The Unreported Story

[WifeOHunkyJohn 2]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-ex-ha...-home-headlines

Long Beach teens face hate crime charges

By Hector Becerra and Rong-Gong Lin II, Times Staff Writers

2:41 PM PST, November 22, 2006

Los Angeles County prosecutors today filed hate crimes charges against eight black teenagers accused of beating up three white women on Halloween night in a case that has startled and divided Long Beach.

Authorities said they took the action after concluding that the teens attacked and beat the women in the upscale Bixby Knolls area because they were white.

The case has been the subject of a wrenching public dialogue over the last few weeks in the racially diverse city of 460,000, with civil rights groups like the NAACP condemning the teenagers' alleged actions and the city holding a public forum meant to ease tensions. The attack occurred on a block known for fancy Halloween decorations.

According to police, a mob of mostly girls, ages 12 to 17, allegedly hurled racial insults at the women, threw small pumpkins and lemons at them, and then knocked them to the ground with kicks, punches and swings of a skateboard.

The attack left the women, two 19-year-olds and a 21-year-old bloodied and with broken bones, internal bruises and cuts, before a black passerby stopped his car and pulled their assailants away.

"What could have possibly gone through their mind to make them think this kind of behavior was OK?" asked Long Beach Police Officer Jackie Bezart. The girls, who face felony assault charges, appeared in court today.

Their attorneys said the girls are good students and have no history of violence or criminal behavior. One of the girls won a full athletic scholarship to USC and had represented the United States in a track meet in China, her attorney told the court. He urged the judge to allow the girl out of Juvenile Hall so she could take the SATs.

My hubby and I were tuned into our favorite radio show, http://www.kfi640.com and the DJ, John Ziegler was talking about a hate crime in this here California that has so far failed to grab the attention of the local or national media. He pointed us [the listeners] to the LA times website, and to another I sadly failed to catch that appeared to him to be the only two news outlets that have so far picked up on the story, and I have to say, since I google the news a lot (Google News, Yahoo News, Fox News, LA Times, CNN and all the associated pages from Routers to the Associated Press and such that these sites take you to), I have so far absolutely failed to come across this article anywhere within their headlines.

Above I posted the article that is featured in the LA times, and I have found a few more links (by googling "Long Beach hate crime trial" and so far managed to find a few more links that further tell the story of this so far under-reported incident:

http://www.examiner.com/a-428176~Witness_s...hite_women.html

Witness says she saw black Long Beach crowd beating white women

The Associated Press

Nov 30, 2006 4:20 AM (1 day ago)

LONG BEACH, Calif. - A crowd of black youths pelted white women with pumpkins and lemons, then kicked and beat them without provocation outside a haunted house at Halloween, a black woman testified in a hate crime trial.

[the witness], 18, said three white women turned to walk away after they were pelted and were "ambushed" by obscenity-shouting attackers. Two were struck in the face and chest with skateboards, [the witness] said.

"There were three separate huddles - each white girl in the middle of a huddle," [the witness] said Wednesday in Juvenile Court during the teens' adjudication hearing - the juvenile equivalent of a trial.

The women kept pleading "Stop!," she said.

"I stopped my car in the middle of the street and ran out to the girls," [the witness] said. "All three girls were down on the ground."

One woman was struck with a tree branch, she said.

"Her nose was crooked, her left eye was black and swollen and she could barely talk right," [the witness] said. "She had blood everywhere - her face, her stockings, but most of it was on the ground."

Police said the youths hurled racial insults at the women and shouted "I hate whites" during the attack, which only ceased when a black man driving by stopped, pulled assailants away and shielded the women with his body.

The women, two 19-year-olds and a 21-year-old, all suffered broken bones.

A boy and nine girls, ranging in age from 12 to 17, have pleaded not guilty to felony assault by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. Eight of them have been charged with a hate crime enhancement.

In addition, two 17-year-old boys were arrested this week in connection with the beating and will be tried later.

The attack happened at a Halloween block party in the posh Bixby Knolls area of Long Beach known for elaborate Halloween decorations and fancy candy.

Before [the witness]'s testimony Wednesday, Los Angeles County prosecutor Andrea Boss asked that her name not be revealed in court, saying her safety was in jeopardy.

"We had to have a police escort bring her to court today," Boss said.

As [the witness] was trying to leave her home Wednesday, she saw six black men who appeared to be gang members sitting on her car and called police, Cmdr. Jeff Johnson said.

Judge Gibson Lee, however, said the woman had to give her name on the witness stand.

Ok so the article names the witness, even though she feared for her safety, and I have chosen to delete her name. It's my choice since I think her actions were exceptionally brave, given what seh has so far had to endure.

From the same website, there is another link to when the charges were filed: http://www.examiner.com/a-416112~Hate_Crim...nst_Youths.html

To give credit where credit is due, this story is also online on topix.net, sacbee.com. presstelegram.com, gainsville.com, libertypost.org, federalnewsradio.com, news.aol.com, rightnation.us, pe.com, boston.com, cbs2.com/californiawire ... [these are the first 10 or so sites to list the story].

But for some reason we have been watching the news almost nightly and nowhere in the headlines has this story even been suggested. So in honor of John Ziegler's efforts on tonight's radio, I thought I would post it here to at least start a dialogue on the story, and publicize an otherwise untouched tale of a hate crime by blacks against whites.

[cmartyn 0]

I think this would receive attention if it were caught on Video Tape or something.

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

I think the right wing nut jobs who think the media is biased against whites is a bunch of hooey.

[GaryC 7]

I think this would receive attention if it were caught on Video Tape or something.

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

I think the right wing nut jobs who think the media is biased against whites is a bunch of hooey.

I think this illustrates how the media is biased against whites. If this were a group of white kids beating up on blacks it would be national news. Since it's the other way around you don't see it. Kind of proves our point don't you think?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I think this would receive attention if it were caught on Video Tape or something.

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

I think the right wing nut jobs who think the media is biased against whites is a bunch of hooey.

I think this illustrates how the media is biased against whites. If this were a group of white kids beating up on blacks it would be national news. Since it's the other way around you don't see it. Kind of proves our point don't you think?

Oh come on, Gary. Where do you get that idea from?

The LA Times isn't exactly a small-time rag. I fail to see how this was under-reported. If John Ziegler is trying to make a solid argument that black violence against whites gets under-reported by the media, he needs to do a better job than that. There's plenty of media accuracy watchdog groups out there that are nonpartisan. I'd suggest the OP do a search for them to find out if any studies of media outlets have found such a bias.

Here's a few...

News Watch

www.newswatch.org

Tracks media criticism, with an emphasis on newsroom diversity.

Rocky Mountain Media Watch

www.bigmedia.org

Based in Denver, this nonprofit monitors local news media, particularly local TV news.

Tyndall Report

www.tyndallreport.com

A thorough and credible research organization. Get content analyses of national network news shows.

Edited December 2, 2006 by Steven_and_Jinky

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Just out of curiosity, I did a search on Lexis-Nexis -- this story went out on the AP wire and was picked up in papers in Seattle, Dallas, Florida and across California, including several stories in the LA Times.

a beating attack on teenagers in which no one was killed would not be national news -- the race angle makes it an interesting story. BUT, it sounds like the attackers are being brought to justice -- they are being prosecuted to the full extent of the law (by the sound of it) as a hate crime, the NAACP has condemned the attacks, the person who helped the victims was black, etc

This should be a national story if the attackers got away with it or the black community ignored it, but that does not appear to be the case.

It also interesting to note that a couple of white guys beat a black guy near New Orleans around the same time -- reported in the Times Picayune and NOWHERE else. The men were NOT charged with a hate crime:

NATIONAL

Pair may face hate crime law in beating ; Black Folsom man attacked by white out-of-towners, cops say

Richard Boyd St. Tammany bureau

938 words

25 October 2006

Times-Picayune

01

English

© 2006 The Times Picayune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights reserved.

Craig Brown was in a jovial mood Saturday night, home for a few days from his long-haul truck driving job, and didn't realize that loud racial slurs were being directed at him when he walked out of a Folsom convenience store.

"I was getting in my pickup when I heard the loud shouting and repeated use of the 'N' word," he said. "I was looking around to see who they were shouting at."

Brown, 41, a black man who lives on Lee Settlement Road, said that when he tried to back out of the parking lot at John's Curb No. 11 at the intersection of Louisiana 25 and Louisiana 40, the two men he saw shouting jumped in their pickup and blocked him.

"I still didn't realize what was happening," he said. "I could not see the two men in the dark and I thought maybe it was some friends of mine having fun with me. I mean, I can take a joke. So, I got out of my pickup.

"They charged me, both of them. And then I realized this was serious," he said.

The two white men, who Brown said he had never seen, continued shouting racial slurs and began beating him, he said.

"They were hitting me in the face and the back and they pushed me to the edge of the road and threw me in a ditch," Brown said. "I think I might have been knocked out for a little while."

That happened about 8 p.m. Just before midnight, Folsom police arrested two out-of-state men on several charges, and Police Chief Beau Killingsworth said Tuesday he will ask District Attorney Walter Reed to prosecute them under a state hate crime law.

"We don't tolerate this type of thing in Folsom," Killingsworth said.

The incident does not represent race relations in Folsom, Mayor Marshell Brumfield said.

"We will not allow that to take place in our village," he said.

Arrested were David Owen, 34, of Bethpage, Tenn., booked with DWI, simple battery, disturbing the peace and being drunk in public; and Denny Griffin, 35, of Flint, Mich., booked with simple battery, disturbing the peace and being drunk in public.

The two men are construction workers who came to the area after Hurricane Katrina and have been sharing an apartment off Louisiana 40 West at the Tangipahoa Parish line, Killingsworth said.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

a beating attack on teenagers in which no one was killed would not be national news -- the race angle makes it an interesting story. BUT, it sounds like the attackers are being brought to justice -- they are being prosecuted to the full extent of the law (by the sound of it) as a hate crime, the NAACP has condemned the attacks, the person who helped the victims was black, etc

This should be a national story if the attackers got away with it or the black community ignored it, but that does not appear to be the case.

Interesting and valid points.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Another news story unreported by the national media:

Witness to attack didn't help because of fear

By JOE STINEBAKER

Associated Press Writer

760 words

15 November 2006

22:06

Associated Press Newswires

English

© 2006. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

HOUSTON (AP) - A girl whose kiss triggered the savage beating of a Hispanic teen testified Wednesday that when she told David Henry Tuck about the incident, his only reaction was to punch the victim in the face.

"Tuck hit him first. He didn't say anything. He just hit him in the face," said Danielle Sons, who was 12 when she attended an unsupervised party at her house where her brother Gus, Tuck, the victim and another teen drank and took cocaine and Xanax.

Sons said when the victim kissed her, "I kind of backed away ... He was kind of messed up. I knew he didn't mean anything."

Nevertheless, she told Gus Sons and the other boys about it, triggering a four- to five-hour attack in which the victim was stripped, kicked, beaten and sodomized with plastic pipe before the attackers stood him against a fence and poured bleach all over him.

Tuck, 18, is charged with aggravated sexual assault in the attack.

Harris County Sheriff's deputy Michael Weinel testified that Tuck told him he beat the victim only after the victim took a swing at him when Tuck confronted him about touching Danielle Sons.

Christina Maria Sons, at whose house the beating occurred, cried on the stand as she testified how she slept through the party and the lengthy attack.

"I was asleep and I do sleep hard," she said, noting that she didn't know her son and the others were drinking and taking drugs. "I trusted them too much."

The victim, who was hospitalized for more than three months, is expected to testify later Wednesday. If convicted, Tuck could face from five to 99 years or life in prison.

The other person authorities say participated in the attack, Keith Robert Turner, 17, is set to go to trial next month.

Danielle Sons, who is half Hispanic, described the attack in grisly detail, including the racial epithets and shouts of "white power" that she said Tuck uttered while he beat the teen.

And also this was not national news:

LOCAL

MAN IS CHARGED WITH HATE CRIMES IN BEATING

ED TRELEVEN etreleven@madison.com 608-252-6134

210 words

28 November 2006

The Capital Times & Wisconsin State Journal

SECOND

B3

English

Copyright © 2006 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.

Hate-crime-enhanced charges were filed Monday against a Madison man who allegedly hurled racial epithets at a black woman last weekend at the Downtown apartment building where they live, then beat and kicked her.

Todd W. Keast, 36, was charged with two counts of battery and one count of disorderly conduct, all as hate crimes. The enhancer increases the battery charges from misdemeanors to felonies.

According to a criminal complaint, Keast used the n-word, called the woman a "monkey" and told her she swings from trees and was "from the zoo" after she let the front door of their North Orchard Street apartment building shut on Saturday afternoon. The woman told police Keast then pushed her down, kicked her and punched her in the face, the complaint states.

The woman said she was able to get away from him, run upstairs and call police. As she came back downstairs, the complaint states, Keast again hit her in the face with his fist. Another resident intervened and Keast went upstairs to his apartment, according to the complaint.

There are several more local stories on Lexis in a 6 week period about this sort of thing that involves black or hispanic people as victims, but you get the point. The story in Long Beach is the only one with white victims and it was picked up by more media outlets (though not all of them) including one of the largest newspapers in the country. Probably because it was considered newsworthy.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

There are several more local stories on Lexis in a 6 week period about this sort of thing that involves black or hispanic people as victims, but you get the point. The story in Long Beach is the only one with white victims and it was picked up by more media outlets (though not all of them) including one of the largest newspapers in the country. Probably because it was considered newsworthy.

Heh...well, consider the source - a radio talk-show host whose only chance of staying on the air is to stir up sh!t and they really HATE what TV has done to them.

[Ban Hammer 14,408]

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

according to some of the vj posters, this is a rare occurance as racial discrimination is only one way.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

according to some of the vj posters, this is a rare occurance as racial discrimination is only one way.

Clearly it isn't.

[Alex+R 0]

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

according to some of the vj posters, this is a rare occurence as racial discrimination is only one way.

Charles, I've never heard anyone on VJ ever say that racial discrimination is only one way. I've heard more complex arguments about the subject that you can't shrink down to the idiotic one you're claiming someone has made, either for effect or because you didn't understand it in the first place.

[Ban Hammer 14,408]

Plus, its not like this is a rare occurance or anything.

according to some of the vj posters, this is a rare occurence as racial discrimination is only one way.

Charles, I've never heard anyone on VJ ever say that racial discrimination is only one way. I've heard more complex arguments about the subject that you can't shrink down to the idiotic one you're claiming someone has made, either for effect or because you didn't understand it in the first place.

you need to read more

[Alex+R 0]

you need to read more

Charles, having a different opinion than you, or in this case having actually listened better than you, doesn't make someone ignorant. In fact, in your case, it's usually quite the opposite.

[AnaAndDaniel 0]

Daniel

:energetic:

[Alex+R 0]

Daniel

:energetic:

Oh, stop, I'm just teasing him.