A Cultural Lynching

September, 1991

This column is dedicated to William Kennedy Smith, whatever happens to his indictment for rape in Palm Beach, Florida. It is early June, and the safe thing would be for me to wait until all the facts are in before I write about Senator Ted Kennedy's nephew. But I believe we should talk about this predicament right now.As I see it, Smith is already as much a victim in this case as his accuser claims to be. What has happened so far to Smith is nothing short of a cultural lynching. In the media, in...

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