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Why is the Derrion Albert case such a big deal for the media?
By: Devona Walker
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Wed, 09/30/2009 - 13:50
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Officials are in the process of charging at least one youth, 19-year-old Silvanus Shannon, in the beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert.
Albert got caught in a violent melee last Thursday while he was waiting at a bus stop and was beaten to death on the streets of Chicago. The video footage of the crime got into the hands of CNN and has become a hot-button issue. Some folks are even wandering if it could even harm the city’s Olympic bid.
For years, Black people have been talking about this very important issue of youth violence. TheLoop21.com staff did a special report on the topic earlier this year. The popular blogger The Field Negro writes about it nearly every other day.
Until now, few have been concerned.
While I am glad CNN is finally paying attention, it alarms me that it is only doing so out of outrage for the “animals” who beat Albert to death, and not necessarily sympathy or concern for Albert and his family, or the thousands of kids just like him who died every year because they committed the unspeakable crime of being born to a family who lived in the hood.
If they were really concerned, that cell phone video would have led to actual reporting about the surge in youth violence and how it is a direct repercussion of the war on drugs. They would have talked to law enforcement agencies, which freely admit that community policing is sorely needed. They would have at least mentioned the difficulties single parents face and the important role fathers play in our society. They would have talked about our failing school system, the drastic cuts in after-school programs. How can you in good conscious even talk about youth or urban violence without ever discussing gun control?
Oh, yeah, because in this video, it wasn’t a gun that killed this Black youth. It was a wooden plank. Because, in this video, it wasn’t the police who were criminalizing our youth. It was the fact that our youth already have a criminal mindset.
But even in the most one-sided reporting, there is bright spot: Perhaps finally someone in the mainstream media will begin to ask those questions in earnest.
This is one of the most tragic social issues of our time. It’s not just about Black on Black crime anymore. It’s about Black kids killing other Black kids. It’s about neighborhood matriarchs being so afraid that they refuse to step otuside their front door after dark. It’s about Black churches failing Black communities. It’s about Black parents failing their own kids. And it’s about society failing them all.
Sure, watching this beating will give the bigots all the fuel they need to claim that all Blacks are savages. This is what they are doing to each other. What do you think they will do to us given the chance?
Right? But I could care less. It’s too important to take that pathetically bourgoise stance. We turn a blind eye out of embarrassment and to keep up appearances. Add that to mainstream America’s inherent lack of empathy, and what do we expect to happen in the hood?
Devona Walker is TheLoop21.com's senior financial and political reporter. She has worked for The Associated Press and the New York Times company.
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COMMENTS
Shannon is not a youth. He is a 19-year-old male and will surely be tried as one.
This is a new story. Blaming the media for its coverage is ridiculous at this stage. The kind of reporting that you talk about this story needing takes days - even weeks - and it has been done, time and time again as special reports. Or do you not keep track?
Unless you are at planning meetings at the big news outlets, you have no idea what they have planned.
I'm not sure what your point is about gun control. You even point out that it is incongruent. That is one aspect of violence, but does not play out in this case.
Did the media kill Derrion? No. Does media contribute to the senseless violence that plagues the black community, of course it does.
But please Ms. Walker, think about your point before you start typing. You have been given a platform to make a difference. This, is just nonseniscal drivel with a glaring error at the top.
I think the reason such an outcry was made is, we saw death right in front of us. It was quite plain, when Derrion was taken inside the center he was unconscious and one of the students sounded very disturbed. I don't think anyone finds the violence against any of our youth undisturbing. Remember, we usually hear about criminal activity but seeing it makes a huge difference. My condolenses continue go out to the Derrion Albert's family and friends, this was a senseless tragedy.
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