Detroit Raw

[caption id="attachment_13133" align="alignright" width="300"] Eighty-eight-year-old Detroiter arrested for allegedly firing a shot at TV news crew COURTESY IMAGE[/caption]

Media, leave him alone

By Sam Riddle Special to the Michigan Citizen Who gave the media an all-access pass into the lives of human beings 24/7? This presumption of media access has led to more undeserved trauma for an 88-year-old Detroit man who, after suffering through a beating and robbery, was taken into custody days later for allegedly firing a shot at a TV news crew. Initially this elderly Black man in Detroit was beaten and robbed after being set up by a woman. So enter a female TV reporter knocking on the guy’s door attempting to get him to open the door. That wasn’t happening. Not to be outdone, a second news crew feeding on misery continued to hassle this obviously very confused 80-something-year-old who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress. He may well have fired a shot out of fear. It is Detroit. WTF? Leave him alone. Let’s get him help. Ring his house with the Detroit 300. But don’t be the story media a-holes. It was painful seeing a guy who has lived through so many decades cuffed by police. But police had no choice after a “shots fired” call. There is only protocol, and officers conducted themselves in a very commendable manner. What would one of the offending news outlets say if The Michigan Citizen showed up on the doorstep of a very decent weather guy and asked him if his fireworks were legal? How does he feel? Was he setting a good example for others in his handling of fireworks that cost him an eye? There would be a loud out cry of “Leave him alone, he’s suffered enough.” True that. In a political twerk of sorts, some 3,000 wannabe progressive Democratic Party “activists” including Vice President Joe Biden (conceding nothing to Hillary) will be in Detroit this weekend. Process that. Democratic Party progressives: somewhat of an oxymoron. This Netroots crowd is just another outreach program of the Democratic National Committee purveyors of the status quo. I say that after the national Dems have all but looked the other way as Detroit has been subjected to the union-busting democracy-destroying antics of Republican presidential hopeful Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his Negro proxy emergency manager as they attempt to ride the Detroit bankruptcy to the White House. We must never let haters cause us to lose hope or dislike ourselves and never let haters make you weak in your faith. Keep the faith. Stay on the battlefield. Sam Riddle is political director of National Action Network. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sam.riddle or on Twitter at twitter.com/samriddle (@samriddle).