Sunday, September 28, 2014

That Quaint Notion of Due Process

Side note: Notice another follower gone to the wayside. Truth hurts. Anyway onto the subject of this post. In the wake of the Ray Rice fiasco the theme of "punish them when the accusation is made" has taken hold of many personalities. I was in the gym where I overheard one of the black commentators say that it was the right of [name of team] to wait for the due process to go on, but for him he wouldn't wait for all that. Did I mention this person was black?

They didn't care about due process for this fellow.

I am pretty bothered by black folks, descendants of slaves, subject to all kinds of injustice to say such things with a a straight face. And here's one:

Of particular interest: Strong's dismissal of players involved in an alleged sexual assault. Kendall Sanders and Montrel Meander were both kicked off the Longhorns squad after being charged with raping a co-ed over the summer. Strong didn't wait for the legal process to conclude; he took action on his own
Oh, never mind that due process thing. If an accusation was made, the players must be guilty. No need to wait. Take ACTION NOW!

They didn't care about due process for this fellow.

Here's the thing about due process. If you actually believe in it then you run your organization based on that principle. You don't suspend or dismiss your employees (or players) on charges. Standing up for due process is not weak. It is a higher principle than immediate punishment.

And lastly on this:

"If I'm a parent," Vincent said, "and I'm looking to send my son or daughter – especially my daughter – to the University of Texas, that coach is saying this is important."
Thanks for letting your son know that you don't worry about him much. Secondly, thanks for letting your daughter know you did a shit job raising her. See 'cause if he didn't do a shit job raising her, then she would know not to go getting drunk around folks she doesn't know. Not to pass on offers by her friends to take her home should she get that drunk (cause 80% of rapes occur when the victim is incapacitated). That you haven't had her learn self-defense (which both of your kids should have been taught). That she is a poor judge of character and situations so she sends mixed signals to the guys she has over or who's rooms she visits.

But see this guy (and the others) will know how bad their supposed "tough stands" are if they ever find themselves accused of something they didn't do and someone takes a "tough stand" on them.

That's when they'll know.