What's wrong with waiting?

Have any of us stopped to think for a minute that maybe, just maybe, we had a knee-jerk reaction when we heard the assault allegations against the Duke lacrosse team?

I know. I’m an evil person even for suggesting that the players may not be in the wrong in this whole thing. There’s that e-mail. And the coach has already jumped ship. Let’s lock the players up now. Or, better yet, let’s just take them to the center of town and stone them to death.

Or, wait, maybe approaching this incident with a little reason and an open mind is the better way to handle it. Yeah, I know. Crazy talk.

I’ll confess that I have no idea what happened at that party. And I’m not, I want to make clear, saying they are innocent. Only that maybe they’re innocent.

I do know that when we hear the word “rape” we tend to side with the alleged victim because we sense it’s the right thing to do. Not to would be callous.

And yet, here are the accused players saying they didn’t do anything and we refuse to believe them. Or barely even listen to them. There is even an Associated Press story now that gives us some basis to at least step back and take into account what the players are saying.

Yet, to do so would run the risk of us being labeled insensitive or worse. Just witness those who marched on Duke after the allegations came to light. We’ve become so fearful in this society of those labels that we’ll do the politically correct thing just to make sure we look good.

I admit that I’ve done that. The first week this story broke I argued on the air that we’re still innocent until proven guilty in our society. I even said the players who weren’t coming forward had every right to keep silent.

But a week later I was saying that maybe the players should come forward and talk before things got uglier. I had started to come over to the side of guilty until proven innocent. And I hate that I did that.

Really, why do we have to side with anyone? There’s very little evidence before us. Most of us know only what we’ve heard through the media accounts of the story.

We also know, or think we know, that lacrosse players are privileged party boys who, if accused of a wrongdoing, must be guilty. After all, the players went to Duke, a private school, and the alleged victim was not only African-American, but went to the less-privileged North Carolina Central.

But I ask, what’s so wrong with waiting? Waiting until the DNA test come back, at least. Or until, and this is probably a better idea, charges are brought – if they are brought – and this case goes to court.

Even then, why do we have to make a judgment? That will be up to a judge and jury who will get to hear both sides and make a decision. Isn’t that how the justice system is supposed to work in this country?

Instead, because television and newspapers – and, yes, radio shows like ACC Nation – want to use this case to boost viewers and readers and listeners, we’ve become a society that makes a judgment soon after the stories break and long before the facts are all available. Waiting just take too much time.

In the end, some of these players may very well be proven guilty of what is being alleged. If they are, then they should be punished.

But if they aren’t, then what? The cameras and reporters will go away and the players will be left to put their lives back together. There won’t be an apology. And they won’t be able to just walk away. This will stick with them for a long time, if not for the rest of their lives. Their season is gone. Their coach is gone. Their reputations are gone. Their lives as they knew it are gone.

And why? Because we had to judge someone guilty right away. We couldn’t wait.

- Patrick Hite