Finally, an explanation from Indianapolis.
When a mom and daughter were kidnapped, forced to withdraw money from an ATM, raped, then shot in October 2013, the Indianapolis Star played it by the book: Do not mention the suspects are black.
Police now believe the same crew of four or five is responsible for a similar home invasion, one week before.829
To be fair, Indianapolis is not remarkably different from Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Greensboro, Rochester, Richmond, Miami Beach, Fresno, Louisville, Memphis, Greensboro, and more than 100 other centers of regular and intense black mob violence: The papers in those towns are loathe to report it as well. They say they are colorblind.
These are the same papers that every day run stories about black caucuses, black churches, black colleges, black TV stations, black expos, black radio, black newspapers, black blogs, and on and on.
But black mob violence? Not a thing.
More and more people in Indianapolis are wondering why: They question why the paper is so heavily invested in refusing to let their readers know that black mob violence exists exponentially out of proportion in their town.
Daniel Lee is just one of dozens who left comments at the IndyStar.com and other web sites about these home invasions:
The Star won't publish the suspects' race unless it's part of a "detailed" description including clothes, hairstyle, Italian or German-style boots, hoop or stud earrings, buttons, snaps or hook-and-eye fasteners, plaid or paisley, earth-tones or vibrant joyful colors, full description of every visible tattoo, etc.
It's their way of avoiding what they consider the racism of calling black suspects "black."
Johnny West piled on:
It is completely irresponsible for the Star to not have a description of the suspects included in this story.
This story is useless to the community without a timely description. If police did not release a description, that should be noted in the story.
OK: You’ve had your vegetables. Now here is the dessert: One of the editors of the Indy Star is going to explain it all to us. He is Alvie Lindsay, the “News and Investigations Director.” And you are not. Love this quote:
Lots of questions here about descriptions of suspects. We are working to update the story.
If and when we have a detailed description of the suspects -- and not merely race and gender, but something that could reasonably help the public identify individuals -- that information will be included.
Bill, our reporter, just talked to the IMPD spokesman who said there are no other such details at this point. It's actually not clear, he said, how many suspects were involved. No age range has been provided, either.
This is pure poetry, i.e. fictional.
After reading the story, several commentators mistakenly came to believe that these details were not available. Or that the victims were not aware of the racial identity of the suspects.
Said Barbara Grasher Howard: “Did you not read the article? It clearly said the victims weren't able to recall details. Police are hoping they're more able to do so once the trauma is somewhat past.”
FAIL. Not true.
The distinguished Mr. Alvie Lindsay knew. Everyone knew except the people who relied on the Indy Star for information.
They just did not want to tell you.
Aamidor, Seiler, Jennifer, and others have a new friend: Alvie Lindsey.