Yesterday, I read the front page story on USA Today on the phenomenon known as “Stop Snitching” which of course, rather stridently urges witnesses to crime to keep their mouths shut. Let me be the first to say that I’m repulsed by this. I understand the disgust at police informants who give to police information (or what the police want to hear) while they can get away with whatever it is that they want, I have no sympathy for the fools that prey on folks in the community. Save your sob story.
Having said that, however, what’s new here, other than the T-shirt and matching cap? It’s not new to neither the mafia nor the police …
…and it’s most certainly NOT a new concept to the Duke University Lacrosse Team.
And isn’t it funny that their likenesses aren’t splashed on the covers of major newspapers?!
The details of this savagery are almost too much for me to type, so I include a link here for a timeline–particularly for those who may not yet be able to handle the details. I honestly feel physically repulsed just by reading them myself.
While I don’t believe the entire team was involved (and in an ironic twist, the lone Black team member is not a suspect), it is clear that a) more than a few of them know what happened and b) they are punks of the lowest order for hiding it.
Now usually, our culture usually loves a story like this. It’s like a good horror movie: we are repulsed by the evil perpetrator who preys on (usually) women who will slip on a tree branch and fall and who face certain gruesome death; then we cheer on the good guys who will slay the evildoer and live happily ever after. This story here, however, is a good bit different. The suspects are white and presumably upper class (the race/class of folks whose morality we are not fixated on…you know, our “betters”). This “damsel in distress” (hey, I hate that term too, but stay with me) is not blonde but rather, African-American and was working as an exotic dancer (you know, the race/gender of folks whose morality we ARE fixated on…you know, who we are superior to). Finally, there were the racial epithets. Don’t ya just HATE those times when you can’t pretend that racism doesn’t exist! Damn!
Outside of ABC, which of course, owns ESPN and therefore finds this too big a story to ignore (who said corporate consolidation wasn’t a good thing?!) this story hasn’t received the saturation coverage of other stories of this type. I wonder why…
So of course, here are all my dumb points and questions–and hell yeah, they are dumb because folks pretend to not know the answer to them, and we all do.
First–and this has always vexed me–what is this pernicious double standard of enjoying an exotic dancer’s work and then cursing her? Curse your own goddamned self. No means no–all the goddamned time. If you hate you, take your violence out on yourself, no one else.
Second–since the thugs in question are white, all of a sudden, everyone starts remembering the Constitution. Isn’t it just funny how when we sympathize with the criminals, everyone starts talking about their rights? Oh, they have rights. They are presumed innocent. Let’s not rush to judgement. And my personal favorite? Oh my gawd, it’s a mob mentality going on down there!, which of course is just too rich, given our lynch-crazy history. While it’s true that they do have legal protections, I don’t hear a mumbling word about not “rushing to judgement” when criminal suspects happen to be African-American. Of course, the rights of the Duke Lacrosse team are sacred because we don’t give a hot damn about the victim who was so viciously brutalized. And why is that?
But hey, these are just “boys”, just “college kids” and we should cut them a break? No. They are criminals and should be treated as such.
So. I want to see justice, and the first step down to this path is to stop acting like this story doesn’t exist. It does. Violence against women and racism is abhorrent and needs to be dealt with. Severely. Stop the BS.
Oh yeah–and the next time I hear someone sniffing about reparations by saying, That was a long time ago–it has nothing to do with the present. I’ll remind them of the comment made that night, “Thank your grandpa for my cotton shirt.”
From that telling throwaway line to that awful, savage act, this country’s slavery legacy is not so far in the past, now is it?
There a very good site called Justice 4 Two Sisters which is following the story. I would encourage everyone to link to them.
(Cross-posted at Liberal Street Fighter)