Media coverage of the actual story...

This morning Maxine Johnson, Bertha Gilkey, and myself were on Santita Jackson's radio show (daughter of Jesse Jackson), on WVON 1690 am Chicago.

I want to thank Santita Jackson for inviting us on her show and allowing us to bring much needed light to what actually happened last week at McCaskill's event.

I am re-posting the videos that are the reason for this entire story.

First video:


2nd video: Full context of the events that day.

Don't trust the snakes in the grass...

People say this is not about race. They say Obama is the angry racist. They say these people want to talk about health care. I say, those people are blind. It is sad that those who have grudges, hate, and racial bias toward Obama, use the town hall forums as a vehicle to disseminate their ideals.

The full story from McCaskill's town hall poster altercation

This video provides the full breadth of what happened at Senator Claire McCaskill's town hall event in Hillsboro, Missouri.

I must make one thing clear, it is not the intention of this video in any way shape or form to blame, imply, or insinuate that the actions of the police officers were biased or racially motivated. They were just doing their job. With that said, this video is intended to highlight the glaring discrepancies between what was covered by the media, how the crowd treated the 4 black women, and what actually happened.

There were 3 members of the audience who, for the entirety of the event, held up "Don't tread on me" flags. The audience took no exception with the 3 flag holders, they were not booed, jeered, attacked, and were allowed to hold the flags without incident.

The media has picked up on this story and my video but have focused on the fact that it was a Rosa Parks poster. I take partial blame for that, I shouldn't have insinuated that it was taken from her because of what kind of poster it was. The sign could have read, "I love my pet dog" and the man still would have taken the poster from her. That in itself is the story, the fact that what was on the poster mattered less than the fact that he ripped it away from the woman. We must not fixate on what was on the poster, we must focus on the man thinking it is appropriate it steal it from the woman.

The racist undertones were apparent at this event and have been across the country.

MSNBC just reported that 35% of undecided voters are NOW more sympathetic towards the protesters. This is because the media has not asked the questions of these protesters and the injustices that they are perpetuating through hate, fear, and scare tactics.

Racism card

In the video and blog entry I must not have made my intentions clear. The point of the video was to let people see what really happened. I've been in media a long time and I know from when it happened that the only shot angle that they had was from behind the woman. Therefore their only shot is of her being escorted out. That was what drove me to upload my video because if the other side (and truthful) isn't told then all people know is that this loud, angry, black woman is being escorted out. They didn't report on the fact that she was attacked or that she was being escorted for her own safety.

I did not intend for this to be about a Rosa Parks poster, it just so happened that a man grabbed her poster. The questions must be asked as to why there was so much anger and aggression towards these women but nothing happened to the 3 people holding the "Don't tread on me" flags. Police spoke with them after the altercation but they weren't asked to leave, and they were allowed to stay there. They uploaded a video to youtube that will be used in my 2nd video of the "teabaggers" laughing at the black people, saying you can "only" take black people out because of signs, and that "it was the other ones" who were starting trouble.

The complete story will be released tomorrow when the video is uploaded.

This is the only video of what actually happened at the event this afternoon. The news only showed the woman being escorted away by the police. What happened was the women walked in with signs, the crowd booed and yelled at the women. The women rolled up their posters and put them down. A photographer/reporter approached the woman on the end and wanted to see what the poster was. As the woman went to show the photographer/reporter what the poster was, a man from the bleachers stood up and snatched the poster from the woman and photographer/reporter. As the woman went to retrieve her poster the police stepped in and escorted the woman and the man from the building.

The poster was not of Obama, it was not pro health care, the poster that was taken from the woman and wrinkled up into a ball was of Rosa Parks.

National news coverage only showed the woman being escorted from the forum and left out the fact that it was the man who started the incident. Not to mention it was a poster of Rosa Parks.

More photos from today

More photos

Photos of protesters

A few photos from today