MEDIA AND THE “HANDS UP DON’T SHOOT” LIE

Do the names Tiffany Mitchell and Dorian Johnson ring a bell?

Probably not, so let me remind you of who they are:

-Tiffany Mitchell is the “witness” to Michael Brown’s shooting/killing by police officer Darren Wilson, who informed the world, on live TV, that “the kid’s body jerked, as if he was hit from behind, and he turned around and put his hands up and the cop continued to fire”.

-Dorian Johnson was “witness 101” who said Brown’s hands were up, presumably to surrender, when he was shot.

From this, the “hands up – don’t shoot” myth was born.

How do I know it is a myth?  Because the autopsy showed conclusively that it was – so conclusively that even the Eric Holder-led Department Of Justice (grudgingly, I suspect) conceded as much.

Which brings us to Elliot Polsky’s latest piece at newsbusters.org, in which he details how this myth, this lie, continues to be presented without challenge by our wonderful “neutral” media.

A taste for you:

Jay Z has come out with a song called, “Spiritual,” about police killings last Thursday. Part of the lyrics read as follows.

“Yeah, I am not poison, no I am not poison.\ Just a boy from the hood that\ Got my hands in the air\ In despair don’t shoot\ I just wanna do good, ah…”

ABC’s Nightline on July 9th…featured four clips of protestors chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot,” or holding their hands in the air in reference to that mantra. It played the “hands in the air” clip from Jay Z’s song. It also showed Representative Marc Veasey striking the “Hands up, don’t shoot” pose followed by a clip of Veasey speaking about the shootings. In the entire segment, ABC did nothing to correct the myth.

On ABC’s Good Morning America on July 8th, a former marine, who had been at the Dallas protest, was interviewed. She described how the protesters had been changing “Hands up, don’t shoot.” She was never corrected for this mantra.

NBC News posted a story on July 9th, which described the “Hands up, don’t shoot” chant three times. None of those times did the NBC story explain that the chant was based on false witness testimony.

CBS This Morning on July 11th also showed a clip of protestors chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” Again, no context given.

It seems to me that one of two things must be true:

1) neither jay z nor anyone in those newsrooms is aware that this is a lie – which makes them a bunch of ignoramuses, idiots or both;

2) they, of course, know better, but are happy to allow the lie to continue without challenge — for WHAT, other than to make good and sure that racial animosity stays as high as possible, so they can keep doing stories about it which generate high ratings/more readers/more listeners.

Do these people have any integrity at all?  Do they have souls?  How many people must be hurt and killed over this lie before they display either?

And when do you suppose Barack Obama will speak out about this?  How about Hillary Clinton?  How about any member of the Congressional Black Caucus?

Do they want things to calm down or don’t they?  If you answer that they do, tell me why they allow this to continue unchallenged — that’s an answer I’d love to hear you try.