Comparison: Globe coverage of Boston's two most recent murders

Today most Whites see White racism as a part of the American past, and anti-racist struggle as largely completed. Yet people of color – African Americans, Native Americans, Americans of Latin American or Asian or Middle Eastern ancestry – consistently report that they experience racism (Alter 2004; Bobo 2001; Feagin and Sykes 1994). These reports are not the product of oversensitivity or paranoia. Instead, they may even understate the impact that White racism has on the everyday lives of people of color (Bonilla-Silva 2003; Feagin and Vera 1995).

While American workplaces and public institutions are increasingly integrated, very few Whites have social friends among people of color (Bonilla-Silva 2003:107–111). White isolation makes it easy for them to dismiss the complaints of people of color as “whining” and “playing the race card.”

Whites do not themselves experience harassment for “driving while Black,” or the stony inattention encountered when “ordering a restaurant meal while Indian.” Their conversations with family and friends are never interrupted by perfect strangers telling them to “Speak English! This is America!” Nobody has ever tried to seduce them by confessing that they’ve “ always wanted to make it with a hot Asian chick.” And they don’t have the kinds of conversations with people of color where they would hear about such incidents, which are so frequent as to be stereotypical. Everyday moments of discrimination are only part of the picture, though.

-Jane H. Hill

This is noteworthy because they are both stories about apparently innocent, and sympathetic, victims of random murder but they have been given significantly different treatment. Based on the Herald's story, the man killed on Harold Street was a father of two, was not involved in crime, and appears to have been killed because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is horrifying. Two children have lost their father to random street violence. Had his story been given as much attention as that of Amy we might have an even more fulsom picture of this. Likewise, had Amy's story been given the same level of coverage by the Globe as the man from Harold Street, we would know that the body of a young white woman was found in Stony Brook Reservation. Police are asking witnesses to come forward with details. I do not buy an argument that the Globe deliberately gives more coverage to white people than to black people, but there is a sociological phenomenon at work when differences in coverage like this happen. It is worth thinking about for the Globe as a paper and all of us as readers of that paper.

Remember the recent Globe list of "Bostonians of the Year," only one of whom was from Boston?

what does Deval have to do with two homicides in boston?

have you ever heard so much whining about raising the gas tax 3 cents a gallon from 23.5 to 26.5 a gallon? Mass. still has the second lowest gas tax in the north east. The increase will cost .36 a tank for a 12 gal. tank.

the red line broke down again this morning. when will it be renovated? the streets i drive on are full of potholes. when will they be fixed? route 128 95 south interchange in canton is backed up everyday during rush hour, can we fix that, too?

wait. this is a thread about two murders. sorry, i got sidetracked.

Remember that big bust all over the news a few months ago? There was a list of suspects published, how about someone digs around and finds out about charges and bails? I wouldn't be too surprised if a majority if those low-lifes were let out on sub-$1000 bails despite their long records.

That simple. The Globe always reports from the perspective of wealth privilege. The Herald somewhat less so, but its readers are addicted to their unearned privileges.