My Email on Tawana Two (aka the Duke "rape" case)

Renew America ^ | May 24, 2006 | Michael Gaynor

[zaxxon]

There's no doubt that many black women were raped by white men in America and never were held liable for it. When slavery was "legal," "rape" was an exercise of a property right instead of a crime. But (1) slavery ended long ago, (2) none of the Duke lacrosse players ever owned slaves, and (3) no innocent person ought to be convicted on a phony rape charge in order to "atone" in some perverse way for slavery or white racism, or as punishment for the stupidity of attending a party at which strippers of whatever color were the "entertainment."

As more and more information becomes public, it looks more and more like the so-called Duke "rape" prosecutions are the result of (1) a false report, or hoax, and (2) a white Democrat attorney's politically motivated decision to secure indictments before a Democrat primary election in which black votes would be decisive, in a transparent attempt to pander to black voters more motivated by emotion than reason.

My last article on the subject elicited plenty of email, much of it thoughtful.

[rogue yam]

I think the "were never held liable for it" was referring to the white rapists, not the black victims.

Of course that is what the author meant. My point, which I think I made sufficiently clear, is that the author made a boneheaded mistake in his first sentence. If one is in the business of writing opinion pieces, this is unacceptable.

[zaxxon]

Point taken, and sorry I misunderstood your post. I'm reminded of a quote from the Bertolucci pic "The Last Emperor,":

Reginald Johnston: "Words are important."
Emperor Pu Yi: "Why are words important?"
Reginald Johnston: "If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say, and a gentleman should always mean what he says."

[TaxRelief]

She was hired by certain people...

No doubt.

...and was there with them.

Highly doubtful.