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NATIONAL
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Duke Case Victim Target of Hate
by Cash Michaels
Special to the NNPA from the Wilmington Journal
Thanks to unrelenting attacks on her character and credibility by defense attorneys, the alleged victim in the Duke lacrosse rape case is now the target of hate by many who believe the Black woman is a “false accuser” of three indicted white players.
Looming doubts about the evidence in the minds of some of the public have generated hateful portrayals of the alleged victim in media reports, and particularly on the Internet.
Several Web sites have revealed her name (something media organizations voluntarily do not do in order to protect rape victims from further harm), address and other personal information, including her limited criminal record, in an effort to embarrass the accomplished North Carolina Central University student, US Navy veteran and mother of two.
Some Web sites have labeled her a “sexual predator” who is lying just so she can later sue “the rich kids” of the Duke lacrosse team for a false attack.
Ironically, it is a community-based Web site that was launched Mother’s Day in support of the victim, www.ourheartsworld.com, that has attracted a fair share of hate e-mail directed at the 27-year-old woman after only one week.
Sixty percent of the messages sent to OurHeartsWorld.com - set up by the N.C. NAACP, Triangle Urban League and the Black Press, - are indeed inspiring and supportive.
“Bless you, my beloved sister,” wrote “Soulj” from Brooklyn, N.Y. “In times of tribulation, turn to your God and to our Ancestors. Feel the souls of Black folk as we embrace you and your family, dear sister. You are loved, supported and fearless.”
Other messages, coming from Christian supporters and ministers, have encouraged her to stay strong in her faith.
“God’s Will will prevail,” wrote “Pat.” “You'll get through this. My family and I will continue to pray, because one voice is a whisper, [but] many [are] thunder.”
The uplifting messages have come from all across the country, and indeed, the world.
“I wish you strength and encouragement in the coming days,” wrote a supporter who identified himself as Brad Polk, from Beijing, China.
“The white press will not break you. You have the legacy of black people supporting you.”
But there are those closer to home that believe the alleged victim is telling anything but the truth.
“She is a worthless, lying car thief out to destroy lives. She was not raped,” charged an e-mail from a couple who called themselves “Mike and Sue.”
“She will have her ugly butt in jail soon enough for making these false allegations. You guys need to find a better cause, because this lying wh--- isn't it.”
Another e-mailer, “Whitney,” said: “Is making up a bunch of lies to get attention and bling all just cool in your ''world?''
And some of the messages have gone far beyond just disbelief of the alleged victim’s claims, and instead indicted all Black people.
“You damn [n-word] make me want to puke. This wh--- was duly f----- by her pimp and sent to work high as a kite,” wrote an e-mailer named “Nick.”
“The cops came because she was passed-out in a car whose driver wanted her out, and lo and behold--I waz raped! Only a honkie looking for re-election would fall for that,” Nick wrote, referring to the election of District Attorney Mike Nifong.
“This whole thing STINKS so bad that even Je$$ie Jackson and Sharpton (Twanna Bradley) are keeping low key,” wrote Nick, referencing the Tawana Brawley case in New York Rev. Sharpton was involved in many years ago.
Nick concluded, his angry, racist missive, “Please join your ‘sisters’ IN AFRICA!!!! And take your ‘brothers’ with you.”
None of those hate messages have been, or will be posted, the Web site’s sponsors say, but they are being filed.
Even some of the supportive messages are edited to delete any direct attacks on Duke University, the lacrosse team or the indicted players.
The overwhelming number of messages to OurHeartsWorld.com, however, have been supportive.
“I want to thank you for the beautiful website you have created for Our Sister,” wrote a 65-year-old White grandmother named “Margaret.”
“I believe in her. I cannot imagine what she is going through. … Thank you again for caring about this woman. It had appeared that no one did and that, in itself, broke my heart.”
Meanwhile defense attorneys have filed motions in Durham Superior Court this week, asking that Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, the prosecutor in the Duke lacrosse case, turn over any toxicology reports that were generated from the alleged victim’s rape examination the morning after she says she was dragged into a bathroom by three players, beaten, kicked, strangled and sexually assaulted on the night of March 13.
As required by law, Nifong reportedly turned over his complete case file of evidence last week - consisting of 1,278 documents, two VHS tapes and a disc of photographs – to defense attorneys for indicted lacrosse player Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J.
At the next evidentiary hearing scheduled for June 19, Nifong is expected to turn over evidence to defense attorneys for Colin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, NY; and Dave Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md.
But after reviewing the material, Seligmann’s attorneys complained that the toxicology reports, which they had every reason to believe were done, were missing.
Nifong has said if there were such reports, they were included, even though defense motions indicate that a nurse involved in the rape kit exam checked off on a form that none had been done.
Toxicology tests are considered standard when rape victims are brought in to determine whether a so-called “date rape” drug was used. When Durham police first encountered the alleged victim in a supermarket parking lot, they said she was “passed out drunk” in a car, though no alcohol could be detected on her.
She was then taken to a detoxification center, and then to Duke Medical Center’s emergency room, where she was examined.
D.A. Nifong seemed to indicate to Newsweek Magazine in its April 18 edition that the victim’s “…impaired state was not necessarily voluntary.”
“…[If]I had a witness who saw her right before this and she was not intoxicated, and then I had a witness who said that she was given a drink at the party and after taking a few sips of that drink acted in a particular way, that could be evidence of something other than intoxication, or at least other than voluntary intoxication?” Nifong asked Newsweek.
Kim Roberts, the second dancer hired to perform with the alleged victim at the wild off-campus lacrosse party where the assault reportedly occurred, has said that both women were offered mixed drinks right before they performed.
Roberts didn’t drink hers, but the victim did after spilling her own drink. That’s when Roberts noticed her demeanor deteriorate into a stupor for the rest of the evening.
Whether Nifong is holding any evidence back, though he’s legally not supposed to, is unclear. If there is evidence, as it was believed, that the victim was indeed drugged, many observers believe it would be a clear first step towards fleshing out what some speculate so far to be a weak case.
Unless the prosecutor has an eyewitness to the alleged assault in the house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. during the time that 40 or more lacrosse players partied, media pundits, despite Nifong’s ability to secure three grand jury indictments, have proclaimed this case dead and buried, especially with no conclusive DNA matches.
Supporters, and the family of the alleged victim, however, say they believe the D.A. has the evidence to go forward with a trial.
Nifong has told the court that he wanted to try all three indicted suspects together.
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