Duke’s lacrosse players are exonerated. Don Imus has been fired.
Don lost his job in a matter of days. The falsely accused Duke students lost their reputation over the course of a year or so. What are the differences?
 The wronged parties in the Imus case were outstanding student-athletes. The wronged parties in the Duke case were good athletes, decent students, but were at least guilty of inviting a stripper to a party.
There are some who would say that the Duke players weren’t defended in the public eye because of their wanton ways. But I would say to you that they are the very ones that we are called to defend. Folks like me should have said more when their case was pushed ahead despite a lack of evidence, and then in the face of overwhelming evidence to acquit.
These men have been branded with the same stigma of the Rutgers Women’s Basketball Team. The difference is that many of us believe that they deserved it just a little bit more.
Justice is justice. And there’s not a lot of justice for the Duke men. And I’m not entirely sure that there was justice for Imus, but that’s a different post. The fact is that the three accused Duke students will be followed by this story, despite the fact that one wasn’t even present as proven by his ATM receipt. I’m still waiting for the Al Sharptons and Jessie Jacksons to show up in North Carolina and lobby for a complete expungement of their records.
I guess it takes a Goliath to bring out a David. And in the Duke case, there’s no giant out there. Instead, there’s just a group of guys who made a bad decision when it came to choosing the entertainment for their party.
We as Christians are called to the same kind of discipleship that I’m expecting from the civil rights leaders. It means we have to care about those people who had a hand in their own misfortune. It means we have to love even those who are ruining their own lives. It means that we have to love Don Imus as much as the Rutgers team as much as we love the Lacrosse team as much as we care about that stripper who couldn’t get her story straight.
Folks, its time to stop choosing sides. It is high time that we made room at the table for everyone.
Even civil rights leaders who have histories of bigotry and a mixed record when it comes to calling for justice.
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