It is unfortunate that many Duke Students have never seen the classic movie Network. There is a great scene in it where fictional anchorman Howard Beale tells his television audience to get up, run to their windows, fling them open and shout "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore! I'm a human being, and I don't have to stand for this!" Wednesday night, a group of human beings did just that.
Students from Duke and N.C. Central marched along with local residents in the annual Take Back the Night march, sponsored by Sexual Assault Support Services. Initially I thought the rally was another directed against the lacrosse team, but I soon saw (and heard) that their message was much broader in scope. The cry of the marchers was not one of recrimination or hate, but of solidarity and strength. The object of derision was not President Richard Brodhead or Provost Peter Lange, but the culture of rape at Duke and around the country.
The march ended under the Chapel, where the students were invited to simply share their stories, their thoughts and their support. I am usually a skeptic of group healing, but I saw something in that crowd truly remarkable.
People have said that issues like the alleged rape will divide Duke and Durham, that it will increase racial tension. I did not see that. I saw Dukies and Durhamites shoulder to shoulder. I saw black and white and Asian students, men and women both, in a common call for common decency.
You see, that is what it is really all about. It is deeper than Duke and Durham. It is deeper than politics. It is deeper even than race. It is about pure human decency.
There were people at that rally whom I spend hours every day finding new ways to disagree with, but I was proud to blend my voices with theirs, because I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore.
I am mad as a Duke student, because every time there is a rape or a sexual assault at Duke, my name is on it. Now, I do not have nearly enough information to judge the lacrosse situation, and anyone not on the team or in the prosecutor's office who says he does is kidding themselves. Unfortunately, we can only wish that this lamentable incident was the only problem Duke has with sex crimes. A short trip to Sexual Assault Support Services should be enough to convince any skeptic otherwise. And while I do not know that we are any worse than any other university, that is not really the standard I want to keep for my school.
I am mad as a man, because other men are dragging my name through the mud. There exists all too often a sort of good-old-boy-cronyism that is just revolting-a code of silence that protects offenders. Even worse, there is sometimes a sick sort of pride that offenders take in their action and those of their buddies. That is perhaps what scares me the most about the lacrosse team: The team captains are the ones speaking for the team. Boys, if there was ever a time to break team ranks, this is it.
Finally, I am mad as a human being because there are animals in our society who prey on the innocent, and even on those who are not, perhaps, innocent but who regardless walk among us and hold their heads high like anybody else.
And as disgusting and depraved as sex crimes are, I am mad about other crimes we put up with, too. Why is it that no one is surprised any more, let alone outraged, when they hear about a student getting held up on the block and a half between East Campus and Ninth Street? Because it is just something that happens? Not good enough. Not good enough for the students of Duke, not good enough for the residents of Durham, not good enough for human beings. So let's not take it anymore
And that means that we do not hide from crimes, or dust them under a headline. That we don't shake our heads in despair, or just say "the government should fix that." To be sure, one of government's most important duties is to maintain order in society, but we live in a democracy, and that means nothing will happen unless we get mad, and we stay mad, and we tell that to everybody and anybody who will listen. And when, you ask, can we stop being mad?
We stop being mad when we don't have to take it anymore.
Oliver Sherouse is Trinity freshman. His column runs every other Friday.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.