Ferguson, Missouri – With public agitation already high, CNN’s reporter Don Lemon was further inciting racial tension during a standoff with police officers. At issue is the fact that Lemon, an African-American male, was at a fixed location throughout much of the day reporting events live from Ferguson.
At one point, officers required the journalist and his crew step back from the point they had been at all day. Without a single thought that officers may have a motive for the crew to move rooted in public safety, Ferguson reported live that the tense confrontation with police was endemic of an implied level of brutality which was only tempered because the film camera was rolling.
In fact, the award winning journalist openly stated that one could only imagine what police would be doing to the crowd who do not have the benefit of a film camera. This is the very sort of racially tainted “journalism” that many in the media, including Lemon himself, reported back from New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Only at that time, the narrative was that the relief effort, which must occur under the authority of the governor, was going poorly out a desire by President George W. Bush to watch African-Americans suffer and die. Many people may not recall the reports of rape and murder going on side the New Orleans Superdome in the aftermath of the flood.
The reports, which fanned racial tensions at the time, were largely disproven once the dust had settled and the damage to President Bush’s reputation occurred.