Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Lunatic Fringe Meets To Accuse Cooper of Cover Up, Raise Funds For False Accuser

The Snooze Room, in a effort to continue it's "fair and balanced" coverage of the Nifong/Mangum Hoax features yesterday's meeting of the "The Nifong-Must-Have-Something Club" at the Know Bookstore and Cultural Center. Led by hater-in-chief, Victoria Peterson, who served as Citizens for Mike Nifong co-chair and organizer of D.A.M.N. (District Attorney Mike Nifong) Appreciation Week, a group of fifteen Hoax supporters met to express their inability to come to terms with the exoneration of the innocent victims of the Nifong/Mangum Hoax. Citing the failure of State Attorney General Roy Cooper to charge the false accuser, one member of the group declared Cooper guilty of a cover up. Others called Cooper's decision a "scandal" that "circumvented the justice system." Victoria Peterson chastised Durham's black community for failing to support the false accuser. Apparently taking Ms. Peterson's suggestion literally, community activist Theresa El-Amin began efforts to raise funds to provide for the false accuser's food and rent.

Brianne Dopart, The Snooze Room
State Attorney General Roy Cooper "wrote off a whole section of Durham" last week when he declared three former Duke University lacrosse players "innocent" of accusations they sexually assaulted and kidnapped a woman, community activist Theresa El-Amin told a group of about 15 supporters of their discredited accuser Monday.

At a meeting at The Know Bookstore And Cultural Center at 2520 Fayetteville St., El-Amin and fellow activists Victoria Peterson and Lavonia Allison aired their opposition to Cooper's vindication of the former Duke players.

Peterson, an ardent supporter of the exonerated players' accuser, said Cooper circumvented the justice system when he declared the former defendants innocent on all counts.

"I don't really care what you think, if you think that the girl was lying or telling the truth, but what happened to the judicial system we have in this country where the jury is the only one who can say if someone is innocent?" Peterson said. "If he thought there wasn't enough evidence, he could dismiss the charges, but this man [Cooper] took it a step further, he said 'We believe these three are innocent.' "

"People on death row get exonerated [all the time] and did you ever hear an attorney general come out and say [the exonerated individual] is innocent? It's a scandal," El-Amin said.

Community member Beverly Jenkins said the fact that the accuser had not been charged with making false accusations proves Cooper has something to hide.

Activist Dannette Sharpley, who is working with El-Amin to plan an April 28 march against sexual violence, said the charges were dismissed because society undervalues women of color and women who work as exotic dancers and strippers.

"To them, this woman was unrape-able. [To them] she asked for it. [To them] she doesn't dignify the process. That's why they're 'innocent,' " Sharpley said.

Peterson said she felt the African American community in Durham failed to rally around the accuser because the woman was employed as a stripper.

El-Amin, who said she wanted to get Durham's black churches to offer the accuser financial support, got about five people to agree to help her provide the accuser with food and rent money. She added that she was not in contact with the victim but hoped she would be soon.
Joan Foster provides additional coverage of the Twilight Zone:

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sadly a bunch of racist dimwitts who will never understand no matter how much one explains it to them .

I hope that in time and as civil actions move along (soon I hope ) this whole sordid bunch might at least see a chink of light through the curtains that blind them to the real world.

Just a bunch of sick loosers in denial.So sad.

Mandelbrot's Chaos said...

In a perverse way, I think they have a point, though not in the sense that they mean. I think the false accuser should have been charged. In our system, only a judge and jury can determine GUILT. This is a nation where, by matter of law and custom, the state must prove guilt, yet in this case, the three accused had to prove their INNOCENCE. This case disgusts me deeply. I wonder if the Innocence Project can use some volunteers, and if they'd take someone who's not a lawyer and who is so far away from them...

Anonymous said...

"People on death row get exonerated [all the time] and did you ever hear an attorney general come out and say [the exonerated individual] is innocent? It's a scandal," El-Amin said.

Dear Ms. El- Amin,

In this country that is called Justice. Your inability to reconcile fact with your chosen fantasy is very sad. I would be interested in your story of the events of the night of March 13-14th 2006. I wonder how it will stand up next to the diamond hardness of the actual facts in this case.

It would be an interesting experiment don't you think? You might want to try that just for a little bit of late night amusement. Take a piece of notebook paper, jot down your version on one side and then I invite you to come here or even to the N&O and jot down the actual facts on the other side...

I am sorry your results are not what you wanted. When you wake up from your self induced fantasy, there is a lot of work we need to do in this country and I invite you to join me in that work.

Kethra

Anonymous said...

I don't think the poor folk of Durham should wind up supporting Crystal. I didn't think they should elect Nifong either. In the end, they will do what they want - its their right.

Anonymous said...

Ok, let's charge Crystal.... is that what would make these cretins happy?