Aug 2, 2011
Racist revision of an interview with a 4-year-old African-American boy
30 seconds into this news story there’s an interview with a little boy in response to a shooting in his neighborhood. Then at the end of the clip is the footage of what he actually said.
As offensive as this is, what would you expect from TV news?
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Well, cop or not, he does have that right.
Well actually he didn’t say he aspired to be a police officer. He said “I’m {going to} be ‘the police!”…which may or may not be the same thing. Drug cartel leaders in other countries consider themselves to be “the police.” Is this really the most important issue on Ben Jealous’ plate right now? I’d be angry that my child’s comments were taken out of context, but why is it assumed that this wouldn’t have happened to a white child in the same position?
Having a gun isn’t against the law, thus the desire to have a gun is not an indication of a criminal mind or motive. Why would his community, and the NAACP, assume that any child who desires to protect themselves with a gun MUST be a future criminal (except for future morally infallible police officers, of course)?? How many boys and girls BOTH play “cops and robbers” in which one of them MUST play a “bad guy”? Are those clear indicators that those children are going to grow up to be bad in real life? No. So unless you already held these beliefs, how would you infer them from the news story?
would you really expect a four-year-old to specify that he wants to be a police OFFICER?
I don’t expect the four-year-old to do much of all other than make up stories about the cat and eat cookies on the carpet. I was correcting the bloated lawyer at the end with the massive chip on his shoulder when HE incorrectly quoted the child (ironic, isn’t it? Is a racist now, too?) as wanting to be a “police officer.” :)
The news anchor saying that it was a “disturbing reaction” from the young boy. He ends his report with, “That is very scary indeed.” That implies that he thinks the child’s response is not a “normal” response. Take another look at the video. I find it hard to believe that you truly think that the editing wasn’t extremely manipulative at best.
Planning to have a gun does not equal planning to be a criminal. But it’s still pretty shady to cut that context out of the interview.
What’s the problem either way? He didn’t say he was going be a drug dealer or a gang member, I don’t think he has plans to knock over a convenience store. Cute little 4 year boy old wants a gun, big deal, don’t they all?
Also, pretty lazy and invasive reporting to just throw in commentary from a four-year-old responding to a patronizing interviewer. Is this a news story about a dangerous incident or a psychological study of pre-school-age responses to traumatic experiences?
More than whether he is going to be a legal gun owner or a gang member, the sadness of the report is that the news is portraying him as someone who at 4 years old has already been indoctrinated into a culture of violence where retaliatory violence is the only answer. It portrays him as a statistic, another “angry black youth”. It’s sad because that’s a lie. He, at 4 years old, is not a victim but a sign of hope. At some point he may become disillusioned, but to just shove him down by misportraying something that he said is just…sad.
While the misquote is nothing short of atrocious … what’s up with the suspenders the guy is wearing at the end? They almost look like they are lace.
Just gots to be startin’ somethin’!
Wow. Just……wow.
cant even trust local news…Not that a child wanting to own a gun as an adult is automatically a “disturbing response”, it is his right as an American to own one!. If his father was a white hunter it wouldn’t have been edited this way, and even if he didn’t want to be a cop, he lives in a violent neighborhood where they shoot kids, I’d want to own a gun to protect myself too!
The video was taken down, but here’s another copy of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu_LK_iEFE8
jesus was an american.