Beans Wit Attitude: Racism and the Media

Civil rights for minorities have come a long way over the years, but sometimes it seems society will never get over the “racial hill” and treat everyone equally.

It makes me angry, or should I say sickens me, to hear stories of discrimination and hate among groups based on race, gender, sexuality, or any other form of prejudice. While the blame for these empty-headed individuals can be placed on their parents and peers, some accountability must be given to the media.

For the record, I am not saying that the media is bigoted; but its inability to report on certain stories causes stereotypes among people and leads to their ignorance.

Carbondale Councilwoman Corene McDaniel brings the argument to a local level. She says regional media has not given proper coverage to the African American community in Carbondale.

“The main issue is African Americans and the relationship that we have with the police department,” McDaniel said. According to McDaniel, this has been the biggest dilemma facing the African American population in Carbondale for the last eight years, which she has had first-hand experience with.

McDaniel said her son, Leon, came out of an apartment building where a shooting had taken place and the police automatically thought he was the shooter. He was arrested on the spot.

“Leon didn’t do that! Leon didn’t do that!” a victim that had been shot said, but Leon was still taken to the police station.

So if this has been an issue in Carbondale for at least eight years, then the media has given it a fair amount of coverage, right?

Wrong.

“If you don’t want anybody to know about it, you just don’t have to put it on the news,” McDaniel said. “If you don’t have a relationship with somebody that can give you a tip or whatever, it may not ever get to the news, so you can’t blame the media for not covering it.”

McDaniel is being generous. I’m not.

If I am reading this quote correctly, McDaniel is saying that reporters do not cover important news because they are ignorant…and it is okay? Why are they ignorant? Because they do not care.

If reporters cared, they would mix it up with the community and learn these things on their own. Anonymous tips cannot be used for every story. Reporters need to talk to people on the street, go to local barbeques, or attend a church service; they have to understand the people they are writing about.

McDaniel does not give the media free passes for everything though. She is upset with how the media mentions whether a person is “black” or not when reporting a crime.

“It used to be that’s all that was done by the media. They always identified a black person,” McDaniel said. “I thought, ‘how come you said this was a black person?’”

One may argue that this is just part of the description.

“How come a white person isn’t part of the description?” McDaniel said.

McDaniel is right. Often, when an African American is reported for a crime, his or her race will be mentioned. Will it happen every time for a white person? Probably not.

Again, I am not saying that the media is racist, but this shows that the little things make a difference. By mentioning a suspect is black and disregarding it for a white suspect, people will start to think of a black person when they hear the word “criminal.”

I recognize that reporters cannot cover every story, but I will not allow ignorance to be used as justification. Their job is to report on the community and they should treat it like a job. Along with reporting stories, a reporter’s job is to get into the community and learn what the real issues are.

Report the important stories. Show you care. No excuses.

Beans Wit Attitude: Seeing Both Sides of the Death Penalty Part 2

Imagine staring into the eyes of the person who murdered your loved one. How do you feel?

Opponents of capital punishment continue to neglect two groups with their arguments: murdered victims and their families. Arguments against capital punishment cite statistics that show it does not deter crime and innocent people are executed. These statistics are misleading and do not accurately reflect the capital punishment system in the United States.

Capital punishment does deter crime and statistics prove it. Information from the U.S. Department of Justice shows between 1950 and 1974, the yearly number of executions went from about 100 to zero. During that time, the murder rate went from about 2.3 to 8 murders per 100,000 citizens. Between 1980 and 2002, the yearly number of executions went from zero to about 93. During that time, crime rate went from about 8.5 to 6.2, showing capital punishment has a profound effect on the U.S. murder rate.

A comprehensive study between Clemson and Emory University showed each execution results, on average, in eighteen fewer murders. A study from the Columbia Law School showed domestic and intimate partner homicides, the most passionate forms of murder, have been declining since 1970 as well.

Naci Mocan, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, conducted a study that examined all 3,054 U.S. counties. Between 1977 and 1997, states that practiced capital punishment had lower crime rates than states that did not. Despite opposing the death penalty, Mocan said, “My research shows that there is a deterrent effect.”

A study by Joanna Shepherd, a law professor at Emory University, showed similar results. Her study showed the deterrent effect only applied to states that executed at least nine people between 1977 and 1996. In her review, Shepherd said, “Deterrence cannot be achieved with a half-hearted execution program.”

Unfortunately, Illinois has a half-hearted program. Because of former Governor George Ryan’s moratorium, capital punishment exists, but has no effect. Criminals roam our streets without fear of the death penalty.

Another argument against capital punishment is executing the innocent. This is the most misleading argument offered by opponents.

The Death Penalty Information Center claims there have been 102 exonerations since 1973. However, the center’s definition of “exoneration” makes no distinction between legal and factual innocence. According to Ramesh Ponnuru, the National Review's senior editor, only 32 of the 102 individuals were exonerated on innocence claims. The other 70 cases involved inmates who were exonerated because of legal errors.

Innocence is clearly not an issue. There have been over 7,300 death sentences since 1973, and only 32, or 0.4 percent, have been proven innocent. This percentage is not enough to end capital punishment.

Illinois government should start listening to its people. In 2002, a study from the St. Louis Post Dispatch showed 49.7 percent of Illinois residents were opposed to Ryan’s moratorium.

The national public’s opinion is similar. A 2009 Rasmussen Reports national survey found 61 percent of Americans favor the death penalty, while only 23 percent oppose.

We believe the next governor of Illinois should lift the moratorium and continue to practice capital punishment. A majority of Americans support capital punishment and it has proven to deter crime.

If the next governor chooses to keep the moratorium, he should have to explain his reasoning to the families of murder victims in Illinois.

Beans Wit Attitude: Seeing Both Sides of the Death Penalty Part 1

Cameron Todd Willingham’s three daughters were killed as his house burned down in 1991, two days before Christmas.

Willingham escaped the fire, but was charged for the murder of his daughters. During trial, he was offered life imprisonment in exchange for pleading guilty. He turned it down, insisting on his innocence until he was executed on February 17, 2004.

Five years later, the Chicago Tribune released a report from Craig Beyler of the Texas Forensic Science Commission. He stated investigators did not examine the case properly and the state fire marshal had “limited understanding” of fire science.

It seems Willingham was innocent. How many innocent “criminals” are executed each year?

Proponents of capital punishment have an “eye for an eye” mentality that needs to stop. This mentality does not work when innocent people are executed.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 139 exonerations in 26 states since 1973, including 20 in Illinois. There were 12 exonerations in 2003 and 9 in 2009, showing the recent irresponsibility of our court system.

Capital punishment is also unfair to different races. While 44 percent of death row inmates are white, 42 percent are black, despite only making up 12 percent of the nation’s population.

A study by the University of North Carolina showed defendants whose victims were white were 3.5 times more likely to receive the death penalty. Another study by the Santa Clara Law Review concluded those who killed whites were three times more likely to be sentenced to death than those who killed blacks and four times more likely than those who killed Latinos.

The most troubling statistic? While 15 whites have been executed for murdering blacks, 242 blacks have been executed for murdering whites.

Another misleading argument favoring capital punishment is it deters crime. Statistics show this is false.

Michael Radelet, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado, conducted a survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies and 88 percent rejected the death penalty acts as a murder deterrent.

The 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report showed the South had the highest murder rate and accounted for over 80 percent of executions. The Northeast accounts for less than one percent of all executions and had the lowest murder rate.

Former Governor George Ryan’s moratorium was Illinois’ first step to abolishing capital punishment. Since the moratorium in 2000, the murder rate in Illinois has dropped from 10 deaths per 100,000 people to 6.1 in 2008. If the death penalty deters crime, why has the moratorium lowered the murder rate?

A majority of the public supports capital punishment, but that number is declining. Between 1994 and 1999, before the moratorium, the Chicago Tribune reported Illinois public support of the death penalty had dropped thirteen points.

In 2002, a Zogby poll showed 68 percent of Illinois residents favored the moratorium while 26 percent opposed it. In the same year, a Roper Starch Worldwide study found 75 percent of Illinois residents were concerned that innocent people had been executed.

National support for capital punishment is also dropping. A 2008 Gallup poll showed 64 percent of Americans support the death penalty, down from 80 percent in 1994.

These statistics indicate a population that is gradually rejecting the death penalty. We believe the Illinois government should follow and set an example for all states by abolishing the death penalty.

The only way to prevent people like Cameron Todd Willingham from being executed is to eliminate the source. Capital punishment must end.

Information Beans: Dying Newspapers and Education

“People are alarmed and thinking about science, and perhaps this alarm could be turned toward a constructive result.”

These were the words of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, one year after the launch of the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik. This led to the passing of the National Defense Education Act.

The good: various scholarships and loans were made available to public and private schools, along with new and improved scientific equipment.

The bad: the federal government had dipped its hands in public schools and taken over. It told schools that math and science were more important and schools lost a localized approach.

“It trumped all of the state and local control on issues in the public school system,” Elizabeth Lewin said, a professor in the department of educational administration at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

So what is more important: increased funding from the national government or schools having a narrower and more local approach?

It’s an important question that must be addressed. But will the issue be approached if local news dies?

Newspapers are dying fast, including local ones. As a result, newspapers have taken a new approach to attracting readers: more pictures and graphics, new layouts, and less focus on hard news. This creates less focus on education, which should be the top matter on a community’s agenda.

Unless there are newspapers, there will not be newsrooms. Without the newsrooms, there is less communication between reporters and local news goes down the drain; local reports on education require the collaboration of editors and reporters who know the community. If local news dies, all focus shifts to education on a national level.

While this is bad news, there are reasons to be optimistic. The federal government has implemented various educational policies that have helped many communities.

For the last eight years, the No Child Left Behind Act has dominated education news. Numerous school districts have reported improved test scores and expectations for teachers have gone up. In 1972, another federal act, Title IX, increased benefits and funding for girls’ athletics.

While these mandates sound nice on the surface, they did not have the same effect on every school district.

In some districts, NCLB has created controversy. Some teachers feel that the curriculum has narrowed and there is no deep understanding of material. Test scores may be higher, but students could be learning less; teachers know what they have to teach and may zip through the material. Some believe this means less focus on a broader understanding of material and more emphasis on specific ideas.

Even Title IX had its problems, according to Lewin.

“It was really hard, as a coach of girls’ sports, for me to look at my male counterparts, knowing that many of them are losing,” Lewis said. “It was great that I was getting gym time to practice…but however, I didn’t want to see the boys not have that opportunity.”

The fact is this: these federal policies have a huge impact on a local level, both good and bad. Their effects vary according to certain communities, making local news extremely important.

Who knows Carbondale better than its local reporters? Who will report on the academic achievement gap at Carbondale High School? How will parents know the amount of funding going towards their child’s local education?

“So much is cultural, and those who are reporting and writing must understand that,” Lewin said. “There is a huge difference in what is allowed in a curriculum in a Carbondale district and what may be allowed in a Harrisburg district.”

As online-based news grows, more attention must be put on education. Local newspapers need to press the issues and keep parents interested.

What is more important: knowing national statistics for the latest federal educational mandate or knowing how it will affect your child?

Beans Wit Attitude: Abortion

Public funding for abortions has been a controversial subject for over thirty years, dating back to Roe v. Wade in 1973. In 1976, the Hyde Amendment was passed and prohibited the use of federal funds to pay for abortions through federal programs, such as Medicaid. If passed, the Stupak Amendment would bar the use of federal funding for any health insurance program.

Opponents of both bills have noted how it singles out certain demographics of people. Both amendments do not prohibit abortions, but instead make it harder for low-income women to receive abortions. Any women with proper funding and can pay out-of-pocket can still have an abortion.

The Stupak Amendment does allow health insurers to offer plans with abortion coverage to those who pay full premiums, but people receiving subsidies from the government will be prohibited from receiving the same benefits. If the amendment is passed, health insurers are unlikely to provide such coverage because there is no market for it. In effect, any woman who currently has abortion covered in her health insurance plan would lose it.

Whether or not abortion is right, it is legal. Therefore, we believe public funds should be used to fund abortions, but with strict limitations to discourage the practice. A woman would only receive funding for one abortion and only if the abortion is in the first trimester. The government would only fund 50 percent of the cost and the woman would cover the rest. Women would have the right to choose their own doctor, whether it be an abortion clinic or a private doctor.

Leaving the entire cost of an abortion for a woman is too harsh, but entirely paying for it is too light. By
requiring the woman to pay for 50 percent of the abortion, we hope to discourage abortions and encourage safe sex.