In the waiting-time for more DNA results and a third suspect in the Duke lacrosse rape story, wirters are weighing in on things feminist, racist, and elitist. Tip o’ hat to BlogHer.org’s Erin Kotecki Vest for teeing up these…

Thanks for the interest. It’s a web-documentary, and you can visit simply by clicking my name. If you’re looking for the interview in question, take the following path:

MEDIA > NEWS & PUBLISHING INDUSTRIES
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If, we want to use a hypothetical, lets use the Duke Basketball team – comprised of smart, athletic, over-achievers that for the most part are African Americans. It would have been EVERY BIT as wrong to brand that whole team as rapists over the statement of one-person (not specifically) accusing three players. I would have been every bit (if not more) irate about that scenario. This has been botched even IF there are three guilty players on the team – You just don’t draw into question the integrity of an entire team of 46 INDIVIDUALS over the (possible) actions of a few members. What if this had been the Chess team or the Latin club? What type of demographics would we need to have where the media and the judicial system doesn’t carpet-bomb the entire group?

I will gladly concede that being “bad” and being a felon are thankfully two very different things. I will NOT concede that being a drunk, white lacrosse player is synonymous with being a rapist any more than I would conceded that being an inner city black male is synonymous with being a drug dealer and neither should anyone else.

I totally agree that historically less affluent, under served groups have gotten the shaft in terms of legal representation and justice and that should be an embarrassment to our legal system and our society as a whole. But, is the answer to correcting that historic injustice that more affluent citizens are held to some higher standard on innocence? That would certainly be an interesting strategy.

And by the way - I think all kids are “good kids with a future” - some just have bigger problems to overcome than others.

What I find odd is that you’re willing to assume the rest of the population demonized by the media is made up of “BAD kids.” What you’re saying is, in essence, even if they did rape the girl, they were just good kids who made a mistake. Or am I wrong?

This is a problem that plagues the American media, public, and (sadly) judicial system. Not to pimp my documentary, but I interviewed Pulitzer-winning journalist/best-selling author Karen Hunter, and she recognized this as a common trend in America. People see these offenders (and suspects like the Duke kids) as “good youngsters with a future,” while others like the black suspects in the Central Park Jogger case are convicted before they’re tried.

Screw diplomacy here, LAX. I must ask you, do a high GPA and a presigious education preclude one from being “bad?” Why is this a concern here, and not in the case of the scores of black, less-affluent kids who aren’t given the benefit of the doubt in their cases. These kids are never “good kids who made mistakes.” Why is that?

So, LAX, while I see your heart is in the right place, I have to ask that you question where your mind is– along with much of America’s. If you’re going to mourn the vilification of one group, try to remember the countless others yearning to hear a voice speaking out on their behalfs when their names are being dragged through the mud by the media.

You are 100% correct, I think what you’re failing to realize is that the underlying problem is that the media does and more importantly the law does not act in the ways that you talk about. NOW that DNA evidence has surfaced that absolves the team, the story is headlining hte news, they have analysts on CNN / FOX NEWS / MSNBC talking about the case etc. 3 days after the alleged rape happened I was asking people about the case and they had never heard anything about it.

I haven’t even really seen pictures of any of the team except the guy who wrote the email talking about “killing the girls, cutting off their skin and ejaculating on himself” (by the way, yes this does qualify someone as a “bad” kid )

If it were a predominatly black group of kids on a college sports team that allegedly gang-raped a white stripper,

a) It’d be headlining the news 15 minutes after the call to police happened
b) We’d have seen pictures and bios of the entire team by now.
c) If the DNA evidence absolved them, the story would disappear immediately,

As far as the duke lacrosse team finding a way to get their reputations back (assuming they are innocent), I totally agree.

Lastly, I couldn’t disagree more about thinking the statement “18 – 22 year old students at one of the most respected Universities in the country participating in one of the most respected Lacrosse programs in the country – not your typical recipe for a felon? Granted it is always a possibility – anything is a possibility.”

I also went to one of those “most respected Universities in the country” and the most felonious activity I’ve ever seen in my life was perpetrated by 18-22 year old white males, the difference is

a) they weren’t caught
b) if they were caught, once they were apprehended, they were let go by police.