Thoughts for the Day. JOURNALISM 101: Listening to commentary re the killings of the 2 police officers at the hands of Ismaayil Brinsley. NYPD Police Union chiefs Pat Lynch and his supporters narrative of de Blasios blood stained hands is more than inaccurate. It is dangerous and incendiary. The narrative equating protest with police killings is equally incendiary. One man shot and killed 2 police officers. NYCs Day of Resistance brought 25,000 people to the streets. Theres been 100+ days of protest. The suggestion that all of us are responsible is an absolute declaration of war by police on black and brown people. Equally problematic for me as a journo watching folk be questioned about this is the complete failure of journalists, hosts, to challenge this narrative. You can honor the loss, the professions devastation at what has happened, the tragedy of that and you can absolutely challenge a narrative that makes protestors responsible. That is journalism 101. I am watching host after host not challenge this narrative in the name of allowing someone their emotionality, their perspective, their pain. Do that. But then challenge them re de Blasios bloodstained hands, ask them to name protestors about whom the police have gathered information that indicate any protestor against police brutality is responsible for this killing, ask them - are you seriously suggesting Eric Garners children killed these officers? No, of course not. It is important to take apart that narrative. This is not just the irresponsible narrative of individual commentators and police officers and police unions, it is the absolutely failure of hosts and journalist to actually take their job seriously and recognize the reality of your pain is not more important than the rights of Tamir Rice, Aiyana Jones, Tarika Wilson, Rekia Boyd, Akai Gurley, Eric Garner and the long list of dead black and brown people at the hands of police. This is the messiest most challenging part of journalism, to walk through the mire of hurt emotions, individual and collective pain. It is imperative that we do this work. It matters in this moment that we challenge this narrative, that harder questions are asked, that they are asked again when they go unanswered. Why? The police declared war on the black community and journalisms failure to effectively challenge those dangerous words is silent complicity. Heres whats clear - the police will absolutely stick to their narrative, Lynch wont deviate from his line. This is where journalism must roll up its sleeves and engage in the work of challenging this narrative and taking the inevitable flack that will follow due to this current climate. The pain of the children who lost their cop pops is real, the pain of fellow police officers is real. The pain of the families of Aiyana Jones, Tarika Wilson, Rekia Boyd, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Eric Garner is real, The injustice is real. The pain of black and brown people bearing witness to a roll call of death at the hands of those whose job is to protect and serve, and a justice system that sanctions those deaths is real. And a narrative that makes protesting those deaths responsible for the killing of police officers turns streets, black and brown communities into war zones for killer cops.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:11:59 +0000
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