LESAProject

Before the attempted frame-up of innocent lacrosse players in Durham, lacrosse had a good reputation. It may have been seen as an elite sport (or, more truly, a regionally delineated sport); but it was also seen as honest, fun, exciting, and one of the few “sports” remaining which still concerned itself with “sportsmanship”.  Then came the lies and the false accusations, and a university which was more concerned with the immediate PR fallout than with standing behind its falsely-accused students. And since it fit the convenient narrative which was being constructed, lacrosse was also lambasted. In Durham, three lacrosse players (curiously, from the ...

Since the current tragedy at the University of Virginia, the media has frequently brought up the Duke lacrosse case, as though the latter had some kind of relevance to the former. Because such associations are likely to be made in the future, let’s get a few facts straight: The Duke lacrosse players did not commit a crime in Durham; they were the victims of a crime (several crimes in fact: false accusations, and much more).  Their community rushed to judge them, including preachers, newspapers, politicians, and assumed whatever “truths” were most convenient for their own agendas. The comparisons with Scottsboro are eerie, the ...