It's interesting to see many news stories use the race slant on this incident. After taking pause on the event and the evidence abounding on the case (good summaries with links to details on www.deadspin.com and Alas, a blog http://www.amptoons.com/blog/), I think it would be more responsible for the press (and bloggers) to look at this from three angles:
1) A group of young men from a university catering to the highly entitled puffing up thier own sense of self worth by imposing thier will over obviously economically distressed young woman in an extreme sick ritual. The victim has been quoted as being a single mother (2 kids) student at a neigboring public college who publicly stated that stripping is something she's doing in the interim to get where she wants to be. This is probably the second most relevant way of looking at this. The offenders are privileged young men who have been given everything in life to them because of thier parents' position in society and the boys' ability to play a sport which has become a symbol (or ritual) of the economically elite. Today, moreso than golf, lacrosse is a sport of the elite. It's an interesting issue, but entitled youth often develop serious self esteem issues because they don't understand how they've gotten what they have.
2) Student atheletes getting preferential treatment. Duke seems to be doing a pretty good job of handling this issue by suspending the team play and accepting the resignation of the coach. Others may want the University to be more aggressive, but IMO, they have done a good job. Remember, Duke lacrosse has a strong following from the alumni supporters - many of which are very influential in business and academia. Unfortunately due to the nature of the play of the game, lacrosse is a sport which attracts players who are constantly pushing the limits of what is acceptable.
3) Racism. Apparently there were some yelling of racial epithets heard by people who were close to the house at the time of the incident. While it's always horrible to hear this, IMO it is not a primary issues would be better for the black community to focus on my first point.
As for the single black player not coming forward? Hey, I would hope that my if my son was not one of the three accused rapists and knew something I wish he would come forward regardless of the color of his skin. There are 47 players on the Duke lacrosse team, 46 of which were white. The only reason the black player is being treated any differently than the white players is because only the 46 white players were asked in the search warrant to give DNA samples. There is no reason for him to come forward any more than any of the other players.
By the way, there is a big class divide amongst African Americans as well as amongst White Americans.



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