CROSS-POSTED TO UNDERCURRENTS
As Josh reported, we have just returned from a press conference held on 2550 Main Street. The behavior of the media covering the event was just as telling as some of what was said by Cornell Lewis, Francis Davila, and Jerimarie Liesegang.Hartford Independent Media Center journalists overheard a WTNH employee ask the community activists to delay the press conference because his reporter was running late. Then, while waiting for things to start, the WFSB and WTNH photographers told each other that they were planning on taking a similar approach to covering the story because they could not figure out how else to deal with the absence of a speaker’s podium. Just as the conference was starting, Moses Price, an NBC 30 photographer, plowed into me, pushing me out of his way, as if he had more of a right to be in that space than I did. He apologized, but still, it’s unprofessional to do that, and I did not see him treat his mainstream media colleagues in that fashion.
NECN and FOX 61 reporters showed up much later than the 10am start time. Rush hour traffic had thinned long before and the location was easy to find. That only two news outlets (we are included in one of those two) bothered to arrive on time spoke loudly about how low of a priority this issue is to them.
Rev. Cornell Lewis did most of the talking, emphasizing to the media that this conference was happening to put out the message that “all life has value.” He said that when tragedy strikes the elite, it is viewed differently from when tragedy strikes the poor, people of color, and people in Hartford. Lewis said that when violence affects the non-elite, the response from society (including media and government) is to look at the victim’s environment to explain away why such a crime could happen.
I asked Lewis about the consistency of Gov. Rell’s response to crime. Not a fiscal conservative, Rell is allowing for $40,000 each month to be spent on equipping over 200 paroled burglars with GPS tracking devices. This decision undoubtedly was made as a reaction to the Cheshire murders. When I asked Lewis about how Rell has responded to crime in Hartford, he said that while there has been a response from her office, it has been “lukewarm,” such as having a representative of her office visit Mather and Vine Streets. He remarked that for years people have been pushing for parole reforms, but suddenly, after the Cheshire crimes, it “seemed like the state opened up all of its resources to address this tragedy.”
Another point that Lewis made (over and over, since reporters kept showing up late) was that crime needs to be treated equally. He said that he and other community activists “deal with tragedy every day” and that they have to raise funds just so that victims can have proper funerals. While the reporters talk about urban crime in a stoic, “hard-hitting news” way, Lewis said that they actually got teary eyed over the Cheshire story. As he repeatedly noted, what he and other activists were trying to do was show how all life is valuable without detracting from the grieving that is being done for the Petit family. He remarked how similar grieving was not being done for the two youth murdered in Parkville, or for a young man gunned down days before Christmas.
In another show of how some people don’t get it, the NECN reporter asked about what role the whole “stop snitching” thing plays in urban crime. This was a horrific combination of an attempt at showing how hip, inner-circle he was and outright blaming the crime victims. And as this question was asked, all of the mainstream reporters basically dove forward because this seemed to be just the soundbite they were looking for. Lewis didn’t placate, saying that while there is an element of pressure in some communities to avoid talking with the police, this “stop snitching” phenomena has been blown out of proportion.
As an afterthought, the media spoke with Francis Davila, a Latino activist, who reinforced the belief that we (Hartford residents) should get the same coverage here. He said, “I want my neighborhood to be as good as Cheshire, as Simsbury, as Avon.” When a reporter wanted to know if he really believed that a poor, white family from Danielson would receive less attention if they were burglarized, raped, and murdered, Davila responded that “poor is poor.” An NBC 30 reporter asked leading questions, trying to get Davila to say that either race or class was entirely to blame. Perhaps the most absurd moment of the whole thing was when a reporter asked Davila if he was a Park Street business owner– as if all Latino activists in Hartford live or work on Park Street.
HIMC representatives asked Lewis a question regarding the media coverage of this event, and whether they would get what he and other activists were saying in the inevitable 30 or 60 seconds this story would get later today. Lewis said that the media needs to “take inventory” of themselves and how they are covering things.