This haunts my every thought. AS a community, we have watched the parents of these children grieve. Channon’s father barely able to contain his anger in court, rocks back and forth to hold in the rage. Chris’s father, in tears has described several times the indignity his son endured and the memory of seeing his bare feet caked in cold red mud. Do you realize these parents had to view over 77 autopsy photos of the children they once held in their arms, raised, loved and lived for? That the last views of their babies are broken, burnt, and tortured lifeless bodies?
Do you have a son? Can you stomach the knowledge, the thought that your son lost his dignity and pride in front of the girl he loved? That he was tortured and unable to protect not only himself but the girl who held his heart? That he knew being dragged or led to those rail road tracks that his life was coming to its end and Channon would be left alone with those monsters? And Channon. Have you a daughter? Could you live with the very thought of her being repeatedly ravaged over and over? The pain of the bleach being poured down her swollen throat or over her open wounds?
And after all this, could you accept that the News Channels across the United States decided to add to the insult by completely ignoring your beloved children?
I started off saying, EQUAL. You would have to ask yourself if your children were black and the monsters that savaged them white, would the story be told? I have never met these families but I wanted to do something, any little thing, as a Mother in honor of them. I wrote to: Nancy Grace, Bill O’Rielly, American Justice, 20/20, 48 Hrs Mystery, 60 minutes and True Crime, begging them to report the story. If for no other reason but to let these families know that not only Knoxville Tennessee, but the whole world would now know the horrible truth and unite in prayer and outrage for their children. I only received generated email replies thanking me for “my story ideas” no other contact has been made.
Never would I even attempt to diminish the horror of slavery, but I do believe that history should be learned from and not relived. But now, now the races are, as they should have always been, equal. A rape and torture of a white child should be reported and deplored just as the rape of a black child. Are the national news channels so afraid to comment and report on this? Is it that they fear having to actually say the words, “5 black assailants’ raped, tortured and murdered 2 white victims”? If that is the case then leave the races out of it. Each person in this tragedy has a name, use their names and not their races but by God tell their story.
The color of the attacker’s skin means no more to me then the color of the victims. My anger and sadness from the complete lack of interest in this case is due to the fact that, beyond a shadow of a doubt had the races been reversed this case would have hit OJ Simpson trial level. It would have been considered a hate crime and the nation would have been outraged. Protesters, Politicians and reporters would have shouted at the top of their lungs in out rage. The over whelming demand of justice would have been an earth shattering out cry. But for Channon and Chris, it is little more then a whisper.
When the LA riots broke out, the aftermath was horrible. The beating that Mr. King received was deplorable. We all saw the video and sat in shock watching several white cops beating a young black man. You would be hard pressed to find one person over the age of 30 who does not know his name. And yet, during the riot a white man was dragged from his truck and beaten by several young black men, in shock we watched that video too, do you know the name of that man? The beatings were equally as vicious, yet the reporting and treatment of the victims were different. If race did not play a part in the reporting of these stories, or lack there of, what did?
Shame on you Nancy Grace, 20/20, 48 Hours, Bill O’Rielly. Of all I have seen you are on the front line of racism. You had the opportunity and means to tell the story of these two wonderful people, to give them back their dignity, to make their lives memorable, to support their families and loved ones. And you chose to sit in silence, turning a blind eye, just waiting for the next black victim that you can make a dollar off of. My friends of African descent do not need or desire you to champion their cause, or play their outraged heroes when horror is inflicted upon their race. You are not truly horrified at the assaults or attacks they suffer, no, instead you are a greedy opportunists who knows how good it looks to stand in the lime light and cry foul play when a young black man or woman is raped and tortured before murdered. And then pretend not to notice when their fellow white American sisters or brothers endure the same. To sit in silence ignoring this story, denying the Christian and Newsom families the right and little comfort to know the whole Nation is outraged at the horror their children endured is the same as throwing Channon into that trash can and leaving Chris dumped onto the railroad tracks. If you are afraid to say what race the attackers and victims are, then don’t. That doesn’t’ have to be defined, but say something.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w(...)d_Christopher_Newsom 
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