The dumbest article I have ever read
by Jesse J. Lewis, Sr.
Last week a reporter from al.com named Brandon Kirby from Mobile, Ala. wrote the article based upon some information by Shelly McGrath, a justice science professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Here’s what the article basically said: The federal government spends a lot of money tearing down dilapidated houses and builds two HOPE VI Projects: Park Place downtown and Tuxedo Terraces in Ensley. The theory was that reducing large concentrations of poverty would alleviate high crime and other social problems. According to McGrath’s research, the crime rate patterns changed and spread. She further stated that she is currently examining the relationship between that trend and government subsided housing under the Section 8 program when low-income families had to move out of public housing.
This means she has not finished analyzing the data. In other words, the writer of the article automatically assumed, based upon partial information given to him, that when people who move into a different environment and were no longer living in rows and rows of public housing units, crime increases.
Brandon Kirby did not contact anyone at the Housing Authority to get their perspective of the story. Mrs. Naomi Truman, Executive Director of the Birmingham Housing Authority, called the writer and he rewrote the article with the same headline only adding ‘according to Mrs. Truman, crime has not increased.’ After quoting Mrs. Truman, he repeated the allegations of Shelley McGrath. Ms. McGrath said homicides were concentrated in the west and central part of the city from 1991 to 1993. By 2006-2008, the killings covered a greater part of the city.
Mrs. Truman says she is willing to provide any information McGrath needs for her study showing that crime has not spread out in the City because of these new developments. Keep in mind, Ms. McGrath said “maybe my information is accurate.”
In plain and simple terms, there is no factual documentation that moving people from a crowded area into a home-like atmosphere increases crime. This article should never have been published by a responsible newspaper when there is not enough documentation to prove it. In addition to that, no reporter should write this type of article without attempting to contact someone at the Housing Authority to at least get their input. This is totally irresponsible journalism. I am shocked that the largest newspaper in the state of Alabama published this article.
William Bell in the spotlight
I was in Washington D. C. this weekend and the topic of conversation was Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency in 2016. Hillary Clinton’s supporters are 90 percent sure that she is going to run for the presidency and 100 percent sure that they would like to have a male from the South or extreme West, a Black or Hispanic to be the vice president on the ticket.
Guess whose name came up more than anyone else’s: William Bell.
William Bell’s name, over the the next three years, will come up many times on the national scene.
Can I win for losing?
Tiger Woods, in 2013, won five golf tournaments. The only player who came close won two. Now there’s a great debate as to whether or not he should be named Player of the Year because some people on the Golf Channel stated that Tiger Woods cheated. A few announcers on the Golf Channel sound like they work at Fox News.
Tiger admitted that the ball moved but oscillated. The camera responsible for the following of Tiger is a million dollar camera. If a gnat moved its leg the camera would pick it up. If Tiger says the ball oscillated, that should have been the end of it, yet they fined him a two stroke penalty and that should have been the end of that story. Now the Golf-Fox News Channel just insists that someone else should receive the award other than Tiger.
All I can say is poor Tiger.
email:jjlewis@birminghamtimes.com
