Whoops, Cops Picked The Wrong Black Guy To Harass

Boots, why do you bother wasting peoples' time? What pleasure do you get? If you had read to the end it would have explained why he failed to get comments from the guys on the corner.

In the end, the writer took the high road by not hammering the cops by name and by not creating a Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton moment.

It's obvious from the story it happens all the time, not just this guy. No one reading this story thinks this was an isolated incident. But by telling it from his own perspective, the story is much more compelling.

 

Here we go and we're going to attempt to explain this so that even YOU can understand Write-Brain.
There is NOTHING compelling about this story other than a New York Times reporter found out what life is like on the other side of the fence. It's something that happens to practically every African American male at some point in their lives. If you have any African American friends, they will tell you that.
As far the holes in the story, they are too obvious. Read the story again and tell me if the glaring holes I pointed out aren't there. Fill in those holes, the story is much better and has more impact.
Do you have any experience covering police? Do you know what their procedures are?
Instead of wasting your time by hurling insults and generally trying to be a bully, which you aren't good at, I suggest you grab your journalism 101 book, re-read the story, and notice the suggestions that I made that, in my opinion, would've brought the story out.
I'm sure you're going to try and pick a verbal fight, bully-style. If that's your intention, please don't bother replying to the post. However, if you want to have a discussion, without the insults, I'm more than open to read what you have to say.

 

I fucking cover cops, Boots. I have for years. And this story you're ripping was written very well by a black man for the fucking New York Times ... but that's right, you have black friends - supposedly.

 

I saw that post coming a mile away from Write-brained, and it was still hilarious to watch unfold. Well done.

 

Well if you cover cops and have done so for as long as you say, the holes should've been pretty obvious.
The story was written by a black man at the NY Times. Like that's any different from a black man from your paper writing the same story?
Tell me what's the difference besides one being from the NY Times and the other being from your paper?
Also, you have yet to answer my question about the holes in the story.

 

There's no holes in the story, boots. Just because he didn't follow some formula out of your textbook doesn't mean he left something out. Why would he need someone else from the community? To tell him they go through what he just went through? Yup, that's a glaring hole. Why does he need the mayor? To tell him what the police chief told him about the gang problem? There's a big fucking hole.

I'll bet you $50 Boots that the writer made the rounds to the all those people you mentioned and talked to them. So why didn't he mention them? It's a fucking narrative. He's telling a story from his perspective. The kids on the street corner were perfect. Should he have kept chasing them down until one gave him a better quote? Why?

Filling "the holes" with a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit wouldn't have heightened the impact, as you say, it would have slowed the story down.

Oh, and light one up for me, Boots.

 

You cover cops? Perhaps you'd do better by going out in the community you cover than reading the police blotter. I think you'd have a better and much deeper understanding of what I'm talking about.
Tell me something, if this guy wrote the same story for your paper, would it have been published? Would you have made the same lame arguments that your are making now? Would you not have wanted more information?
That's the difference between you and I. What was the purpose for the NY Times being in Charlotte? To find out about gang violence. A reporter from the paper gets into trouble with the police for being black and being in the wrong place. Well, if I'm his editor, especially after I read a quote from an officer that says, "This is the South," I want to know more. I want to know if this is an every day thing. I want to know if they think something like this is going to scare people from wanting to relocate to the area.
You cover cops? The stuff I pointed out is pretty easy and very obvious.

 

I'm sure glad you're not my editor.

"Hey boss, here's a story about me getting cuffed and yelled at by cops while I was talking to a bunch of gangbangers."

Boots: "Well, hold on, WB. I want to know more: Are people going to be scared to locate to that area?"

Me: "Why, because of the gangs?"

Boots: "No, because of the rough cops. Oh, and go get some quotes from community leaders. We need a buncha talking heads in this story. All this first-person narrative is too wishy washy. I want to hear what Jesse Jackson has to say, and the mayor. What are they going to do about it? We don't hear enough anti-crime babble in the newspapers these days. Oh, and I'll also let you interview some of my black friends. They'll tell you what it's really like."

 

Yeah, you cover cops alright. You do a good job of spinning a story and avoiding the answer.
You have yet to answer if you cover your community or are you just one of the scanner cop reporters. You also have yet to answer the question about if this story was done by an African American at your place would it have been published pretty much as is.
It's not about getting by write-brain. It's about going the extra effort and making the story stand out. There was nothing compelling in the story other than an out of town african american reporter was stopped and detained by police.
What's compelling about that other than the guy was from the Times? Instead of trying to think of something non-humorus, how about answering the questions I asked you and tell me if the story could have been improved upon.

 

I cover a lot of stuff, boots, but I've never stopped being a cops reporter. Still write lots of cop stories, some of its scanner and some of its tips or what-not.

I don't understand what you're getting at with the question about a black reporter at my paper. The writer of this story was working for a national publication, a very good one. He's not writing a local story. If it were a local story in my community, obviously we'd be covering the shit out of it beyond just the one story.

I thought the story stood out. I thought it raises a lot of questions about whether we want to sacrifice some of our civil rights - standing in the street without being harassed - so cops can bust gangbangers more easily. What amused me about the story is the cops left the drug dealers untouched while they went after what appeared to be a well-off black man who they thought was trying to buy the drugs.

No one's arguing it's not a common problem, or an oft-told story. But this one, in my opinion, was told better than most, and from a black man's perspective.

 

Write Brain, I've been where this reporter was many times. There have been others who posted along here similar testimonies. I've read and heard similar stories from black reporters.
I don't know what type of community you live in. I live in a multi-cultural community where stuff happens. It's a story but it could've been done better and had more impact. As it stands in my opinion, it's a story about a black reporter getting pulled over and harassed. Make a few phone calls, you've got a reporter getting harassed, a police chief worried about crime, a mayor worried about the city's image and tourism bucks, etc. Etc. See the difference?
Also, if I read the story correctly, this was not a deadline story so he could've done the things I'm speaking about.

 

I actually work in a city that was recently declared one of the country's top 25 most dangerous. And from what I know about Salisbury, NC - it's not exactly a tourism mecca. Even if it was, the mayor would tell you he'd rather have some heavy-handed cops stationed in the poor sections of town rather than a gang-infested rathole.

That's what I like about the story. It shows the story rather than tells it with a bunch of politically correct bullshit. All that stuff you're asking for would make my eyes glaze over in a national story.

Oh, and I would love to hear some of your stories about you, as a white guy, having "been where this reporter was many times."