The Duke Lacrosse Team Rape Story is Finally Over.

In case you don’t remember, allow me to refresh your memory.   On March 13, 2006 members of the Duke University lacrosse team held a party at an off-campus house and hired two strippers to perform.

One of the dancers, who happened to be black, later claimed she was raped in a bathroom by three of the team members.  The team members were all rich white college boys.

So, needless to say, The New York Times, Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson, all jumped on this case like a duck on a June-bug.   Mangum's false charges of rape against three Duke University lacrosse players caused a national tsunami of media sensation, an angry wave of prejudiced coverage presuming the guilt of rich white college boys when being accused by an African-American stripper.  The NY Times sports columnist Selena Roberts,  made a habit of comparing the accused Duke lacrosse players to drug dealers and gang members. 

When the charge began to fall apart, other media outlets backed off the story, but not the NY Times, and certainly not Sharpton and Jackson.   In fact, the Times published a notorious, error-riddled 5,700-word lead story on Aug. 25, 2006, by Duff Wilson, who argued there was enough evidence against the players for the atrocious local prosecutor (who would later be jailed and disbarred), to bring the case to trial. 

Selena Roberts never wrote a retraction for her columns that relentlessly championed a false narrative. She is the Al Sharpton of sports columnists. 

In 2011, Mangum (the stripper who made the false charge), was indicted for murdering her boyfriend.   She was convicted of murder on Nov. 22 2013.   She was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years in prison on the second-degree murder charge, crying as the jury came back Friday with a unanimous verdict after six hours of deliberations.

Justice delayed is better than no justice at all.
End of story…