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
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Fax: (503) 285-2900
The Skanner is a member of the
National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ-
ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers
Association.
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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.
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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