'Name That Party': AP Adds a Race Card to the Mix in Prince George's Co. Md. Corruption Story
A couple of NewsBusters posts during the past week -- one from yours truly and another courtesy of Ken Shepherd -- have pointed to the press's reluctance to identify the Democratic Party affiliations of indicted Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson and his also-indicted wife Leslie, who is a County Council member.
Today, the Associated Press's Brian Witte kept up the wire service's tradition of either not naming the party of an indicted Democrat or deferring that identification until very late in the report (in the apparent hope that subscribing outlets picking up the story won't use it). Jack Johnson's party affiliation was saved for the 19th paragraph; Witte never identified his wife's party affiliation. Witte further quoted a Republican who commented on the situation in Paragraph 10, and noted that said Republican "ran against Johnson in 2002" in Paragraph 11, leaving it vague as to whether it was a primary or general election contest.
Finally, Witte gave voice to people who believes that the Johnsons and ultimately other county officials are being targeted based on their African-American ethnicity -- in county where two-thirds of its residents are African-American.
Here are selected paragraphs from Witte's report:
Corruption charges disturb residents in Md. county
In two years, Prince George's County residents have seen a former schools superintendent sent to prison and corruption charges brought against a senior state senator and the county executive and his wife.
The latest case is the stuff of movies or late-night TV jokes: Authorities say County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife were arrested Nov. 12 after he accepted $15,000 from a developer and federal investigators tapping his phone reportedly heard him tell her to flush a $100,000 check down the toilet and hide $79,600 in her bra.
The string of scandals has left residents angry, frustrated and wondering who will be next. Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein described their arrests as "the tip of the iceberg."
... Prince George's, a suburb of Washington, D.C., is the nation's wealthiest majority-black county, according to the census. The county, which has about 834,000 residents, is 66 percent black with a median annual household income of $71,696.
(paragraphs 10 and 11)
... Audrey Scott, a former County Council member who chairs the Maryland Republican Party, said she used to hear about officials expecting developers to go beyond what was required to, say, build a playground or refurbish a senior citizens center.
"There were certain elected officials who felt that developers owed something more - above and beyond what was required in the zoning application process, in the permitting process," said Scott, who ran unsuccessfully for county executive against Johnson in 2002.
(paragraphs 18 and 19)
... Some residents can only shake their heads when asked about the scandal, walking away and muttering words like "depressing" without saying anything more.
Johnson, a Democrat, now comes to work as the county's chief executive near the end of his second term with an electronic monitoring device. His term ends Dec. 6, when he will be succeeded by a Democrat who had twice run against him unsuccessfully.
... Marva Henry, who lived in Prince George's County for 29 years and only recently moved away, said she questions why prosecutors seem to focus on African-American officials. Her husband, Winston, also expressed frustration that prosecutors seem to be focusing more on Prince George's County than other localities. But both said they were angry at Johnson over the allegations.
Well, if the Henrys have evidence that nearby counties also have serious corruption, they ought to present it (and Witte should have demanded they present it) before just putting a race bias charge out there with no support. One of the reason that there may be seem to be a bit of a focus on African-American officials is probably because roughly 2/3 of the County's Council is African-American. The county's Superintendent of Schools and about 2/3 of the Board of Education are also African-American. All other things being equal, the odds are that if corruption is occurring in Prince George's County, there will be a good chance that African-Americans are involved, and racism on the part of investigators and/or prosecutors has nothing to do with it.
You can't make this up: The county web site's "welcome" page still features a message from the indicted Johnson, and another page contains a glowing bio of Johnson, which includes this sentence:
Mr. Johnson has transformed Prince George’s County into Gorgeous Prince George’s.
At this point, that assertion is highly debatable at best, and sick joke at worst.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
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Comments
They are not African -
Submitted by Ashrak on Sat, 11/20/2010 - 10:32pm.
They are not African - Americans. They are black people.
If one political correctness bias is to be hammered, it is prudent not to commit another one while doing so. It smacks of the "H" word.
Whenever making a reference to someone who is white, are they referred to as European - American. Sounds pretty foolish doesn't it? Of course it does.
It is the same thing as saying Republican and not saying Democrat.
I am not trying to attack this author, I am trying to demonstrate how it is that lefties totally miss the criticisms waged on them for this endless 'name that party' game they play. They really don't see a problem with what they are doing because they walk on eggshells trying not to offend a certain section. They are not the only guilty party on that front. Until they are, this will mindless drama continue.
The exact same thing happens when folks are afraid to just say black. I say reject that trap by refusing to bow down to the race baiting claptrap!
I once saw Gretta over at FOX NEWS refer to a couple of potential suspects in the Natalie Halloway disappearence catch herself mid sentence regarding this very point. She mentioned the "Affrican American"...... ooooooops. They were neither Africans nor Americans. She got bit by the political correctness bug and she knew it before she was even finished with her sentence. To be sure, I will never forget that moment.
If we can say white people, then we can say black people. If we can leave white out, then we can leave black out. If we can leave European out, then we can leave African out. If we can leave Democrat out, then we can leave Repubican out. It's an Equality thing and it will only apply when we apply it. If we only apply it 'part time' to some, then it will never apply all the time to all.
YEP
Submitted by ozarkian on Sun, 11/21/2010 - 9:44pm.
Exactly what I thought when I was reading all those "African-Americans" in that story. Why identify a group by where a member of their family came from genertations ago? Why, to show that they're special, that's why! Doesn't it sound so dignified "African-American" compared to plain ol' White? It's that lib game of naming things so they sound the way they want them to -- late-term abortion, moderate muslim, centrist democrat..yeah, yeah, blah. blah, blah.
The use of African-American is a double-edged sword
Submitted by Tom Blumer on Mon, 11/22/2010 - 1:11pm.
Your points are very well-taken. What's interesting about the conscious segregation from other blacks involved in the term African-American is that there is plentiful information showing that recent black immigrants to this country who come here legally and go thru the citizenship process economically outperform blacks born here in a not very long period of time.
If discrimination against blacks were the pervasive problem Jesse Jackson and other insist it is, this dichotomy would not be occurring. Obviously something else is at work that is holding the "African-American" community back, be it lousy schools, a dependency mentality, a dysfunctional culture (rap, etc.), or whatever. That's the second edge of the sword.
Big, fat, hairy deal.
Submitted by motherbelt on Sat, 11/20/2010 - 11:05pm.
When most of the group is black, you could probably play that old party game where you blindfold someone and spin him around three times, then let him go.
I'll bet it wouldn't take him long to bump into someone who thinks something, anything, whatever the subject is, is based on race.