What a week its been for news! After weeks and weeks and weeks of Anna Nicole Smith news, the announcement of the baby daddy news took a back seat to the drama that unfolded over the “nappy headed ho’s” comment that Shock Jock Don Imus made in reference to the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Players. I wonder if their coach had been white if he would’ve made those same remarks. Tennessee Women’s Basketball coach traditionally has a majority of black females on her teams and this year was no exception. Why weren’t they singled out as “nappy headed ho’s” as well? What else is surprising for me is why I haven’t heard from any other Women’s Basketball coaches on the subject. Have they all been told to keep their distance on the subject? Why not rally around one of your own?
And then Wednesday came the announcement that ALL charges would be DROPPED against the three Duke University Lacrosse players who were accused last year of allegedly raping and kidnapping a stripper they hired for the party. I was working in television news when that story broke. The public outcry over what allegedly happened was fierce. Here were three preppie white boys accused of assaulting a young black woman they had hired to dance at their frat party. It was if the public wanted the Duke boys to be guilty because the general consensus was “they always seem to get away with so much.”
As much as I wanted to believe the story as it was presented, I still had more questions than answers. Now I do believe something happened that night at that frat party and I definitely believe those Duke players made some derogatory statements about those young ladies and about black people in general---but the extent of the assault is still puzzling to me especially since none of the DNA matched any of the three suspects. But, on the other hand, a hospital report indicated there was evidence of sexual abuse.
I had the opportunity to speak to one of the attorneys involved in the case and I invite you to listen to his interview by clicking on this link:
http://www.talk2bevpodcast.com/audios/dukelacrosse.mp3
Out of all that happened this week, the one thing I learned is money---not race---rules the roost. Don Imus may have been making $10 million a year but his advertisers who pulled out were generating four to five times that in revenues for MSNBC-TV and CBS----and in the Duke Lacrosse case, those preppie white boys proved to us once again that if you have enough money you WILL win. Just ask OJ.
