Times' Columnist Attacks "Demonization" of Innocent Duke Players
In the aftermath of the Duke lacrosse rape hoax, Times columnist Peter Applebome spoke out against the "socially conscious left" that was ready to convict the innocent Duke lacrosse players without evidence. Was fellow columnist Selena Roberts listening?
Applebome writes the "Our Towns" column for the Sunday Metro section, and talked to locals with connections to the Duke case for his latest offering, "After Duke Prosecution Began to Collapse, Demonizing Continued."
"The rape case that cost three Duke University lacrosse players a year of their lives and much more of their youth finally ended on Wednesday, when North Carolina Attorney General Roy A. Cooper said what many people have long known: all three were totally innocent of the charges against them.
"But since last week was one for pondering language and apology, here's what those who know Reade Seligmann of Essex Fells, N.J., Collin Finnerty of Garden City, on Long Island, and David Evans of Bethesda, Md., are wondering. How did college kids with no shortage of character witnesses become such a free-fire zone for the correct thinkers in academia, the news media and the socially conscious left?....I went to Duke and have a son there, so maybe I was predisposed to hear the scream. But by now only those who get a delicious, angry jolt just from hearing the words 'white male privilege' are not feeling a bit ill."
Applebome could have been referring to his own paper's misleadingly pro-prosecution coverage, and in particular the assumptions of guilt made by sports columnist Selena Roberts, who slimed the innocent Duke lacrosse players long after the false rape charges against them had collapsed, and the day before the North Carolina attorney general declared them innocent of all charges.
On March 25, Roberts sarcastically snarled at those with the temerity to defend the innocent players who were railroaded by rogue local prosecutor Michael Nifong: "Don't mess with Duke, though. To shine a light on its integrity has been treated by the irrational mighty as a threat to white privilege....lay off the lacrosse pipeline to Wall Street, excuse the khaki-pants crowd of SAT wonder kids."
