Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness

Ken Webster is a talk radio personality and producer from Houston, TX. He started his career in Chicago on the Mancow show and has since worked at...Full Bio

 

Houston Chronicle Fact Check: No, a Black Man Wasn't Lynched Yesterday

Here's a short story about the Houston Chronicle that demonstrates how publishing misleading information can be potentially dangerous.

You might also say this is a story about how political activists and media outlets work together to spread lies in an effort to create social unrest and political divide in our country... I mean, you could say that... but not me.

Our story began yesterday when the Houston Chronicle published a (now updated and corrected) article about a man who was found hanging from a rope on a tree in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas. The sad news comes to us from right around the Shady Acres neighborhood. For those who don't know, the Fifth Ward is a part of Houston that is predominantly compromised of low income Hispanic and black residents. While the community as a whole isn't necessarily always dangerous, the neighborhood is home to some pretty serious gang activity. The Fifth Ward has frequently been mentioned in reports about the most dangerous places in America because of the high amount of organized crime. You may also be familiar with the Fifth Ward after you heard about the place while listening to the music of the Geto Boys.

Considering the history of gang activity in that region of Houston and the fact that less than 5% of the neighborhood is neither black nor Hispanic, it's generally not an area where a white supremacist would be able to go unnoticed (more on that in a minute). Shady Acres, on the other hand, is a tiny part of the Fifth Ward that was recently gentrified with affluent upper-middle income extremely liberal Democrats; again, not exactly the type of people who commit hate crimes.

The Houston Chronicle's story about the incident was vague and somewhat misleading. They reported that a man was found hanging from a tree in a public place. They also said an unnamed journalist from the Huffington Post claimed the man was black but they later suspiciously removed that detail from the story. They didn't explain who the Huffington Post journalist was or how he got the information. Julian Gill, the Houston Chronicle reporter who published the article, framed the story as if the man was a victim of a hate crime that had yet to be solved. Some might say the author of the article was vague and nondescript for a reason: creating click-bait can help generate more web traffic for a news site and impress the "journalist's" employers. You could say that, but not me... I would never make assumptions of that variety.

Instantly the conspiracy theorists of social media went wild with the news. They were all definitely absolutely totally sure the man who died was a poor black marginalized victim of a hate crime perpetuated by either cops or white supremacists. Without previously knowing anything about the man, dozens and dozens of journalists and online activists with verified Twitter accounts began telling their hundreds of thousands of followers that a black man was lynched in Houston by racist white supremacists and the news was going unreported. Many said the man died during a public lynching, suggesting there may have been an audience present. The news story was shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media platforms by easily influenced people who believed the words of left-leaning online thought leaders. The phrase "shady acres lynching" began to trend on Twitter as the unverified news spread like wildfire.

As a casual user of social media, it was hard for me to ignore the far fetched claims people were making about my city, Houston, with any evidence to support their theories. It's hard to imagine a white supremacist running around in Compton, California or the Southside of Chicago without capturing the attention of the locals and the Fifth Ward isn't much different from those places.

Immediately I was skeptical: Houston is the most diverse city in America. If someone was being racist in this town where I've personally chosen to live, our city seems like the last place where racists would want to spend time. As I scrolled through the many posts of people claiming a hate crime with a rope and a tree had just occurred, I noticed none of the people making these claims were residents of our community. Based on their theories about the death of a man hanging from a tree and their diatribes about what had happened, it was safe to assume they'd never previously visited Houston or were aware of the Fifth Ward before making such far-fetched claims.

While all of this was happening the Houston Police Department publicly released information about the man's death that completely contradicted the narrative that a black man was lynched, but the new information went seemingly unnoticed. The newly released details made it clear that the man who died was a Caucasian-Hispanic, not black, and he definitely was not lynched in a public place. He committed suicide in a private lot with no audience present (as many on social media had previously proclaimed). As he hung from the tree his body began to decompose and his skin changed color, making it hard for a casual observer with no experience in the health care industry to differentiate what his ethnic background might have been. To further cement that the conspiracy theorists were wrong, the family of the deceased told authorities he had a history of mental health issues and was believed to be extremely suicidal.

Considering the mental health epidemic America is currently witnessing and the recent spike in suicides around the country, the fact that the man committed suicide and wasn't murdered was very easy to believe. More than 132 Americans commit suicide everyday, many with a rope. Suicide affects all races, genders, and age groups. No human or demographic of people stands immune to the mental health crisis that's clearly taking place all around us.

But even still, the online rage mob of conspiracy theorists persisted in their efforts to make this appear as though it was a hate crime.

As a concerned resident of the Houston area, yours truly (the author of what you're reading right now) was deeply concerned that misinformation about a fake lynching in my city could might cause people to become needlessly upset, and perhaps lead to more riots, arson, vandalism, and looting; activities that have been all too common in recent weeks across the country.

Laugh all you want, but we've seen misinformation lend a hand to political violence many times in recent history. It wouldn't be the first time someone got mad and torched a building over news that later on turned out to be untrue.

Although the information that debunked the conspiracy theorists had already been made been publicly available for a couple of hours, the Houston Chronicle still hadn't updated their story and leadership from local law enforcement were virtually silent on the issue. The facts that might calm down the outrage patrol were going completely ignored. How could it be that I was the only person interested enough in the story to inquire about possible updates to the investigation related to the man's death that thousands of online activists claimed to be concerned about?

I had no other choice: my online troll instincts kicked in and I reluctantly spent my evening tediously sending a stream of public messages via Twitter to the Houston Police Chief, Art Acevedo, pleading with him to issue a statement. I also pressed the Houston Chronicle to update their story. My actions were a bit obnoxious, sure, but, amazingly, I got results. Even I'll admit I was a bit surprised when the Houston police chief made a public statement just moments after I began messaging him and the reporter from the Chronicle updated a misinformed article within minutes of my incessant complaints. And as a bonus, many of the really important far left journalists who falsely claimed a black man was lynched in Houston began to quickly and quietly delete their misleading social media posts. Their actions did not go unnoticed (details below).

I'm not one to brag. I'm known for modesty (ask anyone), but I guess you could say this week I stopped a potential race war by being really irritable and saved the community millions of dollars in potential damage. I mean, you could say that... I never would. I'm far too modest.

One more thing: if you have mental health issues, seek help. You're not alone.


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