Articles Feature

Fla. Killer Not in White Power Group After All

How Supremacist Trolls Spread Rumor to Media

Modern-Day Redlining Found in 61 Metro Areas

AP’s Holland Shares in ‘Black Panther’ Phenomenon

FCC Watchdog Investigates Chairman’s Sinclair Ties

NBC Insists on Own Pronunciation of ‘Pyeongchang’

UNC’s Invitation to Tucker Carlson Draws Scorn

Laura Ingraham to LeBron: ‘Shut Up and Dribble’

Columnist Says Black History Month Has Failed

Lerone Bennett Jr. Services Scheduled Feb. 24

Short Takes

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Florida school shooting victims are identified as families, community grieve (Credit: ABC News)

How Supremacist Trolls Spread Rumor to Media

Following misrepresentations by a white nationalist leader and coordinated efforts by internet trolls, numerous researchers and media outlets spread a seemingly false claim that the man charged with killing more than a dozen people at a Florida high school belonged to an extremist group,” Shawn Musgrave reported Friday for Politico.

“Law enforcement agencies say they have no evidence so far to support this claim, and the rumor appears to have been perpetrated by white nationalist trolls themselves.

“On Thursday afternoon, the Anti-Defamation League reported that a white supremacist group claimed ties with Nikolas Cruz, who confessed to the shooting spree that killed at least 17 people, including many high-school students, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Nikolas Cruz was taken into custody. (Credit: SunSentinel)
Nikolas Cruz was taken into custody. (Credit: SunSentinel)

“ ‘A spokesperson for the white supremacist group Republic of Florida (ROF) told the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday, February 15, that Nikolas Cruz [….] was associated with his group,’ the ADL reported. The ADL quoted a man named Jordan Jereb, who runs the small group, which is based in Tallahassee.

“ ‘Jereb added that ROF had not ordered or wanted Cruz to do anything like the school shooting,’ the ADL wrote in a blog post that was quickly picked up by ABC News and The Associated Press, and later percolated through dozens of other media outlets. Even The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website, picked up the claim.

“Some outlets reported they had their own conversations with Jereb or classmates of Cruz who allegedly corroborated the association of Cruz with ROF.

“But a few hours later, after law enforcement agencies said they had no evidence linking Cruz to ROF, Jereb said his identification of Cruz was a ‘misunderstanding’ and that he, too, had been the subject of a ‘prank.’ On online forums and Twitter, trolls and white nationalists gloated at the disinformation they had sowed.

“ ‘All of our evidence seems to point to the ADL getting this wrong,’ said Joan Donovan, a researcher who tracks online misinformation campaigns for Data & Society, a think tank in New York City.

“The ADL subsequently revised its report, as did many news outlets. . . .”

 

"Millions of mortgage records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting show that the legacy of redlining persists 50 years later: In dozens of cities across the country, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans remain more likely to be denied a conventional mortgage than whites."
“Millions of mortgage records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting show that the legacy of redlining persists 50 years later: In dozens of cities across the country, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans remain more likely to be denied a conventional mortgage than whites.”

Modern-Day Redlining Found in 61 Metro Areas

Fifty years after the federal Fair Housing Act banned racial discrimination in lending, African Americans and Latinos continue to be routinely denied conventional mortgage loans at rates far higher than their white counterparts,” Aaron Glantz and Emmanuel Martinez reported Thursday for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

“This modern-day redlining persisted in 61 metro areas even when controlling for applicants’ income, loan amount and neighborhood, according to a mountain of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act records analyzed by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting.

“The yearlong analysis, based on 31 million records, relied on techniques used by leading academics, the Federal Reserve and Department of Justice to identify lending disparities.

“It found a pattern of troubling denials for people of color across the country, including in major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Antonio. African Americans faced the most resistance in Southern cities – Mobile, Alabama; Greenville, North Carolina; and Gainesville, Florida – and Latinos in Iowa City, Iowa. . . .”

Glantz and Martinez also wrote, The analysis – independently reviewed and confirmed by The Associated Press – showed black applicants were turned away at significantly higher rates than whites in 48 cities, Latinos in 25, Asians in nine and Native Americans in three. In Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital, Reveal found all four groups were significantly more likely to be denied a home loan than whites. . . .”

In Washington, D.C., Kemari Starks, left, and Daymon Dimson discuss the Black Panther story as part of the increasingly popular all-boys book club at the Truesdell Education Campus. (Credit: Tyrone Turner/WAMU-FM) At the Truesdell Education Campus in the Brightwood Park neighborhood of Northwest D.C., student members of the 5th grade reading club, moderated by teacher Michael Redmond, are reading and discussing the Black Panther graphic novel (comic book?) in preparation for going to the movie next week. Kemari Starks, left, and Daymon Dimson look at and discuss the Black Panther story.
In Washington, D.C., fifth graders Kemari Starks, left, and Daymon Dimson discuss the Black Panther story as part of an increasingly popular all-boys book club at the Truesdell Education Campus. (Credit: Tyrone Turner/WAMU-FM)

AP’s Holland Shares in ‘Black Panther’ Phenomenon

Jesse J. Holland, author of ‘Black Panther: Who Is The Black Panther?,’ has a lot in common with the titular meta-human of the Marvel Comics universe he chronicled in the book,” Karu F. Daniels reported Thursday for NBCBLK.

“Like T’Challa Udaku, the character who rules the futuristic African nation of Wakanda and also fights evil villains as a superhero, the Holly Springs, Mississippi, native does double duty as a journalist for an international newswire service.

“Based on the 2005 comic run by Reginald Hudlin and John Romita Jr., Holland’s take on the story is a richly layered, fleshed out prose adaptation of the story of warrior king T’Challa a.k.a. Black Panther, who finds himself in a battle against an army led by the man who killed his father. . . .”

Jesse Holland, left, with 'Black Panther' lead actor Chadwick Boseman. (Credit: Twitter)
Jesse Holland, left, with lead actor Chadwick Boseman. (Credit: Twitter)

Daniels quoted Holland, “ ‘One of the things that I have learned throughout this process is that the world has such rich stories that haven’t been told yet,’ he said. ‘One of the things that writing these books does for me is it reminds me when I go to work every day that what we do as journalists is that we tell stories. We bring the hidden to light.

“Just like the ‘Black Panther’ movie and this novel does, they’re bringing the character to light that some people knew about, and some people appreciated, but now through this novel and the movie, the entire world gets to know about it.’

“ ‘. . . So, it just reminds me of how important our jobs are and how lucky we are as journalists to be able to do it.’ ”

Tom DiChristopher reported Friday for cnbc.com, “Boxoffice.com is currently forecasting the movie will haul in $190 million to $215 million over the long weekend. The website projects it will earn $178 million over three days.

“That would be enough to put it in the upper range of the top 10 highest grossing openings for a superhero movie. At that level, Black Panther would top heavyweights such as Batman, Superman and Spider-Man and take aim at the best-ever debut for a superhero movie focused on a solo character.

“Strong reviews, outstanding pre-sales and a holiday weekend release underpin the bullish forecast, but it might be the revolutionary nature of the film that pushes it beyond consensus estimates, said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at boxoffice.com. . . .”

FCC Watchdog Investigates Chairman’s Sinclair Ties

Last April, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, led the charge for his agency to approve rules allowing television broadcasters to greatly increase the number of stations they own,” Cecilia Kang reported Thursday for the New York Times.

“A few weeks later, Sinclair Broadcasting announced a blockbuster $3.9 billion deal to buy Tribune Media — a deal those new rules made possible.

“By the end of the year, in a previously undisclosed move, the top internal watchdog for the F.C.C. opened an investigation into whether Mr. Pai and his aides had improperly pushed for the rule changes and whether they had timed them to benefit Sinclair, according to Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey and two congressional aides. . . .”



(Credit: HuffPost)

NBC Insists on Own Pronunciation of ‘Pyeongchang’

NBC doesn’t seem to be budging from its mispronunciation of ‘Pyeongchang,’ ” Kimberly Yam reported Thursday for HuffPost.

“Despite guidance from the Asian American Journalists Association, among others, that confirms the Olympic host city is pronounced ‘Pyeong-ch-ah-ng'(like the ‘ah’ sound you make at the doctor’s, according to the video), NBC is sticking with the incorrect pronunciation ‘Pyeong-ch-ay-ng’ (rhymes with slang).

“The outlet reportedly discussed the pronunciation internally, settling on the mispronunciation because ‘it’s cleaner,’ Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports, told Sports Business Journal in November. A network spokesperson did not immediately respond to a HuffPost request for comment.

“NBC’s deliberate mispronunciation isn’t sitting right with the Asian community and journalists on social media, who have criticized the network for disrespecting the host city. . . . ”

UNC’s Invitation to Tucker Carlson Draws Scorn

Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson

Fox News TV commentator Tucker Carlson will be the featured speaker in a distinguished lecture series at the UNC School of Media and Journalism in April — a choice that has drawn scorn on social media,” Jane Stancill reported Thursday for the News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.

“Alumni and others bombarded the school’s Twitter account with reaction to the announcement that the conservative Carlson, who hosts the primetime show ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ on Fox News, would deliver the Roy H. Park Lecture on April 12.

“ ‘With so many journalists doing admirable work to discover and disseminate truth, you select an unabashed propagandist?’ tweeted alumna Anna Hester. ‘This J-School alum is disappointed and ashamed. You can do better @UNCMJschool’

“ ‘This makes me want to turn my diploma around to face the wall,’ Leslie Cohig Gura chimed in. . . .”

Stancill also wrote, “Critics contend Carlson has become a favorite of white nationalist groups, praised, for example, by [a] former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

“The outcry this week prompted UNC journalism faculty member John Robinson to write a blog post entitled, ‘Tucker Carlson will speak at UNC-Chapel Hill, and everything will be all right.’ . . .”

Laura Ingraham to LeBron: ‘Shut Up and Dribble’

Fox News’ Laura Ingraham has responded in a statement after she came under serious criticism for her remarks last night on LeBron James,” Josh Feldman reported Friday for Mediaite.

“Ingraham, to recap, mocked James for recent comments he made about politics and President Trump.

“She said, ‘Millions elected Trump to be their coach. Keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.’

“Ingraham got a lot of blowback over this, including from Dwyane Wade and Chris Long. . . .”

Columnist Says Black History Month Has Failed

Black History Month wasn’t created for white people, so maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that it has colossally failed to foster a broader understanding and appreciation among whites for how African Americans helped make this nation great,” Harold Jackson, editorial page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote in a column Friday.

Harold Jackson
Harold Jackson

“But that doesn’t make it less disappointing.

“Historian Carter G. Woodson came up with the idea of Negro History Week in 1926. He chose the week that included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, Feb. 12, and Frederick Douglass, Feb. 14.

“Initially, only North Carolina, Delaware, West Virginia, Baltimore, Md., and Washington, D.C., signed on to the idea — and only for their black schools, which is exactly what Woodson wanted.

“Segregation, by law or tradition, was prevalent in the 1920s. Woodson never envisioned white students learning black history. His concern was that black students, deprived of a thorough education about their ancestors, would grow up accepting the yoke of inferiority that white people insisted they wear. . . .”

Jackson also wrote, “Negro History Week was ours alone, but Black History Month became something else. Inspired by the black power movement, black students at Kent State University organized the first Black History Month in 1970. The idea caught on and in 1976 President Gerald Ford included Black History Month as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebration.

“With segregation gone, more schools reserved time each February to study the contributions of prominent African Americans in history — from Denmark Vesey to Thurgood Marshall to Barack Obama. But unfortunately, learning names, dates, and events was typically as far as their studies went. Too often the necessary attention to context and relevancy was missing from the lessons.

“That lack of historical context was evident in the results of a study released in January by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which showed only 8 percent of high school seniors knew slavery was the main cause of the Civil War. Two-thirds didn’t know it took a constitutional amendment to end slavery. That’s a sorry testament to how history is being taught in America’s schools.

“Instead of going beyond Woodson’s original idea to focus on the positive contributions of individual African Americans, too many schools use Black History Month as a vehicle to teach a catalog of events and people without making tangible connections to the status of black Americans today.

“One result is white Americans who don’t believe slavery has anything to do with today’s United States. Neither their regular history classes nor any additional study they may have done during Black History Month helped them connect the dots among slavery, segregation, and the poverty found in too many black communities today. . . .”

Lerone Bennett Jr. Services Scheduled Feb. 24

Lerone Bennett Jr. (Credit: Washington Interdependence Council)
Lerone Bennett Jr. (Credit: Washington Interdependence Council)

Services for historian and Ebony magazine editor Lerone Bennett Jr., who died Wednesday at age 89, will be held in the same church where he and his late wife, Johnson Publishing Co. journalist Gloria Sylvester, were married in 1965, their daughter, Joy Bennett, said Friday.

The funeral is scheduled for Feb. 24 at St. Columbanus Catholic Church, 331 E 71st St., Chicago, Ill. 60619.

A visitation is to take place from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St., Chicago. Visitation is to continue at the church at 10 a.m., with the service at 11 a.m.

Short Takes

Elizabeth Warren addresses Native group Wednesday (Credit: indianz/com)
Elizabeth Warren addresses National Congress of American Indians (Credit: indianz/com)

 

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1 comment

richard February 18, 2018 at 10:23 pm

Comments From The Root:

Texan2203
2/18/18 4:28pm

I don’t care about the shooter. Don’t care about what his home life was like. I care about the victims that were just going to school or work and never came home.
Reply

MajorBurn
Texan2203
2/18/18 6:01pm

The other half of salacious reporting is the creation of a profile which would theoretically give a portrait of future mass shooters. Not to say there isn’t a ton of near gleeful tragedy-porn reporting going on.
Reply
WangJiabao
Texan2203
2/18/18 6:47pm

You should care because there are kids like him all over the world who are bullied and never get help. We need to learn from this so we can stop other children from shooting up other schools. People who just wipe their hands of the situation and pray for the victims and their families do fuck all to help fix the problem.

Reply
Raineyb1013
WangJiabao
2/18/18 7:25pm

Are you attempting to imply that this motherfucker shot up the school because he was bullied and not because he was drunk on white supremacy and an overblown sense of entitlement?

Reply
WangJiabao
Raineyb1013
2/18/18 7:33pm

Not implying anything thats exactly what happened. Poor mental stability losing a mother and bullying that nobody stopped. The white supremacy angle was all bullshit that trolls stirred up because thats what trolls do.

WangJiabao
Richard Prince
2/18/18 3:19pm

As usual everybody wants to be first to report something instead of being correct, doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.

Reply

Ol’ DannyBoy
WangJiabao
2/18/18 4:04pm

Also, the White Supremacists really need to work on their P.R. strategy…

Reply
cyanpineapple
WangJiabao
2/18/18 4:37pm

They actually checked this out. There were many reports from other students saying that he routinely said inflammatory things. He wore MAGA hats to school. He wrote inflammatory things on various online forums. And then a white supremacist group specifically reached out to reporters to say he was a member. There was so much supporting evidence that in this case, it made sense to believe that the group was telling the truth. It just turns out that only goes so far when someone’s lying to you. This was actually the definition of fact-checking, not negligence. This time.

Reply
PrivilegedWhiteMaleCracker
cyanpineapple
2/18/18 5:39pm

“There were many reports from other students saying that he routinely said inflammatory things.”

Doesn’t equal white supremacist.

“He wore MAGA hats to school.”

Doesn’t equal white supremacist.

“He wrote inflammatory things on various online forums.”

Doesn’t equal white supremacist.

“And then a white supremacist group specifically reached out to reporters to say he was a member. There was so much supporting evidence that in this case, it made sense to believe that the group was telling the truth.”

This is where we can start making the case that he was connected to a white supremacist group. The other things are just dog whistles, not evidence.

Reply
Not Enough Day Drinking
PrivilegedWhiteMaleCracker
2/18/18 5:42pm

“He wore MAGA hats to school.”

Doesn’t equal white supremacist.

Actually it does. Just because he never attended a training camp, wearing a MAGA says loud and clear he is indeed a white supremacist.

Reply

2/18/18 4:03pm

Wait wait wait wait, so White Nationalists are gleeing at the fact they tied themselves falsely to a school shooting that is now turning into a major scandal for their Nazi/White Nationalist Presidency?

Christ they really don’t have two IQ points to rub between them.

Reply

SaidTheTickTockMan
Mortal Dictata
2/18/18 4:07pm

Yeah I’m really trying to understand what the game plan was there.

Reply
Ergates
SaidTheTickTockMan
2/18/18 5:30pm

No plan, just shit stirring for the sake of it.

Reply
MajorBurn
Mortal Dictata
2/18/18 5:58pm

Imagine ISIS, but if ISIS yelled “SIKE! Haha, you cucks!” after their ridiculous claims.

The effect is 2 fold, sow fear, dangererous rebel narrative about White Supremacists (instead of their inbred coward one) and have plausable deniability next time one of them shoots stuff up.

Reply
NternetFamos
Mortal Dictata
2/18/18 10:06pm

Major scandal? You’re delusional. This is just business as usual with this administration.
Reply

BzZySznher
2/18/18 2:48pm

Scream the lie then whisper the retraction. But who cares right? None of this will stop the Root from using the ADL as an authoritative source.

Reply

PrivilegedWhiteMaleCracker
BzZySznher
2/18/18 4:16pm

The same ADL who label #gamergate as a hate group?
Reply
BzZySznher
PrivilegedWhiteMaleCracker
2/18/18 4:23pm

Yes the same ADL that was removed from resources used by the FBI for their shoddy methodology as well as their role in instigating a shooting against the FRC.
Reply
Diminishing Skills
BzZySznher
2/18/18 7:37pm

Not even remotely true — just repeating nonsense from right-wing propaganda outfits:

“Upon review, the Civil Rights program only provides links to resources within the federal government,” an FBI spokesman told The Daily Caller. “While we appreciate the tremendous support we receive from a variety of organizations, we have elected not to identify those groups on the civil rights page.”

“Public Outreach: The FBI has forged partnerships nationally and locally with many civil rights organizations to establish rapport, share information, address concerns, and cooperate in solving problems. These groups include such organizations as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Association of University Women, Anti-Defamation League, Asian American Justice Center, Hindu American Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Disability Rights Network, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, National Organization for Women, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Sikh Coalition, Southern Poverty Law Center, and many others.”

You need to up your disinformation campaign if it can be debunked so quickly.
Reply
BzZySznher
Diminishing Skills
2/18/18 8:56pm

from the same daily caller article –

The FBI, based on dates in the email, made the decision almost immediately after meeting with congressional staffers regarding concerns expressed by the head of the Family Research Council, a pro-family, pro-heterosexual marriage organization. The FRC’s head complained in February 2014 that its presence on the SPLC’s “hate-watch” list inspired a terrorist attack against the organization. Floyd Corkins, the shooter, explicitly targeted the FRC in August 2012 and wanted to kill as many employees as possible precisely because the FRC had been listed as an “anti-gay” group on the SPLC’s website since 2010.

And again, not to mention the shoddy nature of the ADL methodolgy which groups killers like Omar Mateen as “right wing extremists”, the ADL’s historical view of denying the Armenian Genocide, false-flagging right wing groups, lobbying for the release of Morton Sobell from charges of espionage when he admitted to spying for the Soviet Union, as well as other misdeeds warranting investgation from law enforcement groups throughout it’s 100 year history.

The ADL and SPLC are great schemes where they have to continually scare their donors, inflate the specter of the boogeyman de jour, so as to get consistent and ever greater donation amounts.

These groups I think had their moment in the sun when they effectively destroyed the KKK, but now it’s just a bunch of old Jewish men scouring 4chan looking for dots that arent really there.
Reply

NternetFamos
2/18/18 9:51pm

I suggest everyone find and walk into a gun store and have your mind boggled. Not just an antiseptic Walmart or Bass Pro Shop but a real gun store with hopefully a range in the back. Then you can see the racks of Bushmasters, get your hands on a .50 cal, see the grownups and teens carrying their rifle cases while listening to the sounds of gunfire coming from the wall behind you. These dens of death are effing real.

Then there’s the gun shows. Tables full of Glocks and Sigs for sale and trade with no Brady check. An officer on the door to make sure the weapons you bring in are zip tied.
Reply

PrivilegedWhiteMaleCracker
2/18/18 2:44pm

Going to just say this. Anyone who trusts 4chan as a valid source is kidding themselves.

Reply

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