CNN reported that it costs $42,000 per year to attend Duke University for ungraduate studies. In the same report, it was also mentioned that several Duke University Lacrosse players had hired high-power attorneys AND Duke University hired an attorney to assist them with "damage control'.

Why is this important? It's important because it speaks to the significance of the rape scandal on the University, its students, alumni and the Raleigh-Durham community at-large. $42,000 per year...students that attend Duke without financial assistance are rolling in dough. Their families are wealthy enough to "make this case go away." You can take that however you choose to. O.J. Simpson would be sitting in prison today if he didn't have the cheese to afford Johnnie Cochran and the rest of his Dream Team.

Now let's be real here, what is the likelihood that a group of wealthy white guys would hire a Black stripper unless it was for unsavory reasons? The racial climate and acceptance has not evolved that much in the United States. More than likely they hired her to do just what they are accused of doing --- degrade her and take advantage of her sexually.

Black folks can get mad as hell, but get real --- what do you expect from white boys whose psyche has been programmed with images of the hyper-sexed Black slut? It's in the videos they see everyday. It's in the rap lyrics they hear everyday. Bitch...ho...golddigger...ass out...breasts out...tattooed thighs...too much make-up...long, fake hair and baby mama drama. Black folk have to shoulder some of the blame as far as this case is concerned. It would have been just as bad if the men involved were Black.

Sure, the young woman who was hired to dance should have been able to dance naked and not be violated but the truth is, that's not what's being sold and that's not what we buy every day in this "pimped out" culture we live in. It's time for Black women to be the queens and princesses of their royal heritage. It's time for Black people to stop the madness.

© 2006 VANESSA BYERS, Vanessa: Unplugged