And of course, they brought up Trayvon. And just like in the Trayvon case, prosecutors haven't charged the man responsible. According to the article, the black community in Michigan is outraged, and may soon influence the arrest of the unidentified white male The unidentified man shot and killed an unarmed black woman on his porch, as she was seeking help after a car accident.
“Renisha McBride, 19, was found dead in the early hours of Saturday morning, from a gunshot wound to the head. Her body lay on the porch of the house in Outer Drive, Dearborn Heights.”
This article did a decent job of showing two sides to the story. It not only gives details from the police, but from the family as well. Even though this is fueling anger of the Stand Your Ground law, the article makes it clear that it’s unknown whether or not the man is using it to his advantage. He is claiming self defense. The family is claiming she was shot from behind in the head, but the police say that is unclear, though she was shot in the head. The article quotes family members, saying that this was a racist situation. McBride had been in an accident, and was going door to door in the predominately white neighborhood, asking for help.
This is where I get confused. What was the accident? What happened? The article mentions nothing about whether or not the 19 year old was drunk, if another person was involved, what she hit, or the condition of her car. Plus, she was 19. Didn’t she have a cell phone? Did she use it?
How does the family know how long it took for him to decide to shoot her? A man in his 50’s wouldn’t have much to fear from a girl barely 20. Was she being obscene? He apparently didn’t call 911 (says the family…how do they know?) which is why the family believes it to be racially motivated. And yet, the authorities have decided to try and gather more information before making any kind of arrest. They must have insight into the situation that causes reasonable doubt in the situation, so what is it?
“To add to their [the family] sense of outrage, police initially indicated to family members that the victim’s body had been dumped on the porch, having been moved from a separate shooting location – a story that was later changed after it was revealed that McBride had been killed at the spot where her body lay.”
This story is full of holes. It’s nice to know that the police are waiting to gather more information before making a bigger deal out of the situation, but the media has failed on the investigative side of the story. They should have tried talking to neighbors, or at least mentioned if they had attempted to do so and if they were turned away or not. They should have spoken to the victim’s friends or classmates. The one line speaking to her character is at the end of the article from her Aunt claiming that she was sweet and didn’t get into trouble. So says the Aunt. How does she know? Kids are notorious for not letting their family in on every dirty secret they have.
In other words, this journalist needed to dig deeper, even if it meant he would look like an insensitive prick. They needed to do their job. By publishing base information with unclear details, outrage in Detroit may built, like it did in the Trayvon case. First impressions are usually what stick with the audience. Ask anyone on the street if they knew about details that emerged later about Trayvon’s personal life (the pictures that showed he wasn’t the sweet looking boy media portrayed him as), and most still don’t have a clue. The information is out now, but because it took so long to be uncovered, most people don’t know about it.
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