Everyone Get In Line

So the Duke LAX fiasco won't go away, especially if you live in Durham, NC as I happen to do. During lunch today I read the Duke Chronicle (student newspaper) as I usually do. I happened across an editorial today which I found both interesting as well as totally frustrating.

For those not in the know, music artist Common, who happens to be a personal favorite of mine, came out and made a public apology for condemning the accused LAX players before a formal investigation was completed. Conveniently, this apology comes just a short time before he is scheduled to perform here for the students of Duke.

This editorial continues on to say that Common, along with others, should be commended for apologizing for what the rest of us also assumed. The LAX players were guilty before they ever went to trial.

So now we should all get in line and apologize?

Guess what? I'm not sorry for thinking these guys were guilty before the investigation started. I, like many others, was a victim of the media spin and Durham County DA Nifong. Why should I apologize about the slanted reporting on this incident? Not once did I think, despite my inclination that these boys were guilty, that they did not deserve a fair trial.

In fact, when I learned that the accuser's claims were unfounded I didn't feel guilty at all for my own feelings. I felt sorry for the students whose lives had been PERMANANTLY and IRREVERSIBLY damaged by this whole fiasco. You know who else I felt sorry for? The accuser. For some reason, she felt she needed to make a false accusation. Worse yet, what if she wasn't lying? There were clearly no winners in any of this.

But why should I apologize? Because I assumed they were guilty? We all knew guys capable of this type of act in college. Maybe at your school they were the rugby players, or the soccer players, or the Sig Ep's (I don't know just some random stabs here). Doesn't matter. These boys may not have done anything they were accused of but somewhere in this country kids just like them have.

Once again, America, you're getting it wrong. Those that made public statements should apologize (kudos Rashid). But the rest of us? Maybe we should be focusing on our communities. Our relationships with our neighbors whose cultural roots differ than our own. I thought racial tension is Chicago was palpable. In Durham, it's like a punch to the face. This whole case is representative of a much greater problem in this country. Anyone who saw 60 minutes this past weekend or has followed the Imus saga knows exactly what I mean. We don't trust each other. We don't like each other. And we make others that are different from ourselves victims. One way or another.

I'm not apologizing. And I don't blame Com for getting angry when he first heard of the case. The media portrayed this in a way where we all believed it. We are a society divided and this story was sensationalized to obtain ratings by the media, and votes by a district attorney. Just another log on the fire that in race relations in America