And Welcome To The Real World, Reade W. Seligmann

“This entire experience has opened my eyes up to a tragic world of injustice I never knew existed,” Mr. Seligmann said. “If police officers and a district attorney can systematically railroad us with absolutely no evidence whatsoever, I can’t imagine what they’d do to people who do not have the resources to defend themselves. So rather than relying on disparaging stereotypes and creating political and racial conflicts, all of us need to take a step back from this case and learn from it.

“The Duke lacrosse case has shown that our society has lost sight of the most fundamental principle of our legal system: the presumption of innocence.”

Y'know, Mr. Seligmann, were the races of accuser and accused reversed, and were we but 70 years in the past--Willie Earle was lynched in Greenville in 1947--we'd be apologizing to your corpse now, assuming it was still on the tree.

Good luck to you, young man, and I hope this eye-opening actually results in you taking an interest in history or jurisprudence or current events at some point. Y'see, you did benefit from a presumption of innocence, though I'm sure not quickly enough from your perspective. Mine neither. Your accuser hasn't recanted; the current prosecutor has dropped the case. So far as I know about it--as little as possible--the former prosecutor should have done so a year ago. I guess we'll find that out; he's the one now entitled to a presumption of innocence.

That's a presumption of innocence before the bar, son, not in the court of public opinion. You have no presumption of innocence at the Prosecutor's desk. This was precisely the sort of prosecutorial behavior we demand, from the US Attorney General to characters on Law & Order. Try readin' up on the eight-year fenced-in hunt of the previous President of the United States.

Which, sorry, doesn't make what happened to you right. Prosecutorial misfeasance and malfeasance is a major, major problem in this country, and it's cold comfort for you to know it rarely happens to rich white males.

So, anyway, welcome to the world. The one that contains other people.