Troy Davis and the Failure of Integration

As I write this I have just heard that Troy Davis was denied clemency.

I am a habitual ABC News watcher. It's what I grew up on and as they say, old habits die hard. Good Morning America has gone through many changes over the years and is currently "headed up" by Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos. If anyone has been watching the program you'll note that there hasn't been a peep about Troy Davis by the GMA crew or it's black reporters including Ron Clairborn (If it has during the times I've missed please let me know).

This is in stark contrast to the coverage afforded the white girl in Italy who was charged and convicted of murder despite the fact that there was no forensic evidence that linked her to the murder weapon. If you recall, that story ran daily for a while and even after she was convicted reappeared every now and then as the family continued their quest to have their daughter freed from the Italian jail.

Troy Davis, right here in the United States was similarly convicted of a killing of which there was no forensic evidence to link him to the crime. Furthermore; the multiple witnesses that placed him at the scene or as being the trigger man have recanted their stories as well as providing testimony that they were coerced by the police. Clearly with this evidence, killing this man may be another case of an innocent person being killed by the state.

Whether or not the folks at GMA think that Troy Davis is guilty is not the point here. This is simply a matter of fair coverage. How do you explain the coverage given to a maybe innocent white woman in Italy due to lack of evidence, yet not a mention of Troy Davis? Why are we still discussing the wherabouts of a woman who took off to Aruba with a man she met on AdultFriendFinder (internet hook up site) and not a mention of Troy Davis? Is Robin Roberts bothered by this at all? I suppose not and I suppose that I shouldn't expect her to be after how she baited Chris Brown in an interview that was supposed to be about his new CD and not about whether he feels remorse about his actions towards Rhianna. Surely if Robin Roberts (or Ron Clairborn for that matter) had any conviction that the story ought at least be told and Roberts had the power to get it mentioned (would they have fired her if she demanded it? And would that have ended her broadcast career if they did? I doubt it.)

But this underscores the fundamental problem with integration. A problem that was spoken about by the ever spoken of Dr. King Jr. It merely puts black faces on screen, behind a desk, etc. with no fundamental shift in the ideology of society where black men convicted by the state "must have done it" or "done something to deserve it". Where black folks who should be at the tip of the spear for changing the systems in which they have gone into, play a roll no different from those of lesser melanin and kink.