"Murder in Black and White"

Murder in Black and White Mark Alexander From Patriot Post Vol. 07 No. 18; Published 4 May 2007 | Print Email PDF

Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom were described by family and friends as a "clean-cut and faithful couple -- good kids." Channon was a senior at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she met Christopher. She and Chris went out on a Saturday dinner date, after which Channon called her mom and told her that they were on the way to visit friends. But Channon and Christopher never arrived at their friends' house -- or returned home.

The next day, the mutilated and burned remains of Chris Newsom were found along a railroad track. Two days later, Channon's battered and burned body was recovered from a trash bin. Channon and Chris had been kidnapped after a carjacking, then brutally gang-raped and murdered. According to reports, they were subjected to lengthy torture in each other's presence, injected with chemical disinfectants to destroy DNA evidence, then strangled and shot.

This appalling attack is more than a case study in sociopathic evil. It is also a case study in journalistic malpractice.

Unless you tune in to the local Knoxville news, you are most likely hearing about this heinous crime for the first time -- even though it took place in January. True, there are some 17,000 murders committed in the U.S. each year, but this double murder was clearly far more barbaric, far more monstrous than most.

Having spent years in law enforcement (some of that investigating hate groups) and also having seen my share of war-ravaged third-world nations, I am casehardened when it comes to exposure to reports of sadistic brutality and hate. However, the deliberate and abject inhumanity of this case, and what it says about our culture, got my attention. Yet, this story has failed to attract the attention of the national media.

Could it be because the two victims were white and the five defendants are black?

Regrettably, there is nothing new about the racial aspect of this story, which may explain why it was not national news. Although blacks represent just 12 percent of the U.S. population, black perpetrators are convicted by their peers in more than half of all murder and manslaughter cases. And, per-capita black-on-white crime is far more prevalent than the inverse.

The underlying social factors contributing to such racially unbalanced crime statistics have been delineated by many conservative black leaders and academicians. However, their solutions -- most notably promoting individual responsibility and accountability rather than reliance on the nanny state and subscription to the "victimization" mentality -- contradict liberal political objectives, which seek to maintain black folks' status as wards of the state.

I draw your attention to this case not only to mourn the loss of a beautiful young couple, but also to call attention to a despicable double standard in our mainstream media.

In 1998, three white men in Jasper, Texas, beat a black man, James Byrd, then chained him to the back of a pickup truck and dragged him three miles to his death. Not surprisingly, Byrd's murder received national media attention -- as it should have.

Of course, when the Leftmedia jumps on a racial issue, especially in the run-up to a presidential election, Democrat politicians will be rushing the podium -- in this case, opportunistically calling for "hate crimes" legislation.

But then-Governor of Texas George Bush said there was little need for such legislation -- after all, two of the defendants were sentenced to death and the third received a life sentence. What penalty is greater than death?

That did not stop the NAACP from producing a political ad featuring the following voiceover from Mr. Byrd's daughter: "My father was killed. He was beaten, chained and dragged three miles to his death, all because he was black. So when Governor George W. Bush refused to support hate-crimes legislation, it was like my father was killed all over again."

Clearly, hate was a motivating factor in the Jasper case, but it was also a motivating factor in Knoxville, which leads us to ask: Why do white-on-black hate crimes invariably result in a media feeding frenzy, while black-on-white hate crimes receive nary a mention? It is notable that both the Jasper and Knoxville crimes occurred at about the same period in presidential-election cycles -- which perhaps explains the deafening silence of the national media's coverage of the Knoxville case.

On the other hand, for the last year, the Leftmedia was busy convicting three white Duke University lacrosse players for another "hate crime" -- the alleged gang rape of a black woman named Crystal Gail Mangum. Millions of dollars in defense-lawyer fees later, it turns out that Mangum was a liar and the real victims were in fact the accused: David Evans, Reade Seligmann and Colin Finnerty.

Egg still fresh on their faces, the national media quickly moved on to Don Imus and his racially insensitive remarks.

In fact, the only black-on-white crime given as much media attention as the Byrd and Duke cases was O.J. Simpson's murder of his ex-wife and her companion -- but that story was an MSM mainstay not because of Simpson's race, but because of his celebrity status.

News of their murders was briefly posted on the AP wire by Knoxville news outlets, but major media outlets such as CNN, CBS, The New York Times and The Washington Post have yet to mention it, much less headline it. Clearly, there's a double standard when it comes to the media's coverage of interracial crime.

What about the double standard when it comes to race-hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton (who fabricated the Tawana Brawley rape hoax)? The only difference in racists such as Jackson and Sharpton and those in the KKK is that the latter are not Leftmedia celebs.

In the wake of the Knoxville case, Is the NAACP ready to crank out some political ads on hate crimes? Are Teddy Kennedy and all the congressional race-baiters calling for additional hate-crimes legislation? Not for this case they're not.

The five defendants charged with the rape and murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom will make their next court appearance on 17 May. It's safe to say that they will do so without a satellite news-link truck anywhere in sight. In fact, we may even see the race-baitors claiming the real "victims" are the defendants, given their life histories.

Critics say news media ignoring Knoxville couple slaying
May 18, 2007 05:47 AM CDT

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Bloggers and media critics are complaining that the national media has ignored the rape and murder of a young Knoxville couple because of the racial implications of the story.

Channon Christian, a 21-year-old University of Tennessee student, and her boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, 23, were raped, tortured and killed in January. Separate trial dates were set Thursday for four people charged in the slayings.

Online critics have angrily insisted that reporters are ignoring the story because the victims are white and the defendants are black.

"I am not going to call it reverse racism," said country singer Charlie Daniels, who has written on his Web page about how little he has heard of the case in Nashville, about 150 miles west of Knoxville. "But I will say it is very selective (journalism).

"There are probably not five stories in the country that could possibly have been more important than that one during the time it was going on," he said. "It is totally, completely unfair to the memory of these young people not to inform people about what happened to them."

The Associated Press and local media in Knoxville have covered the case regularly since the bodies were found, but it has received scant attention from other media outlets.

Christian and Newsom were last seen Jan. 6. Authorities have refused to say where they were carjacked and have suggested the attack was random.

Newsom's burned body was found the next day along some railroad tracks, and Christian's body was found two days later a short distance away in a trash can. Both had been sexually assaulted.

Web sites describe gruesome details that are not in the public record.

Lemaricus Davidson, 25; his brother, Letalvis Cobbins, 24; and George Thomas, 24, were indicted on 46 counts, including first-degree murder. Cobbins' former girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, 18, was indicted on 40 counts, also including murder. Some have implicated others in statements to police, but it remains unclear what prompted the crimes.

"It was certainly a very vicious crime, and we are treating it accordingly," said Knoxville Police Chief Sterling Owen.

Knox County Judge Richard Baumgartner on Thursday set anticipated two-week trials for each of them in 2008, beginning with Cobbins on May 12, Coleman on June 16, Davidson on July 14 and Thomas on Aug. 11.

Prosecutors have yet to say if they will seek the death penalty.

A fifth defendant, Eric Boyd, 34, is being held on a federal charge of being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping Davidson. No state charges have been filed against him.

More than a dozen family members and friends of victims filled two rows of the courtroom Thursday, intently listening to the proceedings. None would talk later to reporters.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys also declined comment, though one defense attorney said that continued rumors about rallies against "black-on-white crime" might raise concerns of tainting a jury pool and the need to move the trial.

"We've seen fliers and postings on Internet sites," Mayor Bill Haslam said of possible demonstrations in coming weeks. "We don't know if it is a small number of people or large, but we will be prepared one way or another. We treat them seriously."

One organization identified only as the "ABC Group" applied for a parade permit for June 16. The police chief said other actions may be held Saturday and May 26.

Knoxville NAACP President Ezra Maize has been meeting with city and police officials. "We don't want to add fuel to the fire. Our goal is simply to keep the peace," he said.

"Whether it is black, white or Hispanic, there is no way in the world you cannot view what has taken place and not feel remorse for the families," Maize said. "At the same time, you cannot cast judgment as to who did it or who did not do it. That is not our place."

Angry bloggers have drawn comparisons to the Duke lacrosse rape case and wondered why the Newsom-Christian slaying hasn't gotten the same media attention. "Oh, that's right, the victims were WHITE!" wrote one.

Glenn Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor who operates Instapundit, a top current events and commentary blog, said he was branded an apologist by those bloggers after he wrote that he had seen no evidence the killings were a hate crime.

However, he said, "I think it is totally true if the races of the perpetrators and the victims were reversed, the press would make a bigger deal about it. I think some people (journalists) have been hanging back for fear of inflaming things."

Ted Gest, president of the Criminal Justice Journalists group, a national organization of journalists who cover crime, court and prison beats, said interracial crime tends to get more coverage than when the criminal and victim are of the same race.

"But I can't say that this one would have had any more coverage if five whites had been accused of doing these things to two blacks, absent a blatant racial motive," he said. "As bad as this crime is, the apparent absence of any interest group involvement or any other 'angle' might also explain the lack of coverage."

"Lemaricus "Slim" Davidson, 25, has been indicted by a Knox County grand jury on charges he robbed a North Knoxville Pizza Hut and tried to steal at gunpoint a woman's purse the day after he and four other suspects allegedly killed a young Knox County couple in January."

"Based on police records, Channon Christian's body was stashed inside a garbage can — undetected by authorities — inside Davidson's Chipman Street home at the time of the alleged Pizza Hut robbery and attempted purse snatching."

Also at Thursday's hearing, Baumgartner set trial dates for each of the four suspects in the double slaying, although it was prosecutors who decided the line-up of who goes first.

Prosecutors tapped Davidson's brother, Letalvis "Rome" Cobbins, 24, to be tried first. His trial is set for May 12, 2008. His girlfriend, Vanessa Coleman, 19, will be tried next, on June 16, 2008. Davidson will follow on July 14, 2008, and George "Detroit" Thomas, 24, will bring up the rear with an Aug. 11, 2008, trial date.

Prosecutors have not yet said whether the death penalty will be sought.

....Jamie Satterfield may be reached at 865-342-6308.

http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/article/0,1406,KNS_347_5543775,00.html

The local reports about this are so pc, it’s pathetic. One tv stations’ forum is filled with very angry responses to both the coverage and the crime. They keep censoring and deleting whole threads about this. This same station took some crime stats and skewed them to say that whites actually commit most of the crimes.

If it were just a carjacking gone bad, they would have simply stolen the vehicle, and killed the victims. Instead, they quickly ditched the vehicle, and then proceeded to sexually torture this couple, the young girl for days. This happened in a house in a residential area. I find it hard to believe that no one heard the screams that had to have come from this house.

There is going to be a demonstration in support of the victims next weekend in Knoxville.
Unfortunatly it is sponsored by a true hate group who hates everybody but whites.

If this is not a hate crime, nothing is. I’m so angry about this, and I’m not alone.

We have a security system and guns. I’m glad my husband taught me how to shoot them

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