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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2015)
Opinion Waco and the Lexicon of Racism “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor J ERRY F OSTER Advertising Manager L ISA L OVING News Editor P ATRICIA I RVIN Graphic Designer A RASHI Y OUNG D ONOVAN M. S MITH Reporters M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., Q uestion: When men (and a few women) belonging to gangs, known to law enforcement agencies for criminal behavior, explode in a rampage – using guns, knives, clubs, and chains in trying to kill each other, and police officers, too – that leaves nine dead, nearly 200 injured and hundreds arrested, is that a “riot?” Answer: Apparently not – if the overwhelming majority of the gang members are white. America’s present-day “racial divide” has never been more strik- ingly displayed than in the refusal of much of the mainstream and conservative media to describe the May 17 biker riot in Waco, Texas as a riot. The riot, which occurred at a popular restaurant amid dozens of innocent bystanders and, accord- ing to police, involved members of five different gangs, was one of the most extraordinary outbursts of mass criminal violence in recent memory. Further, almost immediately after Waco police arrested the bikers, rumors swirled that other members of the gangs were heading toward the city to both continue the battle against their rivals and carry out death threats made against Waco police officials. Yet, scanning the newspapers, the universe of online publications and the network and cable televi- sion news programs, you’d have scarcely come across any descrip- tion of what occurred in Waco as a “riot.” Nor would you have likely found any reference to the bikers, clad in their distinctively grungy L AST C HANCE Lee A. Daniels biker garb, as “thugs” – or, as one newspaper reader put it: “murder- ing thuggish rioters.” MediaMatters, the watchdog group, pointed out the contrast in how Fox News, for example, cov- ered Waco versus Baltimore and Ferguson. It noted, “After African-Ameri- Sally Kohn wrote, “In fact, in much of the coverage of the Waco shootings, the race of the gang members isn’t even mentioned. By comparison, the day after Freddie Gray died in the custody of police officers in Baltimore, not only did most coverage mention that Gray was black, but also included a quote from the deputy police com- missioner noting Gray was arrested in ‘a high-crime area known to have high narcotic inci- dents,’ implicitly smearing Gray and the entire community.” The disparity in coverage did not go unremarked upon on Black social media, in a host of progres- sive publications, and in numerous America’s present-day ‘racial divide’ has never been more strikingly displayed than in the refusal of much of the mainstream and conservative media to describe the May 17 biker riot in Waco, Texas as a riot can communities in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo. came together to demonstrate against the deadly and racially disparate policies of law enforcement, Fox News branded the protests a “war on cops.” But when the story became a mostly-white Texas biker gang plotting to kill police with grenades and car bombs, the network took a decidedly less sen- sationalist approach in its reporting.” CNN Political Commentator online reader-responses to main- stream-publication stories. (Many also noted the Waco police responded to the deadly shootout with none of the heavily-milita- rized equipment and body armor that immediately marked police responses to peaceful protests in Ferguson and Baltimore.) Indeed, the differences in the language used underscore that the way words and phrases are used to talk about race and racial events has its own meaning. In this instance, it’s that such words as “riot” and “thug” are part of the lexicon of America’s contin- uing racial divide that, among other things, individualizes white crime and white flaws, while it indicts all Black Americans for the flaws and crimes of individual Blacks. Some years ago a journal- ist friend of mine described this dynamic as “the chains of collec- tive guilt.” The phenomenon isn’t new, of course. Once, the lexicon of anti- Black collective guilt helped justify the actual chains of Negro slavery and the legalized racism that followed. Now, it’s usually employed in more subtle ways. Except when it’s not: As in the revealing discoveries over the past two months of racist, sexist and homophobic tweets and e-mails by cops in the police departments of San Francisco, Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In each case – all are still in early stages of investigation – police officers, some with long years on their force, were found to have exchanged from dozens to hundreds of social-media mes- sages disparaging with vile slurs against Blacks, Hispanic-Ameri- cans, women, gays and lesbians, Muslim Americans – and, of course, President Obama. Law enforcement co-workers and innocent civilians alike were denigrated along with Black crim- inal suspects. The bulk of the messages in all these instances focused on Black Americans. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2015 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds Train Accidents and Infrastructure Neglect W hen Amtrak Northeast Regional Train #188 derailed on May 12, federal budget observers won- dered if the underfunding of our nation’s fraying infrastructure was at least partly responsible for the deaths of eight people and the injuries to more than 200. Despite these questions, House Republi- cans voted to reduce President Obama’s request for Amtrak fund- ing from $2.45 billion to $1.14 billion. The Republican proposal not only reduces the current level of funding for Amtrak, which is $1.4 billion, it also delays or elim- inates needed capital for improvements. Legislators who represent areas served by the Northeast corridor trains running from Washington D.C. to Boston), including New York’s Charles Schumer (D) and Philadelphia’s Chaka Fattah (D), have voiced objection to the parsi- monious plan to underfund Amtrak. Still, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), as characteris- tically myopic as the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, lost his cool when a reporter asked about funding for Amtrak. When Ginger Gibson, a political reporter for the International Busi- ness Times, queried Boehner about Democratic criticisms of Amtrak funding, he called her question “stupid.” He then embarked on a partisan rant that ignored the fact that eight people Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner May 27, 2015 B ENNETT C OLLEGE Julianne Malveaux died because of the derailment. What does money have to do with it? Everything. If budgets allowed for more than one engineer on a train, then Bran- don Bostian, the engineer who claims not to remember why the train sped up, might have had enough precautions to prevent this kind of accident? What will be done to prevent similar tragedies in the future? Trains aren’t the only parts of our infrastructure that need atten- tion. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issues a report card on our nation’s infra- structure every four years. The most recent report, released in 2013, gives the U.S. a grade of D+ when 16 areas (including rail, bridges, aviation, roads and waste disposal) are considered. We get the highest grade, B-, in solid waste disposal because we are both producing less trash per capi- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), as characteristically myopic as the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, lost his cool when a reporter asked about funding for Amtrak some backup. Further, with more funding, would the positive train control safety system (which slows speeding trains) have been functioning properly? Investigations have not yet revealed why Train #188 derailed. It was going 106 miles per hour when it should have been going 50, but how did it speed up so rap- idly, and why? Why are there not ta and recycling more of it. We earn D- grades for the status of our levees and waterways. We earn D grades for most other categories, so the C+ grade for rail, compared to D grades for aviation and roads, may not seem like such a bad thing. Still, while U.S. trains should be excellent they are just a tad better than mediocre. ASCE says that $3.6 trillion dol- lars are needed to bring our infra- structure up to the level of good, or B, level by 2020. They say the gap between what is funded and what is needed is about $1.6 tril- lion, or $201 billion a year. Our Congress is so focused on cutting spending that they refuse to invest in infrastructure. Other parts of our infrastructure are even more substandard. One in eight of our nation’s bridges are structurally deficient, and more than 200 million trips are made across these deficient bridges in our 102 largest metropolitan areas each year. Many of these bridges have been poorly maintained and still handle heavy traffic. They are, on average, 42 years old. While repairs or new construction has begun on some, such as New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge, other neglected bridges are tragedies waiting to happen. A strong infrastructure is an essential part of a sound economy. It makes it easier and more effi- cient to move both people and products. It provides jobs and other economic opportunities. On the other hand, allowing infra- structure to erode costs money. For example, ASCE reports that 42 percent of our nation’s high- ways are congested, costing $101 billion in wasted time and fuel each year. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com
