Why Have Our Civil Rights Leaders Eluded Criticism for Their Part in the Duke Lacrosse Rape Debacle?

As was promised, now that the Duke lacrosse rape hoax has been debunked, the civil litigation machine is in full operation. The three accused players have filed their lawsuits, seeking $10 million dollars apiece, even though their prosecutions came nowhere close to an actual trial, let alone a sentence. The lawsuits are not about money, we are told, but, rather, about exacting much needed change in our system of justice. We recently learned that players who were not even accused of the fictitious rape have filed suits of their own. Everyone is out to do their part in bringing about the needed change.

But there is a big, big problem with all of this. The problem is not simply that the falsely accused are seeking $10 million dollars from the state when they already received from Duke undisclosed settlements that surely paid for their legal bills and then some. No, the problem is that the players are only going after the easy targets - Mike Nifong, the State of North Carolina, Duke University. But, to my knowledge, none have even thought of taking on the other villains in this case. Have lawsuits been filed against the bogus accuser or her co-stripper?

Worse yet, the "civil rights leaders" who stirred this controversy from day one with the grossest of irresponsible behavior are, once again, getting a free pass. So let's at least recognize the civil rights leaders who, through their publicity seeking rush to judgments, did all that they could to put three innocent men in prison for their adult lives.

1. Jesse Jackson - The Reverend Jesse Jackson, who has yet to see a camera he didn't like, jumped on the bandwagon from the start. In April of 2006, shortly after the case broke, he magnanimously promised that he and his famed Rainbow/PUSH coalition would fund a scholarship for the "victim." Amazingly, when specifically asked, he confirmed that the scholarship would be given even if her story proved false. It was as though he were truly trying to antagonize white America. And this from the right hand man of Martin Luther King, Jr. who, in his famous I have a dream speech, emphasized: "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline."

Jesse took it a step further, noting that the "victim" also expressed interest in law school, "And we want to help her with that too." How wonderful. Mike Nifong gets disbarred for prosecuting a bogus case, while his fraudulent prosecuting witness gets rewarded with - of all things - a free ride to a legal education. Who knows, maybe she can fill Nifong's seat one day soon.

The clueless race hustler also declared, "There is more evidence that violence occurred to her than that she's the lead of a hoax." He made this absurd statement even after DNA tests failed to link any of the lacrosse team members to the woman. He based his statement on the purported physical evidence of "violence," even though time stamped photographs proved that Chrystal Gail Mangum brought these "injuries" with her to the party, probably courtesy of one of the seven other men who left DNA material on or about her.

Jackson did his best to pour still another barrel of oil on the completely contrived racial inferno by spouting such gems as this: "There's such a history of white men and black women and rape and assault it [the Duke case] conjures up many ancient feelings and fears." In his column on blacknews.com, Jackson expressed outrage that the woman's character should be questioned. He wrote, "Predictably, the right-wing media machine has kicked in, prompting mean-spirited attacks upon the accuser's character."

Yes, just when you think Jesse Jackson can do no more to divide the nation along racial lines, he raises the bar of divisiveness to new heights. Way to take that high plane of dignity and discipline, Jesse. Way to bring the races to that table of brotherhood of which your famed mentor dreamed.

Now that the entire case has been exposed for the hoax that it was, Jackson is uncharacteristically quiet. No retractions, no regrets, no apologies. It seemed strange that as we watched Nifong's disbarment proceedings from virtually every came angle there was no Reverend Jackson there to finish what he started. It was the first time in forty years that so many cameras were gathered in one place with no Jesse to be found.

Jackson's arrogant refusal to apologize is bad enough in itself. But don't forget, this is the same man who helped lead the pious charge against Don Imus for his "nappy headed hos" comment just a month before. Somehow, in Jackson's hypocritical head, Imus deserved to have a thirty year career suddenly terminated for uttering a phrase popularized by black culture, while Jackson himself owes NOTHING - not even so much as a "my bad" -- to the three men whom he wrongfully dragged through a fabricated mud hole in favor of a lying tramp.

No, you can bet the mortgage that you will never hear the words, "I'm sorry," from this man. Not in this context. And as sure as we live and breathe, he will never be held accountable, let alone punished, for his complicity in compounding the damage that was done.

2. Al Sharpton

Usually, where there is a Jesse Jackson siting, "Reverend" Al Sharpton is not far behind. While not at the same level as Jackson, Al contributed to the prejudgment campaign. He feigned offense at the thought of anyone wishing to "try the victim." When confronted by exposed weaknesses in the case, he responded, "I know this DA is probably not one that is crazy. He would not have proceeded if he did not feel that he could convict." Yes, indeed, your knowledge is overwhelming, Reverend.

In an interview in which he was asked about the mountain of evidence that quickly surfaced against the fraudulent claimant, he added the following: "So it tells me that all of what you said is either not true or he has convincing evidence that would certainly knock that out and no one is not letting him proceed."

All of this, mind you, came from a man who led the national campaign to destroy Don Imus' 30 year broadcasting career for his use of the phrase, "Nappy Headed Hoes." The principles and priorities of our modern day civil rights leaders are curious indeed.

3. The New Black Panthers

Jackson and Sharpton's idiocy seems almost cute when compared with the vitriol that was dished out by that highly respected group known as the New Black Panthers. This upstanding group paid a personal visit to Durham "to deal directly" with the lacrosse players. The party's chairman, Chairman Malik Shabazz, with the aide of a megaphone, led his mob through the streets of Durham with chants demanding convictions of the accused players. "The legacy of white men having their way with black women...has come to an end!" he bellowed. In front of the alleged crime scene, Shabazz shouted through the megaphone, "Your university is steeped in racism." Shabazz, who is actually a lawyer, did all that he could to prejudge and prejudice the case against the defendants from the outset. "It ain't no debate to us," he shouted through the megaphone. "We know what happened here," the idiot shouted as he "demanded" a guilty verdict. He proceeded to call the school the "Duke slave plantation" where black women are mistreated daily.

So what happened after the case was thoroughly debunked and the charges dismissed? Michelle Maulkin asked Shabazz on Fox News whether he intended to apologize for his earlier conduct. The still belligerent, unrepentant race baiter responded that he owed no apology. Incredibly, he added that the accuser was a victim, yet again, this time of the incompetence of Mike Nifong. In one final attempt at stirring racial controversy, he called Maulkin a prostitute who should be ashamed for filling in for "that racist, Bill O'Reilly."

Now, I ask you, why is this man not punished for his clearly inappropriate conduct? Again, this is a practicing lawyer we are talking about. How many rules of professional conduct did the man violate by prejudging and slandering three innocent men, by baselessly attacking an entire University, by feigning personal knowledge of what purportedly occurred, and by attempting to stir race riots in the city of Durham? But as with Mangum, Kim Roberts, Jackson, and Sharpton, it will be a cold, cold day in hell before our politically correct society takes this piece of garbage to task.

4. Julianne Malveaux - I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess most of you have never heard of this woman. Malveaux is the President of Bennett College, a predominantly black school located in Greensboro, North Carolina, site of the famous Woolworth's sit-ins, and a renowned black scholar. Also very outspoken with her opinions on the Duke case, she offered the following statement on National Public Radio after the fictitious tale had unraveled: "Those kids don't deserve an apology. They hired strippers. ... They were known for 'hooliganistic behavior.' So, no, they don't deserve any apologies at all.... Something happened to this woman, and she deserves a lot of our compassion."

The irony is so difficult to believe: that a celebrated black scholar would berate the falsely accused players for hiring strippers, yet laud the stripper herself. She suggests that three innocent men deserved to suffer through completely baseless felony prosecutions because of their past "hooliganistic behavior," which consisted, at most, of public drinking and urination. At the same time, she insists that the false accuser, whose history includes a far more serious criminal record and unpunished false criminal accusations, is somehow deserving of compassion.

Malveaux is perfectly symbolic of the rank hypocrisy that our "civil rights leaders" demonstrated throughout the whole sordid affair. To the Julieanne Malveauxes of the world, a piece of human garbage, who whored herself out literally and figuratively, and who had no qualm at all about dragging the names of three players through the mud with bogus charges deserves "a lot of our compassion," rather than an ounce of accountability and - heaven forbid - punishment for her criminal misconduct.