Phil Specter was convicted of murder today. And basically no one cares.
Think about it, an entertainer from decades ago, with an odd lifestyle, brutally murdered his girlfriend, and was engaged in a long-running court battle with high paid lawyers pulling every trick they could manage. Does this sound familiar?
It should since these are the very things that were used to describe the OJ Simpson trial. A trial that kept the nation on its tiptoes. A trial that created the largest outburst of rage since Jack Johnson won the Heavyweight title.
But Phil Specter is guilty, and no one cares. In fact few television stations or cable networks covered the story on a regular basis. And everyone should ask why.
Why is it that the brutal murder of a woman should be so unimportant? Why is there such a difference in the coverage one celebrity trial received as opposed to another? Why is there no cries of national joy with this conviction?
Because Phil Specter is not Black. It’s just that obvious and blatant. And I am disgusted by it.
I’m not defending either crime, nor whomever did it. I’m just sickened by the reaction of the nation. Because a Black man accused of a crime must be guilty. And if he escapes justice, the nation must find a way to make him pay. For the rest of his life. I mean that has been the reaction at least among the majority of White America for over a decade with OJ.
And I can only come to this conclusion by the facts at hand. No 24/7 coverage of the Specter trial. No analysis on cable news networks of the judge, the lawyers, and every piece of evidence. No national outrage as the first trial ended in a mistrial. Yes, that’s right, there have been 2 trials for this same murder. How many knew that before reading this?
Americans should be disgusted with themselves right now. Our legal system, or more accurately our manipulation of the legal system via the media, is beyond fractured and racially biased. It’s so bad that there is no way to hide it. Instead the media just ignores it, and people assume that it must be right since that’s what TV says.
There isn’t one good reason that the Phil Specter case did not get 1/10 the coverage of the OJ Simpson case, beyond race. And it’s hardly the only one. The Robert Blake case has come and gone as well, without a whisper. As have other high profile cases.
The difference is abundantly clear when you think about it. Virtually every Black entertainer and celebrity that has had a problem with the law has been lambasted by the media, and those that are White have been forgiven.
Lindsey Lohan is apparently a drunk drug addict, but she needs help. Paris Hilton is a forgetful kid going thru a phase to figure out who she is. Britney Spears is under enormous pressure and needs our support. Blake wasn’t discussed.
Yet Lil Wayne needs to be locked up. TI is going to jail where he will pay for his crimes. And so on. It’s not about the crimes, but the legal system and the media – and the bias they have.
That’s what the legal system says every day. Ex-Officer Mehserle kills an unarmed, defenseless, co-operating Oscar Grant, and he is without charges for a month (even evading investigation when he resigned from the police). Were it not for the video tape and riots, and more than just a few bloggers spreading the story, Oakland authorities likely would never have pursued the case.
But the media bent backwards to highlight only some video that made the case questionable. In fact they tried to deny the existence of evidence of the cold-blooded murder, other extended raw video, even though it was simultaneously available on Youtube.
So is the legal system biased? Oh Yeah. And is the media a willful and decisive tool in ensuring that racial bias is embedded in potential juror’s minds long before any trial? Every day.
The examples are numerous. I could keep going and going. But just go back to where I started. Phil Specter. And try to recall any detail of the case covered over the past couple of years (yep it’s been going on that long) by the media. Then compare that to your memory of the OJ trial (actually any trial of OJ will do as they all got massive media coverage).
If you don’t see the bias, I have to believe you don’t want to. Perhaps that’s the only thing worse.
3 comments:
Comment as found at Black and White Blog, where I am co-author.
The facts Says:
May 11th, 2009 at 2:57 am e
I agree Michael. I’ve been saying the same thing!!
One lame excuse people give for the lack of media coverage of the Spector trials because he was “only a record producer” and “wasn’t as famous as OJ”. But Spector is a LEGENDARY producer. Had a black producer such as Quincy Jones, or a lesser known producer like Russell Simmons killed Lana Clarkson, we know it would have been covered 24/7.
It took 6 years & the two trials you mentioned, to finally convict Phil Spector of murder. It took 1 1/2 years to finally indict Drew Peterson for killing his 3rd wife. As of this posting, who knows if or when he will be arrested for Stacey’s disappearance.
Also, there are those who feel William Shatner should have at least been thoroughly investigated when his wife wound up drowned in their pool with “neck trauma”. They were having marital problems. He filed for divorce, asking that no alimony be granted a year before. The Shatner story was gone from the spotlight in the blink of an eye.
Keep in mind that the police originally said that Drew Peterson’s 3rd wife, Kathleen Savio (somehow) drowned in an empty bathtub. It wasn’t until his 4th wife Stacey wound up missing that they decided to exhume her body and ultimately changed the cause of death as “a homicide made to look like an accident.”
We will never know if a similar mistake was made in the Shatner case because Shatner’s wife Nerine was cremated shortly afterwrards.
According to a Rolling Stone article, Jerry Lee Lewis may have killed one or perhaps two of his wives. His 4th wife drowned in a pool under mysterious circumstances (Just like Shatner’s wife…) shortly before their divorce settlement. Lewis’ 5th wife also died under mysterious circumstances soon afterwards.
Read the 8th paragraph in this Rolling Stone article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/jerryleelewis/biography
Phil was a Jew,which is why there was not more publicity.Continuing on with the racial bias it's interesting that we never hear about black hate/supremist groups,black seriel killers/rapists,or any stories featuring statistics of black on white crime which far and away and proportionally outpaces white on black crime.Enjoy your better infamy!
Anonymous,
I really had to think abot approving this post. It is blatantly biased, which I do not agree with in any form against any group (well maybe not Nazi's, but you get my point).
The religion of Spector is not a factor in the law, though some twisted individual would like to state such. Nor does a religion affect media coverage, or actions of any individual.
Only the most stupid of people would ever come to such a conclusion, in my experience.
The point is that if anyone wants to focus on a racial bias, there are more than enough news stories to do so. I do not do that.
When there is a crime, trial, or action that I feel violates Justice I discuss it. If there is something I feel needs to be debated, I give reasons and my position. I don't care about race, religion, creed, nationality and so forth. But I do admit that I have a particular viewpoint, which will emphasize my reaction to some actions more than others.
This site is not fertile ground for racists, hate, or anything of the kind. I do not agree or support any such thoughts. I believe my readers are above such petty, narrow-minded, dumb thughts. If that makes me infamous to some groups or individuals all the better.
Anonymous, I would enjoy if you and any other racists biased person, never came back to my site. You and your twisted sick views will not be missed.
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