Did you read the editorial written by the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding the District Attorney’s belated reporting of more than $160,000 in gifts? It was rather harsh, calling Mr. Seth Williams, the first African-American elected to the office, just another hypocrite with his hand out. The brief writing went on to articulate that the actions of Mr. Williams, who still plans to seek re-election in 2017, violate the public’s trust – they’re right. I take no umbrage with the contents of the editorial, in fact, I agree with it. But what doesn’t sit well with me is the inconsistency in which local media outlets report on and scrutinize Mr. Williams’ wrongdoing.
For example, no editorial from any brand within the portfolio of the Philadelphia Media Network – which holds Philly.com, The Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer – was published regarding the D.A’s handling of the criminal investigation into the fatal officer-involved shooting death of Mr. Brandon Tate-Brown, who was killed by a Philadelphia police officer while unarmed and fleeing, though initial reporting and the officer’s statement said Mr. Tate-Brown on December 15th, 2014, was reaching into a car for a gun when fired upon. There is, at this time, no disputing that Mr. Nicholas Carrelli, Mr. Tate-Brown’s killer, filed a false police report and told lies to first responders, yet Mr. Williams, who declined to file charges in this case, contends that no criminal activity took place, though he’ll concede the shooting was a tragedy.
The excuse given by the former Philadelphia Police Commissioner was that a rush to feed the media led to a false narrative, but that reasoning doesn’t explain why the truth wasn’t printed on internal paperwork or told to those individuals who arrived on the scene after the killing.
If there was ever an act involving the D.A’s Office under Mr. Williams’ leadership that violated the public’s trust, it was their decision not to file criminal charges against Mr. Carrelli. But local media, absent of covering protests at the D.A’s Office, remained somewhat indifferent to this story; the news media outlets didn’t even push the police department to release the videos of the shooting, that burden instead was left for the grieving mother and her allies, including an attorney, to shoulder.
And what about Mr. Tomayo McDuffy, the innocent black teen who in 2013 was wrongfully accused of attempted murder by his neighbor and imprisoned for months? The D.A’s Office, despite evidence which cleared the teen being presented early-on by the same individuals who privately investigated the case of Mr. Tate-Brown, was intent on prosecuting the case. Even without the young man’s fingerprints at the scene or any witness beyond the blind accuser who said she recognized Mr. McDuffy’s voice, the D.A’s Office spent taxpayers’ dollars to pursue a frivolous and baseless claim. Once the accuser was unsuccessful in identifying Mr. McDuffy in a voice line-up, all charges were dropped by the D.A’s Office, yet an apology from Mr. Williams was never issued, despite one being requested from activists, including I.
Did you read the editorial written by the Philadelphia Inquirer regarding the District Attorney’s haphazard handling of Mr. McDuffy’s case? Of course, you didn’t, because one was never authored, though the Philadelphia Daily News did dedicate a front page or two for Tomayo-McDuffy-related stories. In fact, other than a televised interview with Mr. McDuffy and his mother on CBS3 after charges were dropped, and a few articles published on Philly.com and other platforms acknowledging the case’s conclusion, the tragic story of a black family turned upside down by prosecutorial misconduct concluded without fanfare or condemnation.
But, here comes Gift-Gate, and the local media won’t shut the f*ck up about it! Analysis, reports, opinion pieces and an editorial have been churned out on this subject. And again, it’s not that this controversy doesn’t warrant the aforementioned, but there were others incidents in the City involving the D.A’s Office that were equally or more egregious and they went under-scrutinized. So, now for the local media to be overly-engaged in criticizing the D.A because of unreported gifts (the local media also obsessed over Porn-gate), when they gave him the proverbial get-out-jail-free cards on the cases of Mr. McDuffy and Mr. Tate-Brown, is enough to make my stomach turn and skin crawl.
The District Attorney of Philadelphia, who filed charges against African-American lawmakers for accepting gifts in returns for voting a certain way, can be labeled a hypocrite, but so can many members of the local media, who have proven they are plagued with a selective outrage, an outrage that doesn’t seem to be triggered by the attempted or successful disposal of a black body.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
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Photos courtesy of the author.
Like Baltimore, another big city run by Democrats…