Larry Elder: 'The media downplay murder when it's black-on-black and black-on-white'

[alp227]

Last edited Fri Apr 6, 2012, 10:09 PM - Edit history (1)

I found this latest column by the black conservative writer Larry Elder from the blog "Politics from the eyes of an ebony mom". Basically Elder is complaining that the media downplays crime if it's black-on-black or black-on-white. His examples:

If violent black-white crime generates headlines, where were the media after the sickening racially motivated assault that occurred in Long Beach, Calif., on Halloween night, 2006?

Three young white women were brutally kicked, punched and beaten by a mostly black mob of 30 to 40 teens and adults. According to witnesses, during the rampage the mob yelled: "We hate white people. F—- whites!" Yet only two local papers reported the story, and one — the Los Angeles Times — published its article a full week after the attack! National Public Radio got around to mentioning Long Beach a month later, but only to raise the question of whether blacks, given America's history of racism, can even commit a "hate crime."

The way The New York Times covered the 1991 Crown Heights, N.Y., riots shows how the major media downplay black violence. A Columbia University professor called the three days of anti-Semitic rioting "a modern-day pogrom."

The Crown Heights riots started after a 7-year-old black child was killed in a traffic accident when a car driven by a Hasidic Jew went out of control. The Rev. Sharpton led 400 protesters through the Jewish section of Crown Heights, with one protester holding a sign that read, "The White Man Is the Devil." During the ensuing nights of rock- and bottle-throwing, nearly 200 people suffered injuries. Surrounded by a mob yelling, "Kill the Jew!" a young Talmudic scholar, Yankel Rosenbaum, was stabbed to death.

It's easy to dismiss Rush Limbaugh as a kook for all the outlandish things he says or the Religious Right for promoting junk thought (for example, the concept of "erototoxins" by Judith Reisman). However, this is the "black on white crime" talking point is spreading like wildfire into mainstream discourse. On message boards and news site comments section all over, whenever race and crime are discussed, some will be quick to point out incidents like the ones Elder talked about, or more recent incidents like "Beat Whitey Night" at the 2011 Iowa State Fair or how during the summer 2011 flash mob violence, most of the perps were black and victims white. You can tell how vitriolic the national dialogue has become when the Chicago Tribune has to publish a piece "When race is relevant in news coverage": "By all indication, these attacks were motivated by theft, not race. Further, there is no evidence to suggest that the victims were singled out because of their race. Therefore we did not include racial descriptions in our initial news reports."

I will say this without fear or shame: the people of this nation make me so sick sometimes hen they resort to emotion instead of reason in discussing the important issues. Why do so many including Elder speak as if race relations are all good now and thus the media should raise equivalent panics about incidents like the Long Beach assaults as with the Trayvon Martin case instead of looking at the history of America. Which race had been singled out in explicitly discriminatory laws and even legal slavery? Huh?

Here are more reality-based approaches to the race/crime issue: Tim Wise articles "Of Bigots and Broken Records: Reflections on the Psychopathology of Racist Thinking" and from Aug. 2011 "Racism, Violence and the Irony of Stereotypes".

[dkf]

1. The sad thing is we don't even care about black kids killing other black kids.

That is why we never examine it.

[Solomon]

2. That whole piece of bullshit is nothing but a dodge

and distraction from the issue at hand. The issue is arrest and prosecution. The black criminals who prey on blacks are pursued, arrested and prosecuted.

That has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with "why is this case getting so much attention.". What makes this case different is that there is no pursuit whatsoever of the killer.

Larry Elder is an asshole who licks the boots of white supremacy whenever he gets an opportunity.

He's what Clarence Thomas would sound like if he talked instead of keeping his mouth shut - Dumb.

[alp227]

4. Arrest/prosecution: another point I forgot about. Thanks for that.

Thing is, there are many in this country who are so narcissistic desperate to hate another group of people that they buy into the right-wing racist fear machine that blows certain crimes out of proportion.

[BOHICA12]

3. Even though its not in the current meme ... is there any truth here?

Does the media put up blinders or follow an old paradigm?