It’s not done because you are Black
This article is about how the press treats stories that are totally unrelated to the issues. They do this because most people like controversial articles. The more you are known, if anything happens, you get more press coverage by being known than you would if you were not.
Several years ago, a young lady was accused of shoplifting from Tillman-Levenson. According to the police report, they asked her where she worked and she said Jesse J. Lewis’ Advertising Agency. When several reporters called me from the media, they asked me all kinds of dumb questions. For example: Was I aware of the fact the young lady was a shoplifter before I hired her? How many times had she been arrested for shoplifting? When they ran the story, they didn’t use the young lady’s name, but Jesse Lewis’ ex-employee is arrested for shoplifting.
Two things happened to this story: The person in question was a part-time employee who had worked on a couple of events that was sponsored over a period to time, and she was found not guilty and sued Tillman-Levenson and settled out of court. No one printed or alluded to the last part of the story and my name was mentioned six times and her name was mentioned only once.
Controversy shrouds Garcia’s strong play in 2013
On the heels of Garcia’s victory at the Thailand Championship, let’s take this time to review what will forever be remembered as a controversial, tumultuous year for the man considered Public Enemy No.1 in some golf circles.
According to Jason Gobel of GolfTalk Central, it started with some strong play in a runner-up finish at the Qatar Masters, continued with results of 17th or better in his next eight starts, saw him contend at the Players Championship before losing that tournament in dramatic fashion, then spending the remainder of the year toiling in relative obscurity before claiming his first worldwide win in 364 days.
Garcia’s turbulent year though, will be remembered for more than just the results. It will be remembered as the year he picked a fight with long-time adversary, Tiger Woods, complaining about his playing partner’s perceived ill-timed club selection (even though video evidence showed otherwise), followed a few days later by a now-infamous racially insensitive comment during a European Tour banquet. When asked if he would have Woods over fore dinner during the U. S. Open, Garcis said, ” We will have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.” Garcia apologized and took his medicine, but his year was hardly a presentation on how to win friends and influence people.
No one ever said what a great round Garcia shot in Thailand or his great ball striking.
Tiger’s half-brother accused of false bomb threat
The half-brother of Tiger Woods was arrested in Phoenix for allegedly making a false bomb threat at the government building where he works. Phoenix police said 58-year-old Earl Donaldson Woods, Jr. is accused of calling in the threat at the Department of Economic Security building about 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Police say they were called after DES employees alerted building security. More than 100 people were evacuated from the building before Woods came forward and told police the phone call was meant as a joke and he didn’t expect his co-workers to take it seriously.
Police said Woods has been booked on suspicion of attempting to terrify, intimidate, threaten, or harass others. They say Woods is apologetic and cooperating with the investigation. It’s unclear if he has a lawyer.
Would you believe that Tiger’s half-brother’s name was mentioned only once and Tiger’s was mentioned all through the article.
When Tiger Woods first won the Masters
Traditionally, when a golfer wins the Masters the following year there is a dinner in his honor where the winner chooses the menu. Fuzzy Zoeller, stated he may not go to Tiger’s dinner in 1997 because he does not like collard greens and fried chicken.
My guess would be, percentage wise, that white people eat as much or more fried chicken than Black people. Every time Fuzzy Zoeller’s name is mentioned, they always refer to his the Master’s comment.
Aide to Mayor Bell accused of selling drugs
I wrote this article the same way the media reported an incident about one of the Mayor’s aides being arrested for selling drugs out of the Crossplex. I’m just like the media, I can’t remember the aide’s name because this is how the media does. The whole story was about Mayor Bell.
Can you imagine how many aides the Mayor has – I’m guessing 25. Some of the aides were not even interviewed by him, but by his Chief of Staff wherein he took their recommendations of those people before hiring an individual. The media wanted to accuse the Mayor of not doing a good job of screening individuals.
Some people in the media implied that the Mayor knew he was a crook before he hired him. In plain and simple terms, the media thrives on controversial issues, and if there is no or little controversy, they invent or manufacture something. To keep from being sued, they insert the words ‘alleged,’ ‘assumed’ or ‘as reported.”
In other words, the media writes stories and by the time they finish they have made the innocent guilty. They made me a part of the shoplifting, Tiger responsible for his bother’s and Garcia’s behavior and made William Bell a part of his employee’s legal problems.
e-mail:jjlewis@birminghamtimes.com
