CASH MICHAELS
I WAS WRONG. I APOLOGIZE. I WAS PART OF THE MADNESS
by Cash Michaels
So last week, I was strolling through stories on my computer, looking for potential topics for commentary, and doing so in a not-so-serious fashion.
After all, you get tired of warning the world about Donald Trump week after week at some point. Besides, clearly no one was listening, since folks went out and re-elected the man as president anyway.
Didn’t want to write about all of the low-rent billionaires he’s front-loading his administration with either. Or the way North Carolina Republicans literally robbed Gov.-elect Stein and the Democrats of the power that comes with their elected offices, all because they feel that they can, and should. That’s a well-worn subject I’m sure you’ve heard ad nauseam.
Or how folks seem to be cheering for an alleged cold-blooded murderer because he cowardly assassinated a health insurance executive on the streets of New York City. Boy, the way we choose our heroes and our leaders these days just astounds me.
I could have written a commentary about any of those stories, but once I saw that Crystal Mangum was back in the news, this time apologizing for lying eighteen years ago about being raped, beaten and sodomized by members of the Duke University lacrosse team, I knew what my commentary this week had to be.
I also knew, me being me, I needed to apologize.
You see, I was part of a unique madness that gripped this nation 18 years ago, all because we’ve never come to grips with our sorry, and shameful racial history. The result almost was the wrongful prosecution of three innocent white boys, something I could not live with if I knew then what I know now.
The Crystal Mangum story from my purview is one that as I look at all of the notes, stories and correspondence I’ve kept on the case all these years, I’m truly amazed as to how it grew into the monstrosity it became, and the undeniable role I played in making it so.
All because a troubled young Black woman told a dastardly lie that set the world on fire. And I joined others in fanning the flames, instead of doing my job as a journalist, searching for, and finding the truth. Make no mistake, that would not have been easy by any stretch, but it’s what I expect of other honest journalists.
I should always expect the same standard for myself, and when I fall short, admit my part in it.
Yeah, 20/20 hindsight is always easiest, because you get to point to the obvious and say, “Well of course I should have realized that. Why didn’t I?” But it wasn’t that easy. It still might not be. But the truth is the truth, and I’m telling it now because I’m compelled to.
First the premise - on the night of March 13th, 2006, at least 30 members of the predominately-white 47-member Duke lacrosse team had a drunken party at the dwelling of one of the team captains at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in Durham near Duke University’s East campus.
As part of the planned drunken festivities, two black women - Crystal Mangum being one of them - were hired to perform as “exotic dancers” for the team. Some people prefer to use the term “strippers.” Either way, what is apparent is that things eventually went south, and both women ended up leaving the rowdy soiree’ in a tiff, reportedly afraid for their safety after some racial slurs were allegedly hurled their way.
911 police recordings from that night reveal that a young black woman called police, complaining that she and her “black girlfriend” were called “niggers” by white men outside of 610 N. Buchanan Blvd.
“I saw them all come out of, like, a big frat house, and me and my black girlfriend are walking by, and they called us "niggers,” the unidentified woman is heard saying, as she started to cry.
“I just feel so completely offended, I can't even believe it. “
By the next morning, one of the women, Crystal Magnum, was alleging to Durham police that she came back to the house to claim the $400.00 she was supposed to have been paid, and upon doing so, was raped, beaten, choked and sodomized by at least three members of the team in a small bathroom. Her father told The News and Observer that when he saw her the next morning, “…her eyes and face were swollen, her arms were scratched, and she was complaining about her leg.” A hospital report seemed to confirm these injuries.
To make matters worse, none of the 30 lacrosse team members at the party would cooperate with police when it came to submitting DNA evidence. After meeting with Duke’s president, the team captains issued a statement in which they “expressed sincere regret over the lapse in judgment in having the party on March 13 which has caused so much anguish for the Duke community and shame to our families and ourselves.”
They still denied the rape allegations, though.
By the time the story was reported out, the African-American community was in shock, and slow boil - two poor Black women, hired to strip for the drunken lily-white Duke lacrosse team, one of them claiming to have been sexually assaulted.
How were the police going to handle it? Were these rich “white boys” going to get away with it? How many times had this happened before without us hearing about it?
The one question that never dawned on anybody was, “Is this true?”
Of course it was true, we all felt, and by “we” I mean not just the Black community, but a vicious national media looking to exploit a classic, tawdry tale of race and sex that harkens back to the days of slavery, when white men had their way with black women. Indeed, the legacy of sexual abuse during slavery runs deep here in the South, and is something that to this day touches a nerve in the Black community.
What made the story worse was that the victim was a 27-year-old Black woman, then a student at historically black North Carolina Central University, a divorced mother with two children and a veteran member in the U.S. Navy, we were told.
Hearing that the big white drunken athletes over at prestigious Duke University were sexually exploiting, if not assaulting, some poor black women, and in one case allegedly, a Black mother, set off a fuse in all of us that blinded us to the possibility that no assault ever happened.
In fact, we were all programmed to believe that given the setting, something bad had to have happened. How could it not? Booze, possibly drugs, white athletes, no adult supervision, two scantily-dressed Black women left to their own defenses.
There’s no way something didn’t happen, we all felt, and we DID NOT LIKE IT! This was a line too far! The feelings of raw anger, mixed with pain, outrage and grief were palpable.
Of course something happened, we believed. Of course the young alleged rape victim was scared, and in hiding. Of course three of the team members accused, through their attorneys, maintain that nothing happened.
Three privileged white boys trying to get away with raping one of our women. No one in the community was going to accept that.
Hell, even white students were protesting on Duke University’s campus demanding justice for the alleged victim, wondering why their rowdy lacrosse players weren’t being punished for underage drinking and hiring an escort service.
According to press reports, 15 of the 47 Duke lacrosse player team had been arrested and charged with several alcohol-related offenses within the past three years.
The NY Times was reporting one of the players had been accused of assaulting a gay man in Washington, D.C.
It was widely reported that powerful Washington, D.C. attorney Bob Bennett, who represented President Bill Clinton during the Paula Jones alleged sex scandal, was hired by several families of Duke lacrosse players to develop behind-the-scenes strategy to grab control of the controversial story that was making headlines across the globe.
National Black leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton monitored the case carefully, though they did not come to North Carolina on her behalf unless asked to.
“This whole media destruction of this girl’s character is something that cannot, and should not be tolerated. We’ve seen this before in cases all over this country,” Sharpton told me in an interview, later adding, “This is characteristically done by the white media.”
“This in itself is racist.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson, through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, offered to pay the alleged victim’s college tuition so she’d no longer have to earn money through an escort service. He also offered to meet with her, in prayer.
For my part, as a reporter for two NC Black newspapers at the time, the only things that mattered was were Durham police on their job? When were the three alleged perpetrators going to be arrested? This story had gotten way bigger than local media could handle. Hell, the damn “Today Show” had a satellite truck in Durham, looking for where the alleged victim lived. CNN was here. I was getting calls from a New York Times reporter who was calling on behalf of the families of the accused. I was writing stories for Black newspapers all over the country.
All of a sudden, local reporter Cash Michaels was a celebrity being asked to appear on national television and radio shows, to give my perspective on the case. Court TV came a calling. New York radio had me on every week. People were emailing me from all over the country, asking how they could raise money for the alleged victim so that she could take care of her two children.
I even started a website, devoted to Crystal Mangum, in order to give her many followers an outlet by which to communicate with each other.
I was hearing from rape crisis counselors, attending public sessions on NCCU’s campus where students were openly crying and hugging each other, praying for justice for this poor Black woman.
Even the chancellor of NCCU, the president of Duke University and mayor of Durham came together to assure the world that both institutions wanted to see justice done, and the Bull City would be right there with them.
The whole world was on Crystal Mangum’s side, except for the defense attorneys for the three suspects. They openly called her a liar, drug addict, alcoholic and criminal, and declared that no rape had ever happened.
One defense attorney sought her records regarding any mental disability, hospital commitments, drug abuse, past criminal charges and convictions,
probation or parole, and services received from the Department of Social Services, child protective agencies, victim’s advocacy agencies, “…or any other agencies providing services for mental, emotional, drug or alcohol problems,” according to a court motion.
As far as the Black community was concerned, the defense attorneys for the suspects’ rich white families were raping the alleged victim all over again. None of us were in any mood to back down from this fight!
How could we? The Durham District attorney, Mike Nifong, got a grand jury to indict the three Duke lacrosse suspects for first degree rape, among other charges. As far as we were concerned, all that was needed was a trial. Surely he had an ace in the hole, like a lacrosse player turning state’s evidence.
And when no DNA evidence appeared to link any of the players to any possible assault on the alleged victim, Nifong told the Durham community, “It doesn’t mean nothing happened; it just means nothing was left behind.”
Little did we know the man was just profiling to win reelection. He was looking to frame those boys.
Soon it all fell apart. By April 2007, Nifong was proven to be a shameful liar and forced to resign after then state Attorney General Roy Cooper investigated and found nothing to the charges. James E. Coleman Jr, director of the Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility at Duke, looked into the case, and also found nothing. Butch Williams, famed sports and defense attorney in the Black community, surprisingly stood up for the boys. And most importantly for me, correspondent Ed Bradley, in what would be his last report for CBS’s “60 Minutes,” did a deep dive into the case, and shockingly proved that no rape had occurred.
Through it all, Crystal Mangum insisted that she was the victim. Then one night in 2013, apparently during an argument, she took a knife and stabbed her boyfriend to death. She was convicted of murder, and she’s been in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women ever since, not scheduled to see the light of day until Feb, 27, 2026.
It is from there where she wrote a local podcaster, admitted to lying about her rape, and on Dec. 11th, 2024, the world heard the truth from Crystal Mangum for the very first time.
She says during her time in prison, she has read the Bible, and determined that GOD needed to be in her life. She confessed her sin, and asked the three players charged - Colin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, NY; Reade William Seligmann, 20,of Essex Falls, NJ; and David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., for forgiveness.
After all she put those boys, and the world through, I’m glad Ms. Mangum has found herself, has found GOD, and taken responsibility for almost destroying three young lives.
As for me, hearing her finally tell the truth after 18 years reminded me of my own culpability in the matter.
I believed her back then. It’s as simple as that. And based on that belief, I acted accordingly.
I was wrong. I apologize. I was part of the madness.
But I wasn’t alone, and I pray at this late date in my life and career, that I have learned a valuable lesson, a lesson I can pass on to young journalists who may also one day mistakenly believe someone based on passion, instead of seeking the proof required to know what’s true, and what’s not.
This isn’t a swipe at the “me-too” movement. Lord knows there has been plenty of wrongdoing uncovered over the years since the Duke Lacrosse case, and still more to come. As the father of two young females, I’ll always want justice to be done in cases of proven wrongdoing..
But in the ever constant war between what is true and what isn’t, especially when it comes to alleged sexual assault, journalists must always take a good long look in the mirror, and make sure they’re always asking the right questions, for the right reasons.
We can never allow mob mentality to cloud our professional judgement, no matter how justified we feel about it
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