(The Karmelo Anthony case was decided long before he was born!)
By: Vincent L. Hall
Texas Metro News
https://texasmetronews.com
The news headline said it all. Racism never takes a vacation. This postman always rings twice. That bus never misses its route and is never late.
“Texas TV reporter under fire for ‘gorilla in the room’ remark during Karmelo Anthony trial coverage.” Listen to the published report in the New York Post last week.
“A veteran Texas TV reporter is facing backlash after using the phrase “gorilla in the room” while covering the closely watched murder trial of Karmelo Anthony — prompting her station’s parent company to issue a public apology and acknowledge the remark was inappropriate.
Rebecca Lopez, a senior crime and justice reporter for Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA, made the comment Tuesday during live coverage of Anthony’s trial while discussing tensions surrounding the case.
“Let’s talk a little bit about the big, uh, gorilla, so to speak,” she said before noting that people on both sides of the case had been shouting racial slurs and that attorneys wanted the proceedings to focus on the facts rather than race.
A video of the moment spread on social media, where critics argued that the wording was problematic and offensive because the defendant in the case is black.”
Now I know what you are saying. Vincent, of all the issues surrounding the miscarriage of justice involved in the Karmelo Anthony case, why would you pinpoint a racist comment, rather than the weightier issues involved here?
Let me tell you why. Because everything about how this case was charged, heard, and disposed of starts with slurs, stereotypes, and simplification. Black people, male and female, suffer from the foundation and fundamentals of a racist society.
When you all (yes, I mean Black people) see Karmelo Anthony, you see a sweet, innocent teenaged boy who fell into harm’s way by trying to escape being in harm’s way. Karmelo, with his soft, beautifully sun-kissed skin and a healthy mane of hair, is familiar to you. His childish appearance resembles your son, nephew, cousin, church member, and a litany of other non-threatening personas.
What those jurors, and in this case, a seasoned news reporter saw was a Gorilla. White America has taught all of America to believe that Black people are superhuman. The men are endowed with superior strength and, therefore, are prone to brutality. The women have a supersized tolerance to pain. They are believed to withstand 10 times as much physical pain as their White counterparts.
Listen to a few lines of research by Ph.D. researchers, Erika V. Hall, Jamie L. Perry, and Alison V. Hall Birch. (Yep, that last author, Alison, belongs to me!) Their 2016 paper titled “Black and Blue: Exploring Racial Bias and Law Enforcement in the Killings of Unarmed Black Male Civilians” is of great significance.
“Racial bias starts early as Black youth face detrimental stereotypes with which other youth do not have to contend.
In a series of studies, researchers instructed both undergraduate student and police officer participants to evaluate young Black, White, or Latino suspects and estimate their age and culpability for their actions. Black boys were perceived to be older and less innocent than White boys, and this “adult-like” quality made them appear to be more appropriate candidates for greater use of police force.
While the participants’ estimations were explicitly endorsed, the explicit ratings were undergirded by an implicit dehumanization of Blacks as vicious, violent animals. Both civilian and police officer participants perceived Black youth to be older than they were (an average of 4.53 and 4.59 years older, respectively; Goff et al., 2014).”
The same slurs, stereotypes, and simplifications that run rampant among police also permeate our court system, school system, and show up in every workplace. The injustice that you saw in the courtroom last week didn’t begin there. (Rebecca Lopez has always been seen as fair and familiar with issues in our community. I want to believe that she meant “elephant” and misspoke, but racism intentional or unintentional kills and can never be ignored! Quit Playin’!)
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author, writer, award-winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
