreciate your comments; they are reasonable and less emotional than some of the others that I have received. I just disagree.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Mr. Knight,
The problem with theory of Duke's pervasive power is that it is not falsifiable. While you cannot provide evidence that such power exists, your theory conveniently covers this flaw by suggesting that Duke would remove all evidence. However, it would be impossible to provide evidence that Duke does not have such power. The use of such theories makes argument impossible; if you can't be proven wrong and are not open to the possibility of being wrong, why discuss at all?
I fear that you have a similar theory of the Duke Lacrosse case. Something must have happened and any lack of evidence, or evidence contrary to your belief, is merely a consequence of Duke's power. What evidence could be produced to make you believe that you are wrong? A retraction by Ms. Mangum or Mr. Nifong would be bought in your mind, any videos or photographs manipulated, and DNA evidence suppressed. If none of the evidence or witnesses are reliable, shouldn't you be more open-minded about the events of that night? Could you accept that nothing happened, or is your mind made-up?
Manny
http://dougmg.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-has-responsibility-to-train-hired.html
please read my article on this issue.
http://dougmg.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-has-responsibility-to-train-hired.html
please read this article on the issue.
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