Articles Feature

Black Kids More Often the Fatal Victims of Guns

by richard02950

Case of 6-Year-Old Shooter Should Resonate
Golden Globes Return, With Black Journalists Voting
Black Editors Will Be Top 2 in Newsday Newsroom
12 Journalists Attacked in Brazil’s ‘Jan. 6’
Ethiopian State TV Anchor Urges Public Executions
Fox News Pushed Misleading ‘Crime Crisis’
ICT, Native Publication, Teams With Lee Enterprises
Marshall Project Cites 5-Year Diversity Progress

Homepage photo: Police respond to the shooting that injured a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Va., on Friday. (Credit: Billy Schuerman/The Virginian-Pilot)

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Case of 6-Year-Old Shooter Should Resonate

The race of the 6-year-old accused of shooting his teacher in Newport News, Va., has not been made public, but the issue should have particular resonance in Black communities.

The rate of firearm-related deaths among Black youth is six times higher than White youth “and substantially higher than any other racial and ethnic group,” the Kaiser Family Foundation reported in October, analyzing national 2021 figures.

“In general, children of color are more often exposed to gun violence than their White peers. A recent study found that this disparity in exposure to gun violence has been exacerbated during the pandemic, particularly for Black children. Further, a separate study found that children living in areas with a high concentration of poverty are more likely to experience firearm-related deaths and poverty disproportionately affects children of color.”

Moreover, the study continued, “Children are exposed to firearms in a number of ways, including domestic violence and firearms stored at home, and neighborhood and school violence.”

According to Newport News officials, the 6-year-old, who has not been publicly identified because of his age, shot first-grade teacher Abigail Zwerner, who is white, while she taught a classroom of about 20 students at Richneck Elementary School. The student used a 9mm Taurus firearm legally purchased by his mother, and taken to school from the home in his backpack.

Determining how or if the gun was secured inside the home will be a “key element” for investigators, Police Chief Steve Drew said at a news conference Monday.

Joint press conference Monday with Newport News, Va., Police Chief Steve Drew, School Superintendent George Parker, Mayor Phillip Jones. (Credit: YouTube)

Drew, who is white, spoke alongside Mayor Phillip Jones and Superintendent of Schools George Parker III, both African Americans. The school’s student body is primarily nonwhite, and interviews with parents and students reflected that.

People counted as Black or African American are 41 percent of the city’s population, according to census figures.

Median household income was $57,463 in 2021 dollars, and 15.8 percent of the population was in poverty.

WTKR-TV quoted Valerie Slater of the NAACP, who is Black. “We’re coming out of a pandemic. We have recognized now that folks are struggling. Children are struggling,” she said.

The Kaiser Family Foundation study agreed. “Gun violence disproportionately affects many children of color, particularly Black children, and this disparity has grown in the light of the pandemic,” its report said. “This may lead to increased mental health concerns among children of color. This comes at a time when, in general, concerns about youth mental health have grown but access to and utilization of mental health care may have worsened.

“Children of color may face added barriers to mental health care in light of long-standing cultural inequities and a lack of culturally informed care. Continued efforts to address exposure to gun violence and improve access to mental health services may help mitigate adverse impacts among youth. . . . The Department of Health and Human Services recently announced an initiative aimed at promoting Black youth mental health – this comes at a time when suicide rates among Black youth have sharply increased. . . .”

In its guidelines on racial identification, developed in reaction to years of unfair singling out of African Americans in mainstream media, the Associated Press says, “use news judgment. Include racial or ethnic details only when they are clearly relevant and that relevance is explicit in the story.”

Some don’t think the relevance has been established. “I don’t think his race is particularly germane so I don’t think it should be revealed,” said Damaso Reyes (pictured), who is leading “Beyond the Barrel of the Gun,” a three-year initiative from the New York Amsterdam News “focused on journalism-driven solutions to gun violence in Black and brown communities in New York City and nationwide.”

Reyes told Journal-isms, “When it comes to young suspects and victims it is a tradition, if not a rule, among news media not to reveal personally identifying information and I think that tradition should be honored. Unless we later learned that racial hatred was a primary motivation for the suspect, and when talking about a 6 year-old I think that would be difficult, I don’t think his race adds a lot of context or value to the story and would only serve, in my opinion, to possibly inflame an already tragic situation.”

Allison Herman, news director at WTKR/WGNT in Norfolk, messaged in response to a question about what considerations it would use in reporting the child’s race. “In this specific case, we do not know the race of the child involved. In any given news story, we would discuss whether the race of an individual has pertinent news value to the story when considering whether race should be reported.”

The 6-year-old was taken to a hospital, Justin Jouvenal, Hannah Natanson and Jim Morrison reported for The Washington Post, “where he was given an evaluation and then put under court-ordered mental health treatment. He is still in authorities’ custody, receiving treatment at an undisclosed medical facility, authorities said. . . . Police consulted with prosecutors and county service providers before obtaining an emergency custody order from a magistrate for the boy, Drew said.”

Ramin Fatehi, who as Norfolk commonwealth’s attorney is the prosecutor, messaged Journal-isms Wednesday, “It’s an extremely sad case. More proof that the common denominator in the American march of death is guns. With 400 million guns in circulation and no real appetite for sensible gun regulations, there will be no end to the march.”

It was a big night for “Abbott Elementary.” Quinta Brunson accepts the award for Best Musical or Comedy Television Series (Credit: NBC/YouTube)

Golden Globes Return, With Black Journalists Voting

“The Golden Globes, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), have returned after a year in NBC-mandated timeout. This year’s ceremony, hosted by comedian Jerrod Carmichael, arrived after years of turmoil for the organization,” Laura Zornosa reported Wednesday for Time.

“NBC, which typically airs the ceremony, declined to do so in 2022 after industry-wide criticism over the complete lack of Black representation among the HFPA. The year before that, the awards were postponed almost two months due to COVID-19, and first responders and essential workers filled the audience in lieu of actors.

“ ‘We are so grateful for the work that you do — and that you’re here, so that the celebrities can stay safely at home,’ quipped Tina Fey, who co-hosted the ceremony with Amy Poehler. ‘The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is made up of around 90 international, no-Black journalists who attend movie junkets each year in search of a better life,’ she explained. . . .

“In December, on the same day that it announced nominations, the HFPA also sent out a press release detailing the reforms it has implemented over the past year. The foreign press association itself now comprises 200 voters, of whom 22.3% are Latinx, 13.6% are Black, 11.7% are Asian, and 10.7% are Middle Eastern. Of its 15-person board of directors, three members are Black. The organization has been working closely with the NAACP, and has put new policies to ‘eliminate ethical conflicts.’ ”

The National Association of Black Journalists noted in October, “Among the new members are six Black journalists including NABJ member Kelley Carter of ESPN’s The Undefeated [now andscape], who is also chair of NABJ’s Arts & Entertainment Task Force. The other five Black members are journalist and producer KJ Matthews, Earl Gibson III of Getty Images, Kimberly Reyes of Film Ireland; Rubén Peralta Rigaud of SensaCine, and Jânio Carlos Vieira Nazareth of Cinépop.

“Today’s announcement represents a positive step forward in a long-overdue overhaul of HFPA’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices,” NABJ President Dorothy Tucker said then. “However, NABJ will continue to engage with HFPA to ensure that the other areas of improvement we have been vocal about are being seen through. Going from zero to six Black members is important but seeing more Black members join the organization is critical.”

Black Editors Will Be Top 2 in Newsday Newsroom

Rochell Bishop Sleets (pictured) of the Chicago Tribune has been named managing editor of Newsday, the Long Island, N.Y., daily announced Wednesday, putting Black journalists in the rare position of holding the top two newsroom positions at a major mainstream news operation. Don Hudson (pictured, below) became Newsday’s first Black top editor on Dec. 1.

“Sleets, who serves as one of two news directors of the Tribune, will join Newsday on Feb. 27,” the paper said. She is the daughter of immigrants from Belize. (photo of Don Hudson by Sharon Farmer)

“Sleets, 45, has worked at the Tribune for 16 years and in 2020 became the first Black person to be appointed news director, one of the top three jobs in that newsroom.

“At the Tribune, Sleets oversees coverage of topics including arts and entertainment, the environment, business news and education. She helped launch an initiative to increase coverage of the Black and Latino communities and produced Facebook Live events with newsroom journalists and experts from UChicago Medicine discussing COVID-19.

“ ‘My biggest accomplishment has been making sure that we tell the stories of all the people that care about the city, especially marginalized communities and people who have been overlooked,’ Sleets said in an interview. ‘We want to tell their full stories, both the sorrows and the joys.’ ”

In December 2021, Kathy Lu of the Poynter Institute wrote of Sleet’s efforts to make the Tribune more inclusive. “In Bronzeville, historically known as the city’s ‘Black Metropolis,’ the Tribune saw growth from a few hundred subscribers in 2018 to more than a couple thousand in 2021. In Pilsen and Little Village, both centers of Latino and Mexican American cultures, the Tribune saw subscribers increase by more than 300%.”

According to census figures, Nassau County is 13.1 percent Black, 17.6 percent Hispanic and 11.9 percent Asian, while Suffolk County is 9.0 percent Black, 20.7 percent Hispanic and 4.4 percent Asian alone.

Before moving to Chicago, Sleets worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota and the Kansas City Star in editing and art direction jobs. Sleets plans to live on Long Island with her husband, Gentry Sleets, an engineer and former graphics coordinator at the Tribune.

Long Island is making national news as the home of Republican George Santos, elected to Congress after lying about his background, education and finances. On Wednesday, Nassau County Republican Party leader demanded that Santos resign or be removed from the seat.

Newsday reports a circulation total of 191,413 daily (average Monday-Friday) and 218,753 on Sunday, including print and digital.

12 Journalists Attacked in Brazil’s ‘Jan. 6’

At least 12 journalists were attacked while reporting on Sunday’s riots in Brazil, the Union of Professional Journalists of the Brasília Federal District said, Bryan Pietsch reported Monday for the Washington Post.

“They were kicked, threatened with firearms or forced to delete footage, the union said. Some of the journalists had their camera equipment stolen or damaged.

“Among the assaults was a reporter working for The Washington Post,” a freelancer. “Marina Dias (pictured) was interviewing a woman when protesters yelled at her, chased her, pushed her to the ground and kicked her repeatedly. The attackers pulled her hair and attempted to take her cellphone from her pants pocket. A navy officer entered the crowd and pulled her to safety.”

The New York Times added, “Photojournalists from Brazilian newspapers and international agencies were the main victims. At least five had their equipment broken or stolen. A New Yorker magazine reporter was assaulted while covering the riot. Pedro Ladeira, a photographer for Folha de São Paulo, Brazil’s largest newspaper, was also attacked. ‘They destroyed my equipment; they beat me, but I’m fine,’ he said.”

The Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (Abraji, by its Portuguese acronym), “as well as Jeduca and other press freedom organizations, had been reporting and denouncing the escalation of violence within these extremist groups, without adequate action being taken by public authorities and security forces,” the association reported, according to LatAm Journalism Review.

“From Oct. 30, 2022 to Jan. 6, 2023, Abraji — together with the National Federation of Journalists (Fenaj) — registered 77 attacks of political violence against the press.”

Ethiopian State TV Anchor Urges Public Executions

Sam Fulwood, dean of the American University School of Communication, a partner with Journal-isms, puts it this way: “You can’t have a democracy without an informed and participatory populace. Journalists work for the people to keep them informed, not for the state. State-supported journalism is designed to support the state, not to support the public.”

Which brings us to Solomon Haileyesus (pictured), a broadcaster for state-owned television in Ethiopia, which has been in a grueling conflict with rebels in the northern Tigray region since November 2020.

The two sides signed a peace agreement on Nov. 2, but according to a video posted on Twitter, Haileyesus praised Iran for publicly executing its citizens and told viewers that Ethiopia should introduce the same rules.

Haileyesus said, in Amharic:

“It is only Iran that is unstable, but when it comes to their country, they are very patriotic. I sometimes tell friends that I wish I were Iranian. Their national feeling is serious.

“You can’t joke about it. It will put you on fire [It will get you into trouble]. Mocking, sarcasm and underestimating your leaders and brothers can make you pay the price.

“Today I have seen that they have executed someone. Better hang someone than disturb a population of millions.

“This is a country that matters, not something you chew and throw like gum. It is not a jacket you take off when you feel hot. It is a big country like Ethiopia. We need to keep our 60/70 years old rich history documented, and we
must read.”

Fox News Pushed Misleading ‘Crime Crisis’

“Fox News centered much of its reporting in 2022 around fearmongering about a supposed ‘crime crisis’ — a misleading narrative that was largely created by its own relentless coverage,” Gideon Taaffe reported Monday for Media Matters for America.

“By focusing on racist stereotypes, smearing progressive prosecutors, and pushing conspiracy theories, Fox News made crime one of the biggest perceived ailments in the country and pushed far-right policy prescriptions ahead of the election,” Taaffe wrote.

“From the start, Fox used the issue of crime to push right-wing narratives. The media outlet began the year by describing America as a country experiencing anarchy and lawlessness. Fox News personalities focused their coverage on Democratic-led cities like Chicago and New York, dubbing the issue a ‘Blue-City Crime Crisis.’ However, the facts don’t support these claims: According to FBI statistics, violent crime actually decreased overall in 2021, and the largest increases of murder rates were in Republican-controlled states.

“Despite the rise in crime not being a story backed by hard evidence in the statistics, Fox News still found ways to focus on the drama of a crime crisis — particularly in the lead up to the 2022 midterms, when Fox News devoted 11% of its coverage to crime. As The Washington Post’s Phillip Bump noted, ‘Stories of violent incidents, always catnip for newscasts, are used to portray a sense of crime that may or may not comport with reality. And Fox News has been very active in trying to portray exactly that sense.’ . . .”

“We need more Native journalists in order to tell a richer story” (such as the students above), said Karen Michel, Ho-Chunk, president of IndiJ Public Media and ICT. “And by partnering with existing newsrooms we can serve our readers better and faster.” (Credit: Center for Native American Youth)

ICT, Native Publication, Teams With Lee Enterprises

“ICT and IndiJ Public Media will share a reporter with Lee Enterprises at newspapers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Rapid City, South Dakota, in a partnership designed to increase the coverage of Indigenous communities in those two regions,” the companies announced Monday.

“The reporters will be jointly hired and report to ICT editors and their counterparts at the Rapid City Journal and the Tulsa World.”

Separately, Kolby KickingWoman reported for ICT an example of the kind of story that doesn’t often make the mainstream media: “A new report released Tuesday shows that Native American people are incarcerated at rates up to seven times higher than White people in the United States.

“The report, ‘Over-incarceration of Native Americans: Roots, Inequities, and Solutions” was released through the MacArthur Foundation and highlights the alarming incarceration disparities can be based on race and ethnicity.

“Further, American Indians and Alaska Natives are overrepresented in the prison population in 19 states and are sentenced more harshly compared to White, African American and Hispanic people. . . .”

The ICT-IndiJ Public Media announcement continued:

“This partnership will accomplish several goals for ICT and Lee Enterprises:

“It will improve the journalism quality with better coverage of important constituencies. There are nine tribal nations in South Dakota and 39 tribal nations in Oklahoma. There is no question that the number of stories coming out of this newsroom partnership will broaden the understanding of Native people in these regions.

“The partnership also will open up a new channel for hiring, creating a path for more Native Americans to cover their community and build a career path.

“ ‘We are so pleased to begin this partnership,’ said Karen Michel, Ho-Chunk, president of IndiJ Public Media and ICT. ‘This is about creating opportunity. We need more Native journalists in order to tell a richer story. And by partnering with existing newsrooms we can serve our readers better and faster.’

“The collaboration is part of a broader vision to expand ICT’s reach by creating seven new bureaus over the next three years. ICT currently has bureaus in Washington, D.C. and Anchorage, Alaska. . . .”

An image from “The Zo” project, which won nine awards from the Society for News Design in 2020. “Welcome to The Zo,” from The Marshall Project, Sharp As Knives, and First Look Media’s streaming service, Topic, is an animated series illustrated by Molly Crabapple and narrated by Michael K. Williams. (Credit: The Marshall Project)

Marshall Project Cites 5-Year Diversity Progress

The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that says it “seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system,” reported Tuesday what it termed significant progress on diversity and inclusion over its five-year existence.

It is named after the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice and a towering figure in the civil rights movement.

“If Marshall were alive, I have no doubt that he would place criminal justice reform high among the urgent priorities of today’s civil rights movement, and that his would be a powerful voice for change. It is for these reasons that I chose to name The Marshall Project in his honor,” Neil Barsky, founder of the project, has written.

In its five-year comparison, the project reported:

  • “In 2017, our first year of collecting and publishing our staff demographics data, our team was 59% White.
  • “By comparison, five years later, our staff is both larger by raw numbers, but is also more racially and ethnically diverse. Currently, 42% of our staff self-identify as White, while 58% of our teammates self-identify as being non-White or people of color.
  • “In 2017, our board of directors was predominantly White, and 23% of our board members self-identified as being people of color. Today, 47% of the 17 board members self-identify as people of color.
  • “Finally, significant effort has been made by our hiring and recruitment teams to diversify the teams of decision-makers within The Marshall Project.
  • “We currently have 15 editors within the newsroom, with 60% of those staff self-identifying as people of color.
  • “Across all departments, our teams include 22 managers, 55% of whom self-identify as people of color.
  • “By comparison, when we launched in 2014, two of our eight staff writers were people of color, but the leadership was entirely White and predominantly male.”

    The project also said:

    “Our team grew substantially this year, with The Marshall Project making 23 new hires across all departments.

    “Of those:

  • “16 new hires (or 70%) self-identify as people of color.
  • “Two new hires were formerly incarcerated, bringing our total number of formerly incarcerated staff to 6 (or roughly 9%).
  • “We tracked the demographic data for two types of organizational decision-makers.
  • “We hired 3 editors into the newsroom, all of whom are people of color.
  • “We added 5 managers across all teams, 4 of whom are people of color.
  • “We also welcomed back a former fellow and staff writer into a newly-created editing role to lead our engagement efforts newsroom-wide, including reporting and writing.
  • “As we have done since 2020, every hiring process across our organization used the ‘Rooney Rule’ — all finalist pools included at least one person of color.. . .”

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