
Mostly there were dry headlines like "Mistrial Declared in Black Motorist's Shooting by Officer." (Photo: David Geitgey Sierralupe/flickr/cc)
If We Were 'Staggered' by Police Brutality, Wouldn't Walter Scott Mistrial Have Knocked Us Over?
Corporate media reported the mistrial in the case of South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, whom video showed shooting unarmed African-American Walter Scott eight times in the back in April 2015, handcuffing him on the ground, and then dropping a taser alongside his body--this after Slager stopped Scott for a broken tail light.
Corporate media reported the mistrial in the case of South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, whom video showed shooting unarmed African-American Walter Scott eight times in the back in April 2015, handcuffing him on the ground, and then dropping a taser alongside his body--this after Slager stopped Scott for a broken tail light.
Mostly there were dry headlines like "Mistrial Declared in Black Motorist's Shooting by Officer." An AP piece got the headline that many were "at a loss" at the outcome; other headlines had them "stunned." The story itself included comments that started to get at the depth of folks' despair: "There's a jury full of people and they cannot decide if it's illegal to shoot someone who is running away from you?" asks one source. "What do you say about a country that feels this way about black people?" "Do we really have anything that can seriously be called the administration of criminal justice?" asks another.
Indeed. Corporate media keep referring to how the country has been "rocked" or "staggered" by revelations of police brutality in black communities--evoking the question, if we were really staggered, wouldn't something like this knock us over?
Instead, we got only media gestures toward documented research on how hard it is to convict police officers and bland references to "racial tensions." The Daily News (12/5/16) was the only paper I found editorializing on the mistrial: Headlined "Believe Your Eyes," the paper acknowledged that they don't generally weigh in on questions of guilt, but that measured against the video evidence, Slager's testimony--that he was gripped by "total fear" and "fired until the threat was stopped as I was trained to do"--"can only be described as emanating from a parallel universe."
The New York Times (4/8/16) did run an editorial last April, saying the quick charging of Slager was "encouraging," along with FBI and Justice Department involvement. Such wrongful deaths "present a clear danger to the civic fabric. The country needs to confront this issue directly and get this problem under control." The paper's editorial silence on the mistrial suggests the important gap between the relative ease of calling for change and the difficulty of examining why it doesn't come.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. The final deadline for our crucial Summer Campaign fundraising drive is just days away, and we’re falling short of our must-hit goal. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Corporate media reported the mistrial in the case of South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, whom video showed shooting unarmed African-American Walter Scott eight times in the back in April 2015, handcuffing him on the ground, and then dropping a taser alongside his body--this after Slager stopped Scott for a broken tail light.
Mostly there were dry headlines like "Mistrial Declared in Black Motorist's Shooting by Officer." An AP piece got the headline that many were "at a loss" at the outcome; other headlines had them "stunned." The story itself included comments that started to get at the depth of folks' despair: "There's a jury full of people and they cannot decide if it's illegal to shoot someone who is running away from you?" asks one source. "What do you say about a country that feels this way about black people?" "Do we really have anything that can seriously be called the administration of criminal justice?" asks another.
Indeed. Corporate media keep referring to how the country has been "rocked" or "staggered" by revelations of police brutality in black communities--evoking the question, if we were really staggered, wouldn't something like this knock us over?
Instead, we got only media gestures toward documented research on how hard it is to convict police officers and bland references to "racial tensions." The Daily News (12/5/16) was the only paper I found editorializing on the mistrial: Headlined "Believe Your Eyes," the paper acknowledged that they don't generally weigh in on questions of guilt, but that measured against the video evidence, Slager's testimony--that he was gripped by "total fear" and "fired until the threat was stopped as I was trained to do"--"can only be described as emanating from a parallel universe."
The New York Times (4/8/16) did run an editorial last April, saying the quick charging of Slager was "encouraging," along with FBI and Justice Department involvement. Such wrongful deaths "present a clear danger to the civic fabric. The country needs to confront this issue directly and get this problem under control." The paper's editorial silence on the mistrial suggests the important gap between the relative ease of calling for change and the difficulty of examining why it doesn't come.
Corporate media reported the mistrial in the case of South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, whom video showed shooting unarmed African-American Walter Scott eight times in the back in April 2015, handcuffing him on the ground, and then dropping a taser alongside his body--this after Slager stopped Scott for a broken tail light.
Mostly there were dry headlines like "Mistrial Declared in Black Motorist's Shooting by Officer." An AP piece got the headline that many were "at a loss" at the outcome; other headlines had them "stunned." The story itself included comments that started to get at the depth of folks' despair: "There's a jury full of people and they cannot decide if it's illegal to shoot someone who is running away from you?" asks one source. "What do you say about a country that feels this way about black people?" "Do we really have anything that can seriously be called the administration of criminal justice?" asks another.
Indeed. Corporate media keep referring to how the country has been "rocked" or "staggered" by revelations of police brutality in black communities--evoking the question, if we were really staggered, wouldn't something like this knock us over?
Instead, we got only media gestures toward documented research on how hard it is to convict police officers and bland references to "racial tensions." The Daily News (12/5/16) was the only paper I found editorializing on the mistrial: Headlined "Believe Your Eyes," the paper acknowledged that they don't generally weigh in on questions of guilt, but that measured against the video evidence, Slager's testimony--that he was gripped by "total fear" and "fired until the threat was stopped as I was trained to do"--"can only be described as emanating from a parallel universe."
The New York Times (4/8/16) did run an editorial last April, saying the quick charging of Slager was "encouraging," along with FBI and Justice Department involvement. Such wrongful deaths "present a clear danger to the civic fabric. The country needs to confront this issue directly and get this problem under control." The paper's editorial silence on the mistrial suggests the important gap between the relative ease of calling for change and the difficulty of examining why it doesn't come.