NBC News Fixes Gaffe In Coverage Of Corey Jones Shooting

Early today, I wrote a piece criticizing NBC News for their story about the killing of Corey Jones, a church musician, by a plainclothes police officer in Florida.

The incident report filed by Palm Beach Gardens Officer Nouman Raja says that Jones was armed, and the story stated that the police said that Jones was armed. My criticism lay with the fact that both the headline and a photo caption went beyond saying that the police said Jones was armed, to actually describing Jones as armed. Which is an entirely different statement.

I said that at best, that was sloppy, and that at worst, it was racist, "buying into assumptions about the dangerousness of Black men."

I am happy to report that both the headline and the photo caption have been changed. The headline now reads, "Musician Killed By Florida Plainclothes Officer Was Armed, Police Say." And the photo caption makes no reference at all to Jones being armed.

Good job, NBC.

Now, if only you guys - and all of your mainstream media competitors/colleagues - could find a photo of Officer Raja that does not show him receiving a medal, that would be excellent. Because when you're reporting about an officer killing a citizen, under circumstances that warrant investigation, showing that officer receiving a medal is gigantically creepy.

Ya feel me?

A Mother's Quatrain - In Response To The Responses To The Responses To #FreddieGray

I WISH TO HIGH HEAVEN THAT POLICE OFFICERS IN AMERICA WOULD STOP BRUTALLY KILLING AMERICAN CITIZENS.

BUT WHEN THEY DO, I wish that media would give parents of the victims the space to grieve,

BUT SINCE THEY DON'T, I wish that people would not expect the grieving parents to suddenly become diplomats, emissaries of the outside world to their grieving communities. to tell them how wrong they are to express their grief - and their rage - in certain ways.

BUT SINCE THEY DO, THEN I WISH TO HIGH HEAVEN THAT A PARENT WOULD SAY, JUST ONCE, FOR ALL THE CAMERAS AND THE MICROPHONES...

something like:

I know y'all are hoping that something I say
will help to keep people from rioting today.
But I don't care if they burn all of it down.
My child is worth more than this whole damn town.

(P.S. - I call it "A Mother's Quatrain" because it was a mother's image that came to me. But I would be glad to hear a father say it, as well.)

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After I hit "publish," and auto-scheduled tweets to share this, the following lines came to me, as something the parent might say to those who challenge or question the above:

I used to be meek, and I've always been mild.
But what would you say if it was your child?

And that, I think, would end the interview.