A few comments from four pages.
Via Sister Anne
In a previous life, I was in the Navy, based in Hampton Roads, at two
separate bases as well as on a ship. I lived in Virginia Beach, and I
subscribed to The Pilot.Via Sister Anne
After reading that you “hid” the story of the beating at Church and
Brambleton for two weeks, were I still a resident there and a
subscriber, I would have canceled my subscription.
You are as awful as The New York Times. You should all hang your heads in disgrace.
Ed Higginbotham
Mableton, Ga.
Washington’s column describes an incident in which a crowd of black
teens beat two white reporters. Washington puzzles over their treatment
by police. However, the incident was unreported and kept under wraps for
two weeks by The Pilot.
Gingerly digging for answers, Washington asks whether the case was
racially motivated. That tells us a lot about the credulity of the
journalism community, and the futility of the police. How long will the
mainstream media and the police continue to cover up the disquieting
truth of what’s happening in our cities?
No one is in a better position to answer for the media than
Washington herself. Facts, however uncomfortable they may be, are
nevertheless facts, and ignoring the painful ones doesn’t make them
inconsequential, it just encourages more of the same.
Are newspapers primarily vehicles for commercial advertising, or is
their intended purpose to report and analyze events affecting the
communities they serve, irrespective of concerns other than the truth?
Norton Rubenstein
Richmond
As someone who has been railing against the liberal media for too
long to be surprised about something like this, I’m sorry to say, I am
still surprised
What has The Pilot got against the truth? You’ll report endlessly
about Trayvon Martin (when you have very few facts), but not once report
on your own employees being beaten by a mob?
I do notice that your publisher was just confirmed by the Obama
administration to a post that will surely grant him a lifetime of
comfort. Too bad the same can’t be said for those who have to stay in
Norfolk
Don’t blame anyone else when the city is in flames. That falls on you.
Stuart Schwartz
Norfolk
Re: “A beating at Church and Brambleton” (Michelle Washington op-ed
column, May 1): A mob of teenagers beats two adults driving near
downtown Norfolk, and this didn’t merit a story in the newspaper? My
suspicion is that the editors decided they didn’t want to run a story
that cast a poor light on race relations in the aftermath of the Trayvon
Martin shooting.
The blame falls entirely on the perpetrators. Having gotten out the
car and then having been attacked by antisocial, hate-filled young men,
Dave Forster had the right to defend himself if the beating appeared to
be something severe, and Marjon Rostami equally had the right to defend
Forster or herself.
What if Forster or Rostami had been armed? Someone might have been
shot. While that would be unfortunate, it would be better than either
Forster or Rostami suffering severe injury or death, which could have
easily happened. They are very lucky they merely suffered enough pain to
keep them out of work for a week. What if they had been walking from
the theater to their car when this happened? I recommend they buy a
weapon and learn how to carry it responsibly, or stay far away from such
situations.
Consider how this case parallels the Trayvon Martin case. Like
Forster, Zimmerman should have stayed in his car. But he made the
decision to check out a suspicious person, just as Forster made a
decision to check out the rock throwing. Both did something unwise but
legal. Zimmerman claims next that he was attacked by a 17-year old, and
the beating was most definitely severe. Unfortunately for Zimmerman, he
didn’t have Rostami there as a witness.
In both of these cases, the perpetrators were black and the victims
were white (or “white Hispanic” as the media have labeled Zimmerman).
The races are not important, other than to note that there are a lot
of troubled black youth in our society. You can be white or Asian or
Hispanic, or a combination of all three (as I am) and be troubled, and
you can certainly be black and be a wonderful, responsible person. But
the antisocial nature of much of what transpires with black youth today
(violent and misogynistic music is one symptom) is a real problem.
David Swain
Chesapeake
