Web site attacks innocent Duke lacrosse players

A bizarre Web site called Justice for Nifong has appeared from the “Committee on Justice for Mike Nifong," and it sees fit to attack the innocent lacrosse players while defending Mr. Nifong. The scan above is a "humorous" excerpt from a comic strip appearing on that blog that goes after the "privileged" lacrosse players -- who had the audacity to be born white and male. The Web site's purpose is to advocate that Mr. Nifong was the victim of a conspiracy and that his alleged mistreatment signals that "[i]t is okay to bring a weak case against defendants from families of the disenfranchised, of color, and/or financially challenged, however a case brought against defendants from families of wealth, status, and privilege had better be iron-clad and air-tight.” The site's misdirected, pent-up rage directed at the innocent lacrosse players could have been better spent focusing solely on injustices to the presumed innocent who cannot afford legal representation -- the kinds of things we advocate here. That would have been a worthy goal. Instead, this group seems intent on fomenting the same kinds of class, race and gender envy that fueled the "enlightened" efforts of Duke University's Group of 88 and their followers. (Remember the "castrate" sign? That's right, someone actually advocated that the young men be castrated based on a wild, unsubstantiated allegation of a stripper.) The lacrosse players are not the enemy, sir. Rather, a culture and a legal system that engenders wrongful accusations and convictions is the enemy. Professor KC Johnson discusses this strange, sad effort here.