Sunday, July 14, 2013

Racism, California Style

Oakland television station KTVU and the National Transportation Safety Board are apologizing for a racist stunt that got on the air concerning the July 6th Asiana Airlines crash at San Fransisco airport.

Someone, either an intern at the station or a staffer at the National Transportation Safety Board, came up with a bogus list of names purportedly of the flight deck crew aboard the jetliner.  Here's what KTVU aired:


13 comments:

LeDaro said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LeDaro said...

Mound, some people think it was a mistake and anchor did not know. Anchors of small t.v. outlets take these liberties. To me it was indeed racism.

Also Florida and Zimmerman case. Zimmerman walked away for the murder of Trayvon Martin. It is clearly racism too.

Owen Gray said...

It tells not only you a lot about a small television station, Mound, but about the analytical skills of the people in the business these days.


That one brief screen is fraught with information -- not about the crash, but about the people who are bringing you the news.

The Mound of Sound said...

From my personal experience, Owen, news people like trial lawyers indulge fairly heavily in gallows humour - at times beyond the point that other (as in "normal") people would find objectionable.

As for Zimmerman, LD, I disagree. The prosecution was unable to eliminate reasonable doubt. The evidence wasn't there to refute Zimmerman's remotely plausible story.

Reasonable doubt has to work for the guilty just as it spares the genuinely not-guilty. Did Zimmerman murder Martin? Yeah, sure, in my opinion. Did the prosecution prove it? Not beyond a reasonable doubt.

It wasn't a long trial and this jury deliberated for 16-hours. I don't see in that any tell-tale signs of racism.

LeDaro said...

Mound, re: Zimmerman I differ. Firstly he was not even arrested. He was taken to a police station and let go. It took a lot of demonstrations to charge the bastard.

He followed the young man despite that police told him not to. Zimmerman instigated the fight.

Prosecution might have done a lousy job. However, we don't know the jury. Maybe 8 white women.
I have been to Florida and have seen firsthand how blacks are treated there. You don’t see them in the restaurants and other public places such as beaches. I visited a few beaches in St. Petersburg area. I asked a person that I don’t see blacks despite that there is a sizable population. His response was we keep them in their place. I understand in St. Petersburg area they live in a separate community.

The Mound of Sound said...

I understand what you're saying, LD - Florida has a serious racism problem. Yes it does.

That said, you haven't established anything proving Zimmerman's guilt.

How the police handled this initially has nothing to do with the trial except, perhaps, in your mind. How blacks are treated has nothing to do with the trial unless there's something you're not relating.

Just because a lot of rotten things happened and continue to happen, to consider those as going to the question of reasonable doubt is to cross the threshold from law to mob rule.

I wish the prosecution had more evidence of what happened in the seconds before Zimmerman killed Martin. They didn't. It's unfortunate but shit happens.

Anonymous said...

The racist vigilante stalker George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin for being an assertive young black male.

He got off because the Florida police and courts are systematically racist, classist and corrupt. Having a father who was a former judge in that system was a big help.

Anonymous said...

Hispanics dislike blacks and Zimmerman is an Hispanic. I doubt a man with a gun is going to insite another without a gun to attack him. Zimmerman won't have a very peacful life from this time onward.

LeDaro said...

Mound, I agree with anon. Zimmerman's father is a former and prominent judge might have further contributed to this injustice.

I do agree that prosecution did do a lousy job. Smarter prosecutors were needed.

Usually jury members speak out after the verdict. In this case jury remains totally anonymous. I wonder why?

During my trip to Florida a family judge was in the neighbouring room in the hotel I was staying. We were sitting on the balcony and started talking. He asked me where I was from. I told him from Canada. He said "you're lucky that you don't have blacks". Now what kind of decisions this judge would be making.

The Mound of Sound said...

I knew that the Zimmerman verdict would trigger the same sort of response we get from the far right when a case doesn't go their way.

Zimmermans' father was a judge and that "MIGHT HAVE" contributed to an unfair verdict? Care to back that up at all or are you just content to rely on your emotions?

The prosecution did a lousy job? Why because they didn't invent evidence to fill in the gaps in what they actually had, the gap within which Zimmerman was able to create reasonable doubt? Have you got anything at all meaningful to back up your accusation that the prosecution did a lousy job?

Given the racially-charged nature of this case do you really think it surprising that the jurors didn't go on camera? Would you be dumb enough to do that?

At least the U.S. A.G. is going to review the case to see if it warrants federal prosecution. I'll put my trust in them instead of being swayed by the unsubstantiated nonsense in these comments.

LeDaro said...

In other words whosoever has the smartest lawyers can buy the justice.

There is a long history of racist decisions in U.S and South especially. This one is one of those verdicts.

LeDaro said...

Mound, I should add that policemen who first took Zimmerman to police station knew his father. The early story was that that was the crucial factor to let Zimmerman go.

Police were very lousy witnesses in this case and that did contribute to the verdict. It is an obvious element of racism. Police testimony is crucial.











Anonymous said...

Hispanics have it harder than the Blacks it you are comparing poor against poor. At least the Blacks were taken out of slavery but the Hispanics are still being exploited to a higher level. Slavery for them is still alive and well today.

Z should be in jail for what he did.