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?

NBC News Story On Police Shooting Misses The Mark

An NBC News story on the police shooting of a man in Florida provides a good example of why some people charge the mainstream media with racism.

The headline of the story about the death of drummer Corey Jones reads, "Florida Plainclothes Officer Shoots Dead Armed Musician Corey Jones."

Notice: not, "Musician Corey Jones" - "Armed Musician Corey Jones."

The story is accompanied by a photo of Jones, with a caption describing him as "Corey Jones, a well-known local drummer, who was armed..."

The person who wrote the headline and the person who wrote the photo caption (assuming they are separate people) both went beyond what the story, by reporter Jacquellena Carrero, actually tells us.

Here's the opening paragraph:

Police in Florida have launched an independent investigation after a plainclothes officer shot dead a well-known local drummer — who police say was armed — while he sat in his car on a highway exit ramp. (emphasis mine)

There is a difference - a big difference - between NBC News noting that the police say Jones was armed, and NBC saying directly that Jones was armed. The second thing, which the headline and the photo caption do, states the police assertion as an established fact.

But in fact, the accuracy of the police assertion has not been well-established. The incident is under investigation.

At best, the headline and photo caption are sloppy; at worst, they are racist, buying into assumptions about the dangerousness of Black men.

I'm inclined to go with sloppy, because while I know there's a lot of racism out there, I believe there is even more sloppiness.

In any case, the account begs for more questions to be asked and answered. Questions like, "Did Jones even own a gun?" and "Did Jones threaten to shoot?" (having a gun is one thing, pointing it is another) and "Did Officer Raja identify himself as a police officer when approaching Jones's car?"

If I were waiting for a tow late at night, alone...
if I had a gun...
if an unfamiliar car - not a tow truck - pulled up...
and if an unknown man got out and approached me without identifying himself...
I might well have pointed my gun toward the guy in an effort to make him keep his distance.

The story doesn't say whether or not Officer Raja was in a police vehicle. A CBS report says that he was in an unmarked car, not equipped with a dashcam. With no video and no known witnesses, there's no one to dispute Raja's story.

But that does not entitle NBC News to uncritically parrot it in a headline and a photo caption.

Come on, NBC - do better.

(P.S. to CBS - could you not obtain a single photo of Raja other than one of him receiving a medal?)

UPDATE: NBC did do better. The descriptions of Corey Jones as "armed" have disappeared.

This isn't the racism you're looking for.

It's not even 6 pm, and at least four of my Facebook friends have posted this video on their Timelines today. Apparently the video, originally posted on YouTube in 2010, is just now reaching a lot of people via Upworthy, where a fellow named Rafael Casal shared it under this headline: "Know Anyone Who Thinks Racial Profiling Is Exaggerated? Watch This, And Tell Me When Your Jaw Drops."

Please check it out before reading further:



In each case, I think the people posting this video, and the people responding to it, are missing the real story. Indeed, I think that the creators of the experiment, the producers of the TV show, "What Would You Do?", are missing the real story of their own work.

At 1:54, when host John Quinones is shown reviewing the footage, he remarks that people respond to the black guy "right away."

AS WELL THEY SHOULD - a CRIME is in progress.

The real story is not that a black kid committing a crime is treated like a criminal. The real story is that a white kid committing a crime is not, and that a white girl committing a crime receives an offer of help (What the what?!?).

Does this clip demonstrate racism? Yes. But the racism demonstrated here is not the racism of persecution (WHICH DEFINITELY EXISTS) - it's the racism of privilege.

On Upworthy, Mr. Casal says:

"at 1:50, I literally yelled, "You've got to be kidding me!" at my screen."

The problem is not at 1:50. The problem is at 1:31, when a black woman (sigh) says, "I remember thinking, 'Young white men don't usually carry burglar tools.'"

The problem is at 3:56, when an older white gentleman helps a white girl to commit her crime.

The racism of privilege says, "that person can't be committing a crime, even though it really does look like they are - because they're white," or worse yet, "that person's committing a crime, but that's ok - because they're white."

That's the racism of privilege - when the assumption of white rightness overrides the evidence of one's own senses, and shuts down one's own moral faculties.

A commenter on YouTube said, "The old guy at 3:23 is my hero." He's mine, too, because he tried to stop a crime. And for all he knew, that kid could have had a gun. That old guy doesn't bother me. The old guy at 3:56 does.

All forms of racism are stupid and evil, but the racism of privilege is especially pernicious in some ways.

• First, because it is largely unconscious. The racism of persecution knows that it is race-based. The racism of privilege often doesn't.
• Second, because, since it operates by unjustly lifting some people up, rather than by keeping some people down, it may feel like generosity of spirit.
• Third, precisely because it is largely unconscious and feels like a virtue, it may be more pervasive than the racism of persecution.

It's hard to know how pervasive it is. And it's especially hard for Black folk to know how pervasive it is, because it happens when we're not around and when people aren't even thinking about us. It is not just a white thing, it is a white-on-white thing. And it is up to white people to notice it and to fight it (also, probably, while we're not around).

Now, some of the white people in the middle segment may be racist. Heck, they all may be. But this clip doesn't demonstrate that. If the same people who let the white guy go, stopped the black guy, that might demonstrate racism. If people gave the black guy a hard time when he was not committing a crime, that might demonstrate racism (and that scenario would have been more worthy of invoking Trayvon Martin, as some have done). But stopping a black kid from committing a crime is not racial profiling, and it is not a racist thing to do. It's a neighborly thing to do. And you know what? I would rather have white neighbors who do that, than black neighbors who allow babies to be shot to death, and say nothing.