There has been some awful violence in this country recently. Some of that violence has been race-related. Some of that racial tension has been ginned up by government officials making statements that made things worse rather than better. Television could play a positive role here, but evidently it has chosen not to.
Yesterday the U.K. Mail posted a story about an upcoming episode of ‘Law & Order SVU.’ The story involves a famous southern chef who shoots an unarmed, hoodie-wearing black teen she thought was following her on the Upper West Side.
The article reports:
According to TV Guide, Castille claims she killed the teen in an act of self-defense because she knew police were chasing a rapist of the same description.
Let’s get a few things straight. The publicity for the show implies that the famous chef character was inspired by Paula Deen. I am sure the writers have made the resemblance subtle enough so that Paula Deen cannot sue for defamation of character, I wish she could. We need to remember that Trayvon Martin was not an angelic teenager out buying iced tea and skittles–he was buying Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail and skittles–two of the ingredients of ‘purple drink.’ Evidently he already had the robitussin, which is the third ingredient. Purple drink is a well-known recreational drug in the hip-hop culture.
This television show will not help race relations in America at all. In fact, it may make them worse. It is a shame that the media and now television have gotten so comfortable painting false pictures of events for the American people.
