In light of the execution of New York City Police Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos by a gunman with a Baltimore connection, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake might want to reconsider her response to Commissioner Anthony Batts' statement following the recent shooting of Officer Andrew Groman ("Mayor says some officers may feel anxiety about not being 'next Darren Wilson,'" Dec. 17). Her statement was typical of the lack of honesty in public discourse where race is a concern. Perhaps the nuance of Mr. Batts' statement is lost on her because she has never put her life on the line for the protection of someone else. What escapes her is that this officer was shot after deciding to employ less lethal measures during a traffic stop with a non-compliant suspect. That decision almost cost him his life.
What is equally disconcerting is the real potential that this officer's choices may have been influenced by a constant bias that is exercised by news media. No police officer hits the street hoping for the opportunity to use deadly force, but they do have every intention of going home at the end of their shift. It is my fear, as police officers are constantly demonized, that his use of force decision may have been driven by current headlines. His choice to use a Taser, even to announce he would employ a Taser, cost him precious seconds, almost the last seconds of his life.
We live in a society where a deranged black man can stab an 8-year-old child and the Washington area news media broadcast a description of a "man in a plaid shirt." We have a president who sent three representatives to the funeral of a black felon and did not send a representative to the funeral of a white officer killed in the line of duty. Unless you lived in Tennessee, you may have never heard of the Christian-Newsom murders. The story of the 2007 abduction of Channon Christian and Hugh Newsom, their torture, rape and murders by a group of black suspects should have been in the news at the same time as the George Zimmerman trial, because those convicted in that heinous crime were getting a new trial after it was revealed their judge was addicted to pain medication.
Willful reporting with a clear bias amounts to malice. Eighteen-year-old men can enlist in the military, serve and die for their country. When an 18-year-old black man is shot, the victim is described as a teenager. We attach innocence to youth, so a "teenage" suspect who dies after an encounter with police becomes a victim rather than a criminal. Media bias is so ingrained it is almost reflexive, as in the Dec. 22 Good Morning America broadcast covering the execution of police officers when they referred to the "choking death" of Eric Garner. He did not die from choking, but some facts don't seem to matter. When you only report the facts that support your position, it isn't news, it's propaganda.
Douglas M.F. Womack, Grasonville