Charmayne Brown, Black Reporter, Attacked On Camera By White Family In SC

From the AP:

Three people upset that a news crew was reporting on the arrest of a relative attacked the television reporter and yelled racial slurs at her and a photographer, authorities said Tuesday.

The family members, all white, began yelling and charged at black WSPA-TV reporter Charmayne Brown while she was standing in the street near the family's home in Union, said news director Alex Bongiorno.

Brown was punched in the head, and black cameraman Ti Barnes was also struck as he tried to pull family members off Brown, Bongiorno said. A video of the attack shows Brown, who wasn't seriously injured, defending herself.

"I think she's more affected by the verbal abuse than the physical abuse. She's really shaken up," Bongiorno said.

The fight was taped by a white crew from a second television station. They were not attacked.

Tousha Smith, 31, Billie Joe Taylor, 31, and Trina Vinson, 48, were being held at a Union jail Tuesday evening on assault and battery charges, authorities said. South Carolina has no law allowing a hate crime charge.

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Attempts to contact the family were unsuccessful; messages left at several numbers were not immediately returned, and authorities said they weren't sure whether the three had attorneys.

Charges are pending against a fourth person, authorities said. The reporter and photographer were not charged.

Brown was reporting on the death of 73-year-old Tommy Howell, who was killed by a blow to the head after an argument, authorities said. His body was found Tuesday in his home. Police arrested his grandson, Shane Howell, and charged him with murder, Union Police Chief Sam White said.

Shane Howell remains in jail, and it is unclear whether he has an attorney.

"These people were very upset," White said. "I guess they just took it out the wrong way."

Comments

[Nikelaus]

I really hate stupid people.

[pheepher]

Racism is alive and well in America. Wonder if they support Hilary.

[mix2007]

Say, I didn't know Ferraro was down in SC today.

[CapitalistTool]

That poor reporter walked into the shallow end of the gene pool to cover this story. One observation: I like how the one Cletus in the back (the guy that is trying to his lady friend off the reporter) has a cigarette in his mouth the whole time. It doesnt matter if they are taking a shower, eating, sleeping or making love.. or attacking a reporter, those South Cacalacky rednecks always have a cigarette hanging out of their mouth. Real class!

[lynnn]

Notice Something. It's the women. For the most part the white men are just standing by. Interesting huh? So much for sister hood?

The problem w/racism (as we know it) is that it is a learned behavior. Children look up to their mothers. Racism (as we know it) will end once women stop teaching it to their kids.

That is the lesson of Geraldine Ferraro.

[DoAsISay]

Children who are emotionally traumatized usually repeat the mistakes of their parents. That is something the wives of all these Vitter-Cli­nton-Spitz­er like politicians forget when they stand next to their loving husbands. I left out Craig because he is in a league of his own.

[Veeve]

Actually, it is is a pattern reccurrent throughout history. Matriarchal societies like the Spaniards were amongst the last to forgo slavery.

If you subscribe to Freud, a boy sets out to better his father and replace him. Very few sons of racist fathers remain racist. A woman sets out to emulate her mother to attract the love of a man like her father and the approval/love of her father, i.e., a racist. So the pattern continues for longer.

[LGrace]

I hope you have some evidence other than her remarks the last two days for calling her a racist, because there's nothing racist about what she said. So much for sisterhood indeed.

[morgagni]

yep, she has been making an array of bigoted remarks going back at least twenty years. Try googling it. Plus her family has had a lot shady financial stuff going way back, incl. actually federal charges.

[Economike]

Uhhh..Yeea­aahhhh....­.

[NeverNude]

The comments of the last 2 days were not Ferraro's first such comments.

[dadixon]

But if, with the support and the organization he has now, Obama were a white man he would have probably already won the nomination. So, true there is a lot of sexism and a lot of racism but for Ferraro to imply that people are voting for him because he's black and they're caught up in the "phenomenon" is racist. There are worse comments in the world but to discount the massive organization of the Obama campaign is beyond ignorance.

[neamhni]

How about twenty years ago, is that good enough for you?

"In an April 15, 1988, article in The Washington Post, Ferraro is quoted as saying that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/12/ferraro.comments/?iref=mpstoryview

[Boobaloo]

This is how females do it, five will pile on one.

[AurigaRa]

white trash

nice job by the other white filming crew! Guess they would have taped her getting murdered if it had gone that far.

[NWReader]

They also dialled 911, according to the report above. By continuing to film, they got evidence of the assault and (sadly unusable) hate crime. They did just fine.

[liberalrebuttal]

Bingo !

[AZDemocrat500]

This is race in America, something we refuse to talk about and attack anyone who does.

[jbeach]

The other crew did call 911, at least. Plus filming this did provide help by providing evidence, and getting this information to a much larger number of people.

[StuCop]

actually if you watch the whole undedit video you can see that the reporter is throwing punches very early on and is continually physically and verbally antagonizing and escalating the situation.­..this reporter is no defenseless victim...

[lisakaz]

Maybe that's why she wasn't seriously hurt. Are you advocating that she should have been?

[DoAsISay]

The other outstanding journalists were taping the whole thing instead of helping the reporter. The reporter should not have punched back, she could have sued later. I am sure the cable channels would carry the lawsuit live.

[StuCop]

i'm saying we don't know the whole story. from the video you can tell she is willfully engageing in the fighting. she has several opportunities to disengage and remove herself from the situation but she rushes in and throws punches or exchanges in yelled comments.

rushing around the cameraman and throwing a punch does not equate to defending herself.

[goodsnservices]

I don't kow what drugs you were on when you watched that footage, but I saw the woman just trying to get her hair away from the three women who were throwing punches at her. She didn't throw a single punch. This isn't about race. It's about animals and animal behavior.

[Wanjiru]

...lol, so basically this reporter got up that morning and went out to that area to assault this family?...­slow down on the kool aid you are drinking, the reporter is CLEARLY defending herself against this bigotted, racist, physical attack...n­o matter how you try to slice and dice it...

.

[qdog112]

Yeah you are right. A real victim would have not tried to defend herself. How shameful that she would fight back. Reminds me of how Rodney King attacked those cops from his prone position. Damn, black folks can't even get beat down correctly.

[SeattleSistah]

So, I guess when someone is beating you and pulling your hair you should just lay back and take it? I guess the reporter didn't know her place -- silly woman. In the old days, she would have known that she wasn't supposed to fight back.

Didn't you know that you have to be a "defenseless" victim in order for assault and battery by four women to be considered a real problem.

[RobertaInCT]

Very well put. I just can't believe the logic or lack of logic of some people.

[StuCop]

again...if you watch the video the reporter ample opportunity to remove herself from the altracation. at one point she is behind the camera man and could run away if she felt she was in danger...b­ut instead she rushes around the camera man and starts agressively throwing punches, that is not self defense.

[mydogshakespeare]

Mathew 5:39, Luke 6:29 "If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn and let them strike the other."

In short, SeattleSistah, if you are Christian, and believe the wisdom of an inerrant Bible, then yes, when someone is beating you and pulling your hair you should just lay back and take it.

On the other hand, you could point out that neither Matthew nor Luke address hair pulling, gut punching, ass kicking, head cracking, or nose breaking, and so self defense may actually be permissible.

[Krackonis]

In any other country I would get involve. but in America, you are allowed to carry guns. So you don't get involved in case you get shot.

[DoAsISay]

Very true. That black reporter is LUCKY she had a job. She should be grateful, and stop whining.

[StuCop]

at 1:37 in the clip you can see the poor defenseless reporter who's been pulled from the fray run around her camerman and attack someone...­clocking them with a punch...

i don't think the whole story has come out...

and i think the reporter was equally involved in throwing fist....

[surfcitysteven]

Violent white-trash family.

[Lionel]

Can you say, white trash?

[DoAsISay]

No you cannot. Because you are better than that, and you are not racist.

[Tyrione]

There were plenty of black men standing around not bothering to get involved. Either they don't care about women, black women or just people getting ganged up on, or they were exhibiting the commonly noted psychological "I don't want to get involved" reaction well-known by Police in Urban centers.

[HmblDog]

I believe if they "plenty of black men standing around not bothering to get involved" had intervened it would have met the definition of a riot. This is still America after all. Angry people of color that stand up for what is right is not the same as angry white people standing up for what is right. alas.

[drspaceman]

Or maybe they were afraid of what would happen to them if they touched a white woman. Old habits die hard.

[jbeach]

I think it was more the "don't want to get involved" thing. That reporter and her cameraman might also read to black men (and women) who live in that area as "outsiders", too.

I did see one guy try to get in there and help separate the chaos.

[petewsh61]

How about they were afraid they'd get arrested and get blamed for what happened?

Here in progressive MA, a UMass student was brutally attacked by two guys who are not students. The student had his nose broken and was knocked to the ground. The beating continued and he pulled a knife to defend himself and stabbed his attackers.

The student was black, the attackers were white.

The black stdeuint get 's charged with attempted murder. The white guys who attacked him? One gets no charges and the other gets a simple assualt and a hate-crime charge. Not even a a charge of battery.

And all of this caught on a video camera.

Nope, it's not a good idea for blacks to defend themselves in this "things haven't changed much since 1950" US of A.

www.justiceforjason.org - Justice for Jason

[fullkelly]

nah, most blacks are cowards anyway. Trying to beat up on a woman they should be thrown in jail for poking their cameras into the white folks faces.

[DoAsISay]

Thank you for the reminder. Another well known fact- the differences in sentencing for drug crimes as well as capital punishment. Ferraro is so busy raising money for Clinton that she does not have time to read all the information that has come out in the last year alone. Fucking LUCKY, those blacks.

[CatfishAndGrits]

My thoughts exactly...­..the day for good samaritan is over...esp­ecially if your black. You're often times the first fingered.

[lynnn]

You don't understand the South. A black man can not get involved when their are White Women attacking. That would of been a huge thing. There where white men there too, and it could have gotten very ugly. So the men (of both races) though unspoken code stayed out. The Black man only started to help, once the other White male (who I assume was a family member of the attackers) tried to pull the white women off.

[Pookie2112]

All white trash should be proud. And they wonder why we make fun of them ... surely, it must be because of their "brains".

[totalliberal]

Four more upstanding Republicans out of the loop.

[UpstateNYer]

You have reached a new low.

[rivrgrrl]

LOL

Good point.

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

I was gonna' say that myself. Let's all guess which political party these fine upstanding citizens belong too.

[jnratliff]

A really novel idea report the news and inform the public, what if the MSM reported the news and informed the public. can you imagine we would not be in Iraq, bush and chenny would both be in prison, we would have at least 10 trillion dollars less debt and the stupid GOP would be no more.
But alas the corporate owned media tells you what they think will help them and to hell with you. same attitude the GOP has.

[DoAsISay]

Why do you assume they are Republicans? The democrats are doing a good job of being racist. They do it with words, so it is more respectable?

[moodyring]

I have a number of thoughts about this:

- One would think that if there was a dispute where one person was already killed, that house (and the people therein) might not use common sense when it comes to fighting. The news crew might assume before hand that the family is insane (or at least volatile) until proven otherwise.

- If the family had "just" attacked her, I would've been a little irked that they included racial info in the headline (I would've felt it was making a connection that wasn't necessarily there). After all, they might've just been crazy people who would attack any journalist who covered that story. The fact that they called her derogatory names, though, did make the race part relevant. Still, I kind of wish that identifying info hadn't been mentioned in the headline. It almost takes away from the crime and makes it a racial thing from the get-go. Are journalists often beat up on tape? If not, that would've been enough to use it as a story. The race could've been mentioned in the article.

- South Carolina would be a state without a hate crime bill. I could see them saying resentfully, "If anyone deserves a hate crime bill, it should be us" (as in, white people) "because we're the hated people." *cough* Ferraro *cough*

- "'These people were very upset,' White said. 'I guess they just took it out the wrong way.'"
Ya think? Why do I get the feeling he's thinking, "She got what was coming to her"? You f-cking "guess"? White guesses. The irony of that is chuckle-able.

-

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

The newscast said that the family ran past a white news crew without attacking them, and had not done so all day. Look's pretty "racial" to me.

[UnknownSoldier]

They ran past the white news crew to get to the black reporter. That is why it seems like a racist attack