Why would a seasoned prosecutor like Mike Nifong flout the rules in so many ways in the Duke case? Why would he publicly describe the four lacrosse players as "rapists" before that had been established in a court of law? Why would he suppress DNA evidence that the defense was entitled to see? Why, in short, did he go so far before the facts were in?
One of Nifong's public comments provides a clue. He says he wanted to protect the town of Durham from the reputation of being a place featuring "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl." From this we see that Nifong suffers from delusions of grandeur. He sees himself as the Custodian of Durham's Reputation. He views his job as the White Protector of the Black Race. If he simply saw himself as a prosecutor doing his job in a difficult situation--with competing claims and counterclaims--he wouldn't have made such an ass of himself.
Nifong seems to be suffering from Recovering Southerner Syndrome. This is the ailment, first named on this blog, in which Southerners feel so guilty about slavery and segregation that they perform undignified backward somersaults to prove that they are "not really Southern." When they encounter something Southern--like white Southern frat boys at a party--their mind immediately conjures up images of segregated water fountains and they draw their swords and go into Crusader Against Racism mode. Viewed in this way, Nifong saw himself as a kind of white knight slaying the dragons of Southern bigotry. Nifong was not alone in this: dozens of Duke professors reacted to the incident in exactly the same way.
The only problem was that the facts didn't bear them out. The Duke players apparently weren't planning a rape or a lynching; they were merely misbehaving in the manner of "boys gone wild." So the world is different now and the old models don't necessarily apply. I suspect that MIke Nifong is not the only fellow who is going to learn this lesson the hard way.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 3)
16. Well Mr. D`Souza, as a Southener I for one am getting tired of being blamed for slavery. I wasn`t here then and neither was Nifong. I think Nifong should go to prison for his actions, I don`t think it had a damn thing to do with slavery though. You seem to be as dumb as he is.
David at 9:59PM on Jun 15th 2007
17. I am most upset with the president and professors at Duke who were trying to be so politically correct they did not support the students until the judicial system played out. They didnt even have to support them, just simply not rush so quickly to judgement.....my son was there at the time and I was frighten for him until he got home, cause the university proved they would throw the students under the bus. A coach resigned....students lives were ruined........a team could not play for a year.......WHERE IS THE PUNISHMENT FOR THE PRESIDENT, and the PROFESSORS...where is the punishment for the fine stripper mother whom everyone felt so sorry for!
tinyp at 4:38PM on Jun 15th 2007
18. To imply that being Southern is synonymous with slavery and segregation shows an ignorance that is unsuitable and embarassing for someone of such claimed pedigree.
I've never read this blogger before and never will again. It is a complete waste of time. I invite all of you to do the same.
cjt at 4:47PM on Jun 15th 2007
19. I agree with the voicer who suggested it was more a case of the haves vs. the have nots. People have to get over the idea that it is a crime these days to be wealthy. Unfortunately, Nifong made this into a race case, and did so to pander to the black vote, and the implicit threat of violence hanging in the air from statements made by black "leaders".
To answer another voicer, the 3 accused did NOT attend the same prep school. My son attended the same high school as the Finnerty boy...its a Catholic Prep school whose student body draws from a large area, and ranges from the wealthy to the needy. Its strict too...you get hung out to dry for not having your tie on. If Finnerty was a habitual trouble maker he would have been exited from that high school long before graduation. While boys drinking in college is not ideal, its what MANY of them , of ALL income levels do. Stop trying to paint them as criminals for having a party...on that basis, most of the 15-21 year olds in the population would be in jail. Also, slavery was over close to 140 years ago. As an excuse for non-achievement and rioting, it's getting very old.
LJ at 5:02PM on Jun 15th 2007
20. He did it strictly to get the black vote. No tears for him. He did it to himself by trying to ruin three young man's life to get elected. Its about time that justice is done!
Bill at 6:06PM on Jun 15th 2007
21. It is clear DD has no clue what a treat
Southern people really are, and how being arrogant and having preconceived judgments run the gamut of states, geographic regions, and nationalities. If
DD wanted to show us he clearly understood the
core of this fiasco, he would speak directly to
a da that did not perform his job professionally or
ethically and a defendant who bares most of the responsibility for her own lack of ethics and character.
anne at 11:42AM on Jun 17th 2007
22. Recovering Southerner Syndrome? Were you born and bred in the South, sir? Did your ancestors have anything to do with slavery? What do you know about my home and my people?
I was born and bred in North Carolina and MY ancestors had nothing whatsoever to do with slavery. My folks speak correctly, read books and discuss world events. Our families are close-knit but we do NOT wed one another!
I have lived my whole life listening to the judgemental comments of so-called scholars, watching stereotypical portrayals of southern ladies and gentlemen by folks from Washington, DC and Los Angeles;before you lump ethically challenged political blowhards like Nifong in with me and my fellow southerners, I suggest you come down for a visit.
Nifong's incompetence and attempts to explain and apologize later have nothing whatsoever with racism or slavery. His loathsome behavior had everything to do with the upcoming race for Durham Attorney General.
There was a goodly number of us who saw him clearly and understood exactly where he was coming from way before you all pulled your satellite trucks into Durham.
NC Independent at 8:03PM on Jun 15th 2007
23.
This is as much the fault of the mainstream media as it is Mike Nifong. Criminal proceedings are ratings-grabbers, so much so that it doesn't matter to them if the case has been presented in court before they debate the merits of the defendant's guilt or innocence and let the viewers decide for themselves. That's not how our legal system works, we have the system we do to prevent that kind of lynch-mob justice. It's very irresponsible of them to put so much publicity on these cases to the point where it is virtually impossible for them to get a fair trial.
Nifong recognized that the case would be highly publicized and took advantage of that for his own ends. He had an election coming up, and nothing helps you win an election like your name in the paper. So he embellished the case he had against them and made repeated improper statements to the media, knowing that making those inflammatory statements would put much of the media focus of the case on him. For that, he deserves to be disbarred, and it is very likely that he will be. Resigning isn't good enough, he should never be alllowed to practice law again in any form. Good luck with the McDonald's night shift Mike.
Peter at 9:31PM on Jun 15th 2007
24. Stuart,
Race relations in this country are due to what we do and say to each other. West Indians just don't care about the silly things that americans think are important in race. There is only one race when everything is distilled. Everything else is just made up and can be unmade up. As for Nifong, he was just following the made up perceptions of race and catering to them.
Thom at 9:52AM on Jun 16th 2007
25.
Off topic, but why no post on the Hamas takeover of Gaza? I'd think that would have significant implications for the spread of radical Islam. Was that all about liberal social values as well? I'd wager it had little to nothing to do with it....
Peter at 2:32AM on Jun 16th 2007
26. If the comment Dinesh attributed to Prosecutor Nifong is true, it certainly suggests a motive of bias or prejudice making for prosecutorial misconduct. The Constitution should not be so casually tinkered with by anyone in Nifong's position. No one in academic or other circles of power should place themselves in a position that might be seen as endorsing a railroad job on any defendant. After all, tomorrow, the victim may be you or me. I think of DNA testing that has cleared many defendants of crimes they were convicted of long ago. No one however, can give them back the lives that were so cruelly wrenched from them.
Clay Edwards at 10:19AM on Jun 16th 2007
27. I often agree with D'Souza's points... however, I think he's very slightly off the mark here.
I also am a North Carolinian, and I don't take offense at what he is "saying" about the South (I don't think he meant it the way many are taking it). But, I do agree with an earlier post saying that he is giving Nifong WAY too much credit. The man saw an opportunity, in a town that is simply ripe for such a conflict, and he seized it. It was his chance to be the "champion" of the people, of the voting sort. He knew if he manipulated the facts, he could win over not only a) the regular townspeople of Durham who are primarily black and economically disadvantaged compared to the wealth of Duke University, and also b) the Duke community itself that undoubtedly feels some guilt about the oppulence of their economic situation, especially amidst the catch-phrases like "social justice" and "social equality" which are SO completely popular at universities these days. It's amazing these elitists could go to sleep every night before... but then the rape case comes along, and suddenly they have an opportunity to redeem themselves!!! Therefore, I think D'Souza's theory of "Recovering Southerner Syndrome" would better be applied to the Duke community who sought to convict the men before the production of evidence... however, as most of us NC'ers know, the Dukies are mostly transplants, so they themselves are not suffering from said syndrome -- they project this "southern-itis" to the place in which they live and therefore sought to "rescue" the Durham area from the "racial" issues supposedly brought to light in the Duke lacrosse case. In fact, the only thing brought to light was their extreme hypocrisy. I'm interested to see who will hold Duke accountable here....
eM at 2:04PM on Jun 16th 2007
28. @ eM (comment 26)
You say that you often agree with DD...
Truth is that you are either a sock-puppet... or you are a 'whore'. But for the life of me, I can't figure what you would be getting, what payday would look like, why you'd think that everything DD says is 'gospel'.
DD says what he says for money, that is clear.
What is your excuse?
pboyfloyd at 2:54PM on Jun 16th 2007
29. All civilizations are not equally civilized. According to cultural statistics it appears the black race is not quite as civilized as the white. Mysteriously, as the black race decends into the abyss it acquires greater political and cultural clout. This is because media(dominated by gays, lesbians, feminist and liberals)sides with blacks and threatens the so called enlightened, who are happy to abandone principle for power. The question is would these principled maintain power if they didn't. The former want to destroy inequalites that freedom brings because it exposes their deviance, crroked plots, and lower order intelligence. Blacks and others have progressively learned to exploit race, discrimination, and rights to gain the upper hand on white civilization and use the power of government to merge with and plunder them.
Robert at 6:27PM on Jun 16th 2007
30.
Roger-
I don't mean to offend, but you do realize that that is the exact argument David Duke has used to redefine the KKK in modern times? I'm not sure if that was intentional, but your words mirror his almost exactly. If you think intelligence is linked to skin color well....then you're a racist, there's just no other definition for it. Race is an illusion, it has nothing to do with mental states or capacity for intelligence, in fact there are many black people who I'd say are a hell of a lot smarter than you are.
Poor communities produce poor education, it doesn't matter which race is subject to poor economic conditions, the results are always the same. Far more blacks live in low-income communities than whites, so far more blacks are exposed to inadequate education. Their race has nothing to do with it. Maybe they just couldn't claim a fat inheritance like a lot of white families do because their ancestors were kept in poverty through racism and that carries over to the current generation. That would explain the disproportion in criminal activity as well.
Peter at 1:54AM on Jun 17th 2007