The N&O & “CASTRATE”

There it is in full color on the right hand side of Liestoppers.com main page: a photo of a large “CASTRATE” banner around which Trinity Park “pot bangers,” including some Duke staffers, some Durham “activists,” and other hate-filled people rallied on March 26, 2006 at a house on N. Buchanan Blvd.

Those who rallied to the “CASTRATE” banner believed with all the certainty of a lynch mob that a brutal gang-rape occurred just days before inside the house. They were demanding swift, stern “justice.”

The following day The Raleigh News & Observer reported on the crowd’s actions: “Rally calls for action at Duke.” But the N&O’s report failed to mention the CASTRATE” banner. The N&O only told readers:

Attendees at the event Sunday criticized Duke for being too lenient on team members. Some protesters carried signs including one that read, "All rapes deserve outrage."

In subsequent stories referencing the “pot bangers” rally, the N&O continued to say nothing about the “CASTRATE” banner. See, for example, this story by reporter Anne Blythe, who also co-reported the N&O’s biased and racially inflammatory March 24 and 25 stories telling readers Crystal Mangum was “the victim” and framing the Duke lacrosse team as her victimizers who included three brutal white rapists and their white teammates who were covering up for them.

The only mention of the “CASTRATE” banner I can find in an N&O news report occurred just last week in a Joseph Neff story, “Quest to convict hid a lack of evidence.”

Activists and neighborhood residents had responded with two protests outside the house where three lacrosse captains lived: a candlelight vigil and a raucous affair where protesters banged pots and held signs that read "Castrate" and "Get a Conscience, Not a Lawyer."

I decided to write the following electronic letter to N&O executive editor for news Melanie Sill.
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Dear Editor Sill:

Here'a a link to "The N&O & "CASTRATE" which I've just posted. It contains links to all N&O stories I reference in this letter.

As you know, on March 26, 2006 what has come to be called “the pot bangers” rally was held in Trinity Park in front of the house where the N&O reported “the victim” had been brutally gang-raped.

The rally crowd gathered around a large “CASTRATE” banner. Liestoppers.com has a photo on its main page and Joseph Neff mentioned the banner in his April 14, 2007 story, “Quest to convict hid a lack of evidence."

However, in the N&O's March 27, 2006 story reporting on the “pot bangers” rally, there’s no mention of the “CASTRATE” banner. The only signage you reported on was “All rapes deserve outrage” signs.

In subsequent stories I looked at in which the N&O references the rally, I could find no mention of the “CASTRATE” banner.

Both of us know that lynchings often included castration of the victim, particularly if rape had been alleged.

We also know that people every bit as hate-filled as those that rallied on Sunday, 3/26/06, around the “CASTRATE” banner talk of castrating gay men.

I hope you agree, Melanie, that it’s fair to say if groups targeting gays or blacks had rallied around a “CASTRATE” banner, the N&O would have reported prominently on such despicable actions.

You’d be right to do that so the community would know such people were in its midst and could plan to counter such despicable actions

But about the equally despicable actions of the Trinity Park “pot bangers” who targeted white, male Duke students with a "CASTRATE" banner, the N&O reported nothing for thirteen months until Neff mentioned it last week.

Why?

I’ll print your response in full at JinC. If you decide to respond at the Editors’ Blog, I’ll comment and link to it.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

John in Carolina