Lies, Lacrosse and Lynch Mobs

Lies, Lacrosse and Lynch Mobs


Paul Scott




"When you were young and your heart was an open book
You used to say live and let live..."

Paul McCartney




Black people have to be the most forgiving bunch of folks on the planet. No matter what you do to us we base our philosophy on the scripture that talks about turning the other cheek. However, when white folks feel that their rights have been violated in any way, shape, form or fashion they quickly turn to the gospel according to the "48 Laws of Power;" "Crush Your Enemies Totally."

See, the shelf life of black rage is about 30 days. Do anything against black folks you wish. Call them nappy heady ho's, beat them to a pulp at a routine traffic stop or drag them down a country road strapped to the bumper of a pick up truck and a month later you can still be the best of buds. Sure the first couple of days there will be the usual group temper tantrum, they will organize insurrections around the water cooler and some black leader will go on TV selling wolf tickets about the great calamity that will happen if justice isn't given. But a few Human Relations Commission Unity shin digs and a couple of corporate donations to civil rights organizations later and all is right with the world.

Remember the shining example of human rights violations, Rodney King is not remembered for standing on top of an over turned police cruiser with a Molotov cocktail yellin' "Burn Baby Burn!"

Naw, he will go down in history for whimperin' the immortal words...

"Can't we all just get along?"

White folks, especially the wealthy, ain't like that. Step on their toes and they will spend every waking moment plotting your demise. It may take a day, it may take a week...It may be 20 years from now but one day you bite into your slice of fruitcake at the company Christmas party and then BAM!!!! Payback is a mutha....

(Anyone who thinks that I am being a teensy, weensy bit paranoid, obviously has never had economic sanctions leveled against his cubicle at work or had his cable suddenly disconnected during the Super Bowl for no reason at all.)

Such is the case of "the accuser", Crystal Gail Mangum who, in 2006 made international headlines when she alleged that members of the Duke Lacrosse team did some unthinkable things to her at a party.

For the first few days after the stuff hit the fan, there were efforts all over Durham, to let cooler heads prevail. As long as public opinion was riding high that some freaky deeky stuff happened the appeals for forgiveness were deafening. However, when the pendulum began to swing the other way, all bets were off. It was not long before lawsuits were flying left and right and when the bloggers found out the name of the accuser it spread through the blogosphere like a cyber wildfire. '

Even after district attorney Mike Nifong's career was ruined and Mangum's name was trashed before the world, that wasn't enough. To quote Vincent Clark, the publisher of Mangum's new book "The Last Dance for Grace," "

"It is not enough to win, we have to kill you."

Even worst are the death threats that Clark says that he and Mangum have been receiving. Black folks may cuss you out but death threats aren't our methods of operation.

Don't get me wrong, I think the whole forgive and forget thing is a little over rated, myself. But let's have some balance here. Let's have a little more civility than the folks at a Sarah Palin campaign rally.

White folks have done some ill stuff to black folks over the years, to say the least. Many of the worst racists and bigots have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, US senators, etc and but you don't see many of us holding a grudge. All it takes is an apology and a Sunday morning visit to a black church and all is forgiven. And those of us who don't suffer from historical amnesia are always accused of "livin' in the past, " even when we bring up atrocities that happened just last month.

So why all the hatin' over the fact that Mangum is releasing a book ?

Who knows what darkness that lies in the hearts of men was released on Buchanan Street that dark winter night in March 2006?

Only the Shadow knows and the people who were at the party.

I don't know 'cause I wasn't there and 9 out of 10, you weren't there either. So my beef isn't with Mangum, Silegmann, Finnerty or Evens.

My beef is with the members of the Lacrosse lynch mob that have been calling for the head of Crystal Mangum, for years and are still sharpening their hatchets right now..

Let me say here that if Mangum was really assaulted, she deserves to tell her story till justice runs down like a mighty stream and in the same manner if the Lacrosse players were, indeed, falsely accused they should be filing lawsuits from now to kingdom come. But that's between them. The rest of the population needs to chill...Find a hobby. Get on with your lives....

If you can't back off Crystal Mangum, don't hate on me for using a poster of Jesse Helms for a dart board.

Don't expect us to forgive and forget while your motto is, to borrow from the knighted ex-Beatle, "to live and let die..."


Paul Scott's blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com/ He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com