Jackson Jambalaya

It has been six months since the deaths of Carolyn Temple and drug-dealing rapper Chris Summers.  One murdered in cold-blood, the other killed in self-defense as he was about to murder someone.  The Jackson Free Press smeared JPD as well as the local media for not giving equal coverage to the Chris Summers death and of course blamed it all on racism.  The JFP has had six months to get the story right but apparently the per-conceived narrative is more important than the facts of the case.  Lest you forget, here is what appeared on the pages of the weekly newspaper:

In response to Jackson's first high-profile homicide in Belhaven, neighbors in the historic community turned out in force to a community meeting Thursday night to talk about action.

The standing-room-only meeting took place at Belhaven University's Barber Auditorium and drew attendance from neighbors and public officials alike to quell concerns over the shooting death of Carolyn Temple, who was shot outside her Euclid Street home on Jan. 7....

Police suspect the group is involved in or has connections to Temple's death, along with five female and at least two male victims of recent crimes. That includes 34-year-old Christopher Summers, father of a cast member on the reality show "Bring It." Summers was shot and killed early the morning of Jan. 15 at a convenience store on Terry Road in south Jackson. (KF note: JPD did not consider these guys to be a suspects in his death as they had the security camera video of the shooting within 12 hours of the incident.)

In response to Jackson's first high-profile homicide in Belhaven, neighbors in the historic community turned out in force to a community meeting Thursday night to talk about action.

The reaction to the death of Summers, who is black, stands in stark contrast to that of Temple, a white woman, who has been the subject of numerous media stories and a social-media blitz by many media outlets. An Internet search of Summers' name Friday morning produced two results, both from local television stations... Rest of article.

Time to take some time out from blaming everyone but Summers and report the actual facts.  JJ spoke to JPD and was allowed to see the video of the entire incident at the Laxmi.  JJ reported on January 23:

 A store security camera video shows a suspect in the death of Chris Summers shot him after Summers walked towards him while brandishing a handgun.  JPD allowed JJ and WAPT to watch video of the shooting.  JPD allowed us to take notes but would not provide a copy of the video as there is an investigation into the death of Summers.  Summers is the father of a girl who is a star on an ABC TV reality show.

The video shows a red sedan pulling up to the gas pumps at the Laxmi Convenience Store on Terry Road at 4:00 AM. No other cars are present.  A passenger gets out and goes to the store.  The red car leaves.  A silver Mercury Grand Marquis pulls up to the center of the pumps (between pumps 2 and 3) at 4:05 AM.  A small "vent" window in the rear of the passenger's side of the vehicle is broken out. The rest of the windows are tinted.  The Mercury then leaves.

The red sedan* returns at 4:06 AM and parks at pump 1.  It should be noted that no one ever attempts to pump any gas into a car at any time.  A passenger gets out and walks towards the store.  He tucks a handgun into his waistband as he walks to the store. The Mercury returns five seconds after the red sedan parks at pump 1.   It is clear these two cars have been playing cat and mouse.  The Mercury pulls up and stops in front of the sedan (perpendicular to the pump and sedan).

Three black men get out of the Mercury and approach the red sedan at 4:07 AM.  Summers got out of the front seat on the passenger's side of the car.   Summers brandishes a handgun as he walks to the car. It is clear from his gait, manner, and the position of the handgun that he means business.  The driver of the red sedan is partially shielded by the door.  He immediately pulls a gun out of the car and starts shooting at Summers, striking him apparently in the abdomen.   Summers falls down and lies facing up to the sky, writhing in agony as his life slowly ebbs away.  Two men flee and the other jumps intoo the Mercury and quickly leaves the gas station.  The red sedan left as well.   Everything is over by 4:09 AM.  Earlier post.

JJ also reported that Summers was convicted twice of dealing cocaine and was indicted yet again in 2013 for drug dealing.  He was awaiting trial when he died. Earlielr post. 

However, the JFP never published the additional information about the death of Chris Summers nor did it apologize to JPD.  If anything, the JFP was just getting cranked up on the theme that the media and police in Jackson are racist.  The JFP also published this editorial: Why Newsrooms Need Leaders" on January 21: 

The Clarion-Ledger has produced at least a dozen stories about the case of Carolyn Temple since Jan. 7, the day the news broke that Temple had been attacked, pistol whipped and shot picking up a neighbor's garbage can at her boyfriend's home in the Belhaven neighborhood.....

In a lot of ways, Mississippi's statewide newspaper led on coverage of the Temple case, which spurred stories on Jackson's TV news stations. The coverage provided springboards for social-media conversations on platforms including NextDoor, Facebook and in the comment sections of the news organizations themselves. As a result, Belhaven neighbors held a community meeting, and now people are starting to talk about solutions for crime prevention.

Ordinarily, applause might be in order for that level of prolific crime reporting in an age where the business of news media continues to adjust to changes in the industry. But a quick analysis of local media headlines suggest that we could hold off on those kudos.

Meanwhile, there's hardly been a whisper about another Jackson homicide, that of 34-year-old Christopher Summers. At last check, Summers' death was the subject of just a handful of short news blurbs, including a six-line piece from The Clarion-Ledger that gave the quick-and-dirty details of the shooting—no quotes from loved ones or even a photograph of the victim, who was the father of a star of the hit reality show "Bring It."

The TV media, who also still largely practice journalism according to the dictum "If it bleeds, it leads," weren't much better. Only a couple of stories showed up on local broadcast television.

The contrasts between how news organizations reported the two homicides could be used as a journalism-school lesson on media bias. Temple was white, wealthy and killed in Belhaven. Summers, a musician who rapped under the moniker Battlefield Gucci, a reference to Battlefield Park, was gunned down in south Jackson. And the perpetrators may be part of the same group, police say. (KF: This last sentence is not true and the police told they never considered him to be shot by the same group as they had the video.) 

But who's to blame for this prejudice? As a general rule, reporters left to their own devices will likely gravitate toward their interests and what is familiar and comfortable to them. That's what editors and newsroom managers are for, and good ones in Jackson are in short supply. It's a news manager's job to challenge journalists—that includes the reporters they supervise as well as their fellow managers—to step out of their comfort zones and get to the 5 Ws and the H (who, what when, where, why and how) of and within every story as evenly and with as much context as possible.

Column.  

Only in a certain mindset is a drug-dealing thug who dies while trying to murder someone the same thing as a nearly 70 year-old grandmother who was murdered in cold blood while picking up the garbage cans in the driveway.   If the "reporters" at the weekly newspaper had bothered to check JPD sources, they would have found out the truth real quickly as the knowledge of how Summers died was pretty widespread throughout JPD.  Asking for information.  What a concept.  JJ and WAPT were able to see the video because we simply asked for permission to do so.  However, such facts seemed to be lost on the commentors and of course, JFP publisher Donna Ladd herself:

apollo Thursday, January 22, 2015 2:32 PM 6 months ago  You know Christopher Summers was a drug dealer, right? A simple check with Hinds County police dept will tell you that. A Hinds County grand jury indicted Summers for selling cocaine on May 22, 1999 and in 2004. Why should we care about him?

Donna Ladd Moderator I've known plenty of people who dealt drugs at some point in their lives who turned their lives around and are amazing people (and plenty of folks who buy illicit drugs from them while parading around bashing drug dealers in social media). You probably do, too. Every murder is equally tragic, and everyone offers lessons about humanity. Meantime, no victim is perfect, either. The point is that every murder deserves equal attention, if for no other reason than to prevent it in the future. And it's not like we're making up the problem of institutional racism in media outlets that focuses on white victims and black criminals more and in different ways than the opposite. There are piles of academic and criminal-justice studies out there to show the harm in it. Allow your mind to widen a bit to consider the harm it actually causes.

Um, it wasn't a murder but again, facts are lost on certain people who are more concerned with making everything fit a certain narrative and a reason for existence.  This wan't a guy who was trying to turn his life around but a grown man in his thirties who fully embraced the "gangsta" lifestyle as seen in the numerous videos of his music and death.  However,  Madame DeLadd did not stop with comments but just had to write a follow-up column making sure everyone got her point.  She praised R.L. Knave's reporting on the matter as "brilliant" even though he got basic facts wrong.

The truth is there were a group of dangerous thugs who were on a crime spree a la Natural Born Killers in the Jackson metro area.  The murder of Ms. Temple was not simply a murder or a robbery gone bad.  There were videos of them in action. Victims gave interviews.  Nextdoor blew up with updates.   The real story is there was a group of teen thugs (and yes, they were thugs) who were on the loose.  They were not racist. They did not discriminate.  They were truly equal opportunity savages.  They beat the hell out of a black woman who was delivering newspapers.  The media interviewed the black victim. They shot several times at a black man as they tried to carjack him.  The media interviewed the black victim. They carjacked more men and women.  They robbed and killed an elderly white woman.   They hit South Jackson, Ridgeland, Yazoo City, and Belhaven.

They graduated from house burglaries to carjacking to murder.  THAT is why the story dominated the media for several days.  These animals were violent and on the prowl and make no mistake, they are animals.  It was clear their rampage would continue until they were caught or killed.  This website then broke the story about their participation in the Hinds County catch and release program as they were free on very low bonds. To paraphrase an earlier post on this site: the JFP shows no outrage or concern over the bonds.  It shows no outrage over the catch and release program. It does show outrage over the outrage.

JPD officers and commanders wore themselves out tracking down and catching the alleged killers and shooters.  They were motivated and determined to catch these thugs and catch them they did.  They deserve better treatment than being accused of favoring the Carolyn Temple murder over the death of Chris Summers.  Jackson Jambalay has gotten it wrong before and has apologized for doing so.  Best practices are best practices and the JFP publisher is no stranger to lecturing the rest of the media on that subject.  The Jackson Free Press owes the JPD, Chief Vance, and the local media an apology. And that my friends, is the bottom line. 

*The red sedan was like the the 700 series BMW used in Summers' rap videos.