Over the past few weeks, allegations and insults have flown back and forth across kos on the issue of race, woman's rights, and justice regarding the Duke lacrosse rape case.
We must examine our own culture to protect it. Why searching for the truth matters.
Blogs are really the ant hills of the media. There was a point that Ben Domenech wasn't a plagiarist and a racist, and I can tell you that at RedState.com, there were people who defended him, and those that sought to find out the truth. I wonder how the latter felt when they were called traitors? Eventually, the ants strip the truth to the bone and everything goes quiet again.
Although the pendulum has swung in the other direction in the Duke Lacrosse case over several new developments (and please put forth the effort to read the news and this diary fully before you comment), I don't feel that we know what happened yet, or why it happened, and I caution people in making judgments that the case is over.
I can tell you that I've lost a lot of sleep worrying about being misunderstood here on this issue. There are a lot of people who will wisely avoid commenting about racial issues at all. But if you can't discuss race on kos, then where? And certainly there is no better way to define your own biases than to hear others discuss their own experiences; if none were brave enough to do so here, there would be nothing to read.
The truth is, the motive for asking questions about the details of this case have never stemmed from being white. My motive is that, as someone who contributes to kos, I want to know the truth. I do not change my position now. The victim is "alleged". The attackers are "alleged". But there needs to be some air clearing about some accusations here, about some other actions by some team members other than the alleged rape, and there needs to be some justification as to why all of this matters to us as progressives.
The accusations flying on kos and elsewhere (and I am not going to link to them) ranged from claims that there was a concerted effort from the college and media to subvert the truth, to charges of implied or outright racism and elitism towards some that asked questions about the case. People who defended what was true were called limosine liberals. Charges were made again that the Democratic Party was only interested in exploiting the African American vote. And people got really emotional.
While I tried to keep calm through all this, I do think that the general discussion generated some good responses, including a serious pledge by Duke to address the issue. But I have disputed that Durham, North Carolina has any more race problems than other communities. This is certainly not a denial that there are problems, and it shouldn't be. I would challenge that there are unlikely friendships here that you would not see anywhere else. Having moved from deeper South, I have seen places much, much worse.
Part of the problem is that we only trust the messenger when they are part of the culture that they criticize, and often give them a wide berth. Cartoonist John Callahan can make fun of being handicapped because he's a paraplegic, and Chris Rock can make acute observations about urban life that someone else would not be able to. Sometimes you get the truth, but sometimes the message is more ambiguous. There is a great scene recently in The Office where Steve Carell tries to clumsily relate Chris Rock's "Blacks vs. Niggers" bit (which I disliked) that shows that its hard to defend the routine on any level. Rock was in effect embraced for making racist comments about his own race, and though we are often too PC in this culture, we have to recognize how the message is read by other people.
Don't get me wrong--I love Rock to death, and think he is a necessary and relevant voice for black America. But that doesn't mean his message is helpful in creating a more tolerant society.
Moving on, to disagree with some of these allegations of problems with race, gender and class does not mean that these problems do not exist. But there is danger in making blanket accusations as well: If the lacross team is a bunch of white elitists, is the black lacrosse player an Uncle Tom? How many of the lacrosse players are gay? How many of them have sexual problems after 12 hours of drinking? Also, note that not being guilty of a crime (if this is the case) doesn't exonerate them from being assholes, but isn't that a different matter?
There were actions by individuals on the Duke lacrosse team that, regardless of a crime, were indefensible. Some of us tried to separate those actions from the crime, not to defend those actions, but to try to understand them. My feeling was--and--is that some players were wronged in a minor way, and that this brought out the worst in them, far worse than the worst is in me. Finding out the "why" doesn't justify the "what happened". After all, I don't believe racism is genetic, which is why we must try to understand it.
V C. Rogers has a great, great cartoon in this week's Independent Weekly that captures the spirit of how I feel. Supposing that the rape allegation is not true, I wonder how the actions of the players will now be swept under the rug? A player did make a racist statement, another was found to have sent a violent misogynistic email. My guess is that privately, these players will cement these feelings into a philosophy that somehow they were right all along, and, in the end, won't change their anti-social behavior one bit.
I want to reiterate this: people are individuals, regardless of race. We as a community must understand that the motivations of any individual in a free will society are their own, be it outright racism or a possible false rape charge, and do not necessarily reflect the views of their athletic team or people who share the color tone of their skin. Am I being too non-judgmental here? Because the Right Wing will have no qualms.
I'm not starting a diary as a "I told you so", the best reason being that none of us is psychic, and this investigation is not over, regardless of these new facts. But I do want to say to those of you who attacked me, who attacked others who only want to know the truth, I am not angry because someone told me I was wrong. I am angry that I may be proved to be right.
I was told to be ashamed to suggest that a Tawana Brawley-like incident will set back civil rights, women's rights. If this rape allegation proves to be false, won't Limbaugh now trot out Duke as an example every time there is a new allegation of racism or sexual assault? Won't his listeners nod their heads and laugh in their cars as silent racists? What happens when more likely everyday occurrences of racism are revealed that aren't as likely to sell papers? And what happens when these victims are looking further down the barrel of Limbaugh's gun? What part of "we must examine our own culture to protect it" do you not understand?
I know what you're thinking. Won't the Right Wing attack us anyway? Yes, they will. But we have to make sure injustice ocurs to speak out against it. We have to speak out against rape, and misogyny, and racism, and monitor alleged injustice, but, honestly, we can't defend every allegation. In fact, we have to call to task those that falsely use the race card for their own personal gain, because it weakens true injustice. Simply put, Jayson Blair has a book out called Burning Down My Master's House, but he's holding the smoking match.
Lynch mob justice is not the philosophy of progressives. That is why we continually support those who are the victims of flawed justice, including those who can no longer defend themselves. Lynch mob justice is not the philosophy of progressives, which is why we do not advocate murdering people who cross our border.
Lynch mob justice is not the philosophy of progressives. Finding out the truth is, even if we must face uncomfortable facts.
