How frightened is the Washington Post of being accused of racism? Apparently, very.
As the Washington Navy Yard shootings story was still breaking mid-day Monday, the Post hastened to assure its readers that a witness who identified a shooter as a black man is black himself: "He was a tall black guy," said her co-worker, Todd Brundage, who is black. "He didn't say a word." The Post is basically saying it's okay to say it, you see, because they found a black man to say the word.
Either that, or the Post thinks a person has to be black to be qualified to notice anyone else is.
The news media should not be afraid to say a black person is black, a white person is white, an Asian is Asian or whatever a person might be -- especially when it's relevant, as it was today when the police were not able to say that all suspects had been accounted for.
The article was written by Carol Morello, Peter Hermann and Clarence Williams and appeared on the Post's website at 11:58 EDT September 16, 2013 under the headline, "Police say as many as 2 shooters have killed 4, injured 8 on grounds of Washington Navy Yard." As I post this blog entry, the story on the Post's website at the original URL has been extensively revised and no longer matches what is shown in my screen capture. The race of the shooter and of the witness no longer appears in the story.
