Last night about a dozen angry activists held a protest outside the house on 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in Durham where the infamous rape hoax originated. I heard about this on ABC 11 News online, whose story doesn’t identify a single protester. The Daily Tar Heel’s story does, at least:
They were gathered to protest Attorney General Roy Cooper’s decision to drop all sexual assault and kidnapping charges against three former Duke lacrosse players.
Although they were protesting the case dismissal, Shafeah M’Balia of the Black Workers for Justice Women’s Commission said they don’t expect the outcome to be reconsidered.
Instead, she said, they hope to raise awareness of the social climate that stigmatizes black women and sexual assault – something they said they couldn’t prevent this time.
“I think that it reinforces fear on the part of the victims to come forward,” M’Balia said.
“That’s dangerous.” …
M’Balia argued that the dismissal was biased and that the evidence supporting it was inconclusive and incomplete.
“They took the whole process as if all the defense and all the prosecution had been heard,” she said.
“We say that is a travesty.”
Dana McKeithan of Concerned Parents for African-American Children agreed that the testimonies given were insufficient.
“I want every last one of those boys to be on that witness stand,” she said.
“We don’t need to teach our children social injustice,” McKeithan said
“It’s got to stop somehow, somewhere.”
Kai Barrow, community organizer for a group that advocates ending sexual assault, said that the prosecution’s lack of support for the former accuser also was a significant problem.
“The prosecutor made the decision that they would not advocate for her, so who does?
“If the state doesn’t do that, we will,” she added.
How about advocating for the victims for once? (I told you that some people wouldn’t let this case go so easily.)
