Time for Change

I recently got an email from a friend out of town that ended his message by simply saying: “Stay away from the lacrosse team.”

His few words simply said it all in terms of the current hot topic around campus these days. Craziness has abounded on campus and throughout Durham over the last several months as related to the alleged rape of a North Carolina Central (a typically all black college across campus) female student by several members of the lacrosse team in March. Even though the long awaited DNA tests came back saying that no evidence could be found on the accused team members on the rape victim, two individuals were charged on Tuesday and were simultaneously let out on $400,000 bail. T.V. and newspaper reporters have been everywhere on Duke’s west campus which happens to be right beside the Divinity School. I probably could have been on TV. by now if I had readily sought out a camera in my face. Even the Easter Sunrise service on campus was broadcasted by MSNBC as they were already camped out here.

(As an aside, my friend, Scott Chrostek who is one of the Duke Chapel interns had his prayer at the Easter Sunrise service analyzed by the local press since he prayed for peace and reconciliation in our city. Now, doesn’t every preacher want his or her pastoral prayer to make the headline news? Totally hilarious, check it out this link:
http://www.herald-sun.com/features/religion/61-724958.html )

And we are getting tired of the coverage … in spite of this, everybody seems to have an opinion on the matter so I thought it would be appropriate if I chime in and express mine too. I offer the following:

1. I think it is very odd in a nation in whose justice system prides itself on “innocent till proven guilty” that the reverse has happened in this case. Based on the type of media attention given to the case—the city and the nation has seemed to assume that these players are guilty rather than innocent until the case is made in court. While I applaud the courage of the athletic department for canceling the lacrosse season while some sense is made of the drama, I think this is no reason to assume that the entire team is bowing to the assertion of the allocations. A professor of mine made a good point in class today when he asked us to: “Think of all of the lacrosse players who weren’t even at the party that night… this case will follow them for the rest of their lives as they seek employment, etc.” And, Dr. Quick’s point was well taken. This case has gotten messy on so many levels and many lives have been forever tainted by sheer association to the team. How unfair!

2. With the particulars of the case set aside, I think that the larger issues of why this case has become such a BIG deal are being ignored. Duke is a school which is figuratively “set on a hill” and thus separated from the rest of the community. If Duke students were honest with themselves, a lot of our motivation of attending this university came from not only the top level academic programs available here but the prestigious reputation of the university. We are a campus of privilege, of students working really hard at school so that the “Duke” name on our transcript will some how propel us into good jobs unlike the poverty that most of Durham neighbors live in. While there are many international and ethic minority students present on campus, it would not be a false statement to say that Duke still isn’t run by the “plantation” mentality. I have been attending school here three years and have yet to see a service worker on campus (food servers, housekeeping, etc) that was not African-American or Hispanic. THIS IS WRONG, yet the painful reality around here… students of privilege are served daily by those who among the non-privileged. While slavery and segregation are seemingly long past and topics for our history books, I have to believe that the same problems just have different approaches as they go on into the 21st century.

3. Furthermore, Durham is a southern city that still has problems with race rations. The rape case just speaks to this city inability to speak about the issue of race and how it continues to shape our daily lives. Whites still have the upper hand around here and it needs to be confessed. Last week in my class with Dr. Peter Storey, who was the Methodist bishop in South Africa during the struggle to end apartheid, we talked about just this. Dr. Storey suggested that the problems that we are beginning to talk about as a city are ones we should have addressed years ago (such as polarization between Duke and NC Central students). He suggested that until we have places where we as a city and a nation can remember, lament and speak of forgiveness for the past ills of slavery and segregation in our land, we will NEVER move on. He pointed out the fact that there is no museum to slavery in the United States, except a small one in the remote location of Selma, Alabama. His words struck a cord with me, especially the suggestion that we need a Smithsonian of slavery on the National Mall in Washington alongside all our other “big moments” in history. Dr. Storey said only then would the fullness of our sinful past be reclaimed and remembered so to move on to a brighter future. Much to think about for sure…

I just hope Duke and Durham don’t brush this case and all that it represents under the rug, but rise to the great opportunity we have to speak the TRUTH and work toward RECONCILATION. God help us.