Alarming context

If you've listened to the chatter on this campus over the past week, it's obvious that the casual air that usually permeates it has been replaced by concerned looks and heated discussions. And that's because something bad has happened here-something that has drawn the attention of the national media, and it's not Sean Dockery or J.J. Redick. What may have happened here, just a stone's throw away from East Campus, is a crime so heinous with such deep racial undertones, that most of us, including members of the Durham community and our neighbors at North Carolina Central University, don't want to think about it.

But think about it we must.

Over the past week, I've found myself struggling to come to grips with the possibility of members of the men's lacrosse team raping a young, black mother of two. And all I keep thinking to myself, as statements like "Thank your grandpa for my cotton shirt" keep repeating in my mind, is that had the young woman been white, a different series of events would have taken place.

Ever since I arrived at Duke in August, I've sensed the overwhelming tension between the Duke and Durham communities. Because Durham is a predominately black city and Duke is a predominately white school, it seems as if Duke students are intimidated by the city's large black population and consquently, many are even scared to leave campus. And that's what makes this situation so ironic. Had it been the other way around-had a Duke student been allegedly gang-raped at NCCU-there would have been an outcry and several attacks about how Durham is so dangerous. But this situation is different. This time, rapes are allegedly happening at the hands of Duke students.

What is most upsetting about this situation is the wall of silence the lacrosse team has created. Instead of standing up as men and saying what they know, team members have chosen to stand by alleged rapists in hopes that their rich daddies will make everything okay.

Even the only black member of the lacrosse team is keeping quiet about any information he could potentially know about what happened that horrible night. And this is troublesome for me because if he was at the party, and if what the alleged victim says is true, how could he stand by and let his teammates defile this woman who could be his mother or sister or cousin? If he wasn't there, then as a black man, the pressure is on him to say what he knows about the situation. But the bottom line is this: if the events are proven true, any man who would stand by a rapist deserves to suffer a punishment comparable to that of the rapist's.

As an institution, Duke has not quite done its job in this situation. Duke has chosen to wait until the Durham Police Department completes its investigation before making any official judicial actions. And President Richard Brodhead is right-they are innocent until proven guilty. But why not concoct a plan to make the lacrosse players speak? Maybe last weekend, during the Black Student Alliance Invitational, Duke administrators should have informed prospective black female students that if they are raped by white males, no one will care.

If in the coming days, the correct actions are not taken on Duke's part, Duke will continue to have a reputation of being a bunch of privileged white kids who can do anything they want. In this case, it could be to verbally assault-or even rape-a black woman and get away with it.