Saturday, December 24, 2011

Was RACE a factor in Dec. 15 stabbing of a Teacher by a Teacher?

The following is an op-ed piece reprinted by permission from the author and does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of  Louisville News and Politics or Ed Springston. All credit is to be given to the author of this article.

On Dec. 15, 2011, Poughkeepsie HS English teacher Ronette Ricketts stabbed her fellow English teacher Cynthia Glozier 16 times in a one minute span with a Phillips screwdriver, and is only stopped because of one courageous HS Senior football player who tackled the attacker!

The names of those involved are:

Ronette Ricketts - 40 - who is black.
Cynthia Glozier - 52 - who is white.
Justin Richardson - 17 - who is black.

Both teachers were well respected.
  • And it was well known that there was some "bad blood" between the two.
  • HS Football player Justin Richardson is credited with saving the life of the teacher who was attacked and is properly being hailed as a HERO because he absolutely did the right thing at great peril to his own safety. (See VIDEO (3m 3s) of his account here)
BUT ... there are hints that this was not simply a case of spontaneous rage brought on by some random triggering event.

For example, according to Teachers World website,

"Ronette Ricketts allegedly showed up at the district office asking for a personnel action sheet because, according to District Superintendent Laval Wilson, “Somehow she was under the impression that she was being terminated.” Wilson said he didn’t know why she thought she was losing her job, and I confess that I don’t know what, if anything, this visit may have had to do with what happened later that morning. (Makes you wonder if she had planned the attack ahead of time, and knew she would be terminated as a result…Just makes you wonder.)"

And then there's this story from Rivals website with the HS Principal's description of the attack:

"It wasn't two teachers arguing, it was one attacking another," Poughkeepsie principal Edgar Glascott told WPIX 11.

And here's a local TV news VIDEO report (2m 29s) from WABC-TV, NY with a distinctively local reaction to this attack. The anchor first stated that is was a "fight" but then seconds later called it an "attack." So make up your mind already: which one it it, a fight or an attack? (Note: There IS VIDEO of the attack from the school's surveillance system. I'm sure it will be released one day down the road.)

In the Original Dec. 17, 2011 story from Gannett-owned Poughkeepsie Journal, Glozier's attorney stated: "It was absolutely not a fight," Tom O'Neill said. "It was a vicious, unproved, premeditated attempt to kill her." (Sheesh, Gannett used "unproved" when "unprovoked" was more appropriate. I wonder what else Gannett got wrong!)

However, none of that info was mentioned in a follow-up story published on Dec. 24, 2011.

Hmmm ... makes one wonder what's going on here.

So, was RACE a factor?

The MSM (main-stream media) in NY have failed to mention the race issue. Does that mean that it was not a factor? We all know that the MSM slants and spins the news to fit their agenda. And for this to happen in NEW YORK, the bastion of racial civility, is unthinkable! How embarrassing it would be for a NORTHERN city to have a race-based attack happen within its boundaries. Why, this type of stuff supposedly only happens in the South, y'all!

The MSM almost always makes a big deal out of any event whenever white folks attack any person of color. In fact, that typically becomes national news. But when the roles are reversed the MSM goes silent. And their collective silence is deafening.
Here are just a few examples of the MSM's double standard:

See if you can locate a timely story on this teacher attack from ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN, or NPR. Not one of these so-called "major" news networks covered this story. Students attacking teachers is, unfortunately, an all too common occurrence these days. But a Teacher attacking another Teacher in the hallway of the local High School while school is ongoing? That's an extremely rare occurrence!

Yet the MSM have collectively failed to run ANY story about this NEW YORK teacher attack. (Fortunately, a few sports websites have properly picked up on the Hero's story. Good for Justin!)

Nearly all the MSM saw fit to run a big story when the incident involved WHITE teens attacking a BLACK man in MISSISSIPPI. Oh that's right, these kind of incidents are noteworthy only if they occur in the SOUTH! Typical MSM agenda-driven reporting!

It's nearly impossible at this point in time to KNOW for sure if race was a factor, but with the "powers that be" always finding ways to keep us divided along many different lines, one has to wonder if this attack occurred because of some deep-seated resentment constantly exacerbated by the MSM and its habit of highlighting "race factors" in its agenda-driven reporting. The national MSM bears some responsibility for aggravating race relations in the USA. Let's see how this teacher attack gets updated and reported on down the road. I'll bet that it will be "sanitized".

© - Paul R. Holliger, Sr.
Freelance writer
All rights reserved.
Contact author for publishing rights.
KyTourist@aol.com

Listen daily from 7-8pm at The Ed Springston Show. Also visit Louisville Politics for more details and in depth coverage of local political and news issues.

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