Gang rape torture and murder is the subject of this column – and those four so-indicted are here described as “big bad racial minorities.” Is that supposed to be clever?
by Les Kinsolving
When three Duke University lacrosse players were charged by the school with raping a hired stripper at a late-night party, this accusation – eventually dropped because it was false – was massively reported in all media.
The three young men, now exonerated, are white. She is black.
Was there any U.S. media at all that failed to report the actual 1998 murder of a black man named James Bryd, by three white Texans, who chained him to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him to his death?
No known daily newspaper, radio or TV station in the U.S. failed to report this interracial atrocity, for which the perpetrators were tried and convicted.
Then, in January of this year, reported syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald, in the Baltimore Sun on June 3rd:
“A young white couple, Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom , were victims of a brutal crime. They were carjacked kidnapped and raped. Cleaning fluid was sprayed into Ms. Christian’s mouth. She was stuffed in a trash can and apparently suffocated. Mr. Newsom was shot and set afire. His body was dumped. Five blacks, one a woman, have been arrested.”
Columnist Pitts’ account is accurate – as far as it goes. But he did not report that the four men who forced Channon to watch as they anally raped her boyfriend – and later raped her – for days – are now in jail. They are charged with 45 felony counts, including first-degree murder, robbery, rape, kidnapping and theft. The one woman with them was indicted on charges of carjacking.
Send Leonard Pitts an email lpitts@MiamiHerald.com
Dave Wilson’s email address – Dave is Mr. Pitts’ boss DWilson@miamiherald.com