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June 02, 2006
Compare and Contrast: The Times' Take on Two Attacks
Today's New York Times Metro section has two stories on two attacks in the city. One gets prominent display as a racial hate crime in Howard Beach, Queens. Nicholaus Minucci is on trial for the June 29, 2005 baseball-bat attack on Glenn Moore. Moore's testimony is gripping, as is the Times' fashion commentary and emphasis on the class struggle on the hot streets of Queens:
Mr. Moore took the stand in a packed courtroom, wearing slightly oversize clothing, with his hair in tight cornrows and an earring gleaming in his left ear. He recounted setting out with two friends from East New York around 2 a.m. that evening to steal a Chrysler 300. Their enthusiasm for auto theft fizzled when they headed into Howard Beach, he testified, and they were bowled over by the well-kept, single-family homes."We were walking around saying, 'Wow, I can't believe how big and extravagant the houses are,' " said Mr. Moore, who was then living in Ozone Park.
A few pages inside the Metro section, a far more modest Times story sticks to the facts and avoids the fashion observations and obvious questions in the wake of a fatal attack. Read the story, and see what questions come to your mind:
Three men have been charged with murder and robbery in the death of a 24-year-old Hoboken man who was found beaten on a Chelsea street corner early on May 21, the police said. Three others were charged with criminal possession of stolen property.Investigators said that the victim, Thomas Whitney Jr., a financial analyst who had been with friends at a bar, died after an attack on 19th Street near Sixth Avenue shortly after 4 a.m.
Initially, the killing stymied detectives because the police were not immediately notified after the attack. Mr. Whitney was found on the ground without any identification and was taken to Bellevue Hospital Center by a passing ambulance. He died 12 hours later.
A breakthrough in the case came after the police publicized surveillance images that showed three men on a citywide shopping spree using Mr. Whitney's credit cards.
Tips to a police phone line helped investigators identify suspects and bring them in for questioning on Wednesday night.
Charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and second-degree robbery were Omar Daryush, 20, of North Babylon, N.Y.; and Hashimi Walliullah, 22, and Najob Noor, 19, both of Flushing, Queens.
Charged with possession of stolen property were Abdullah Khan, 20, of Huntington Station; Salem Qurbani, 21, of Queens; and Jaweed Farhadi, 24, of Bethpage.
Let's take stock: A man named Tom is attacked and killed by men named Omar and Hashimi, who are connected with Abdullah, Salem, and Jaweed. There must be an underlying story yet to come out -- hate crime? Jihad? Drunken suburban guys on the prowl? The Times seems strenuously uncurious about the obvious implications, or even the peculiar case of suburbanites venturing into Manhattan to commit crimes.
Too bad the guy named Tom isn't around to talk about the crime, like Glenn Moore is.
How would the Times be covering this story if the names mirrored the rumble in Howard Beach, if Omar had been murdered by guys named Nick, Vinny, Tony, Carmine, and Johnny? I suspect the story would get bigger play, far more handwringing, demands for hate-crime charges, and more.
However, Tom Whitney wound up on the wrong end of the acceptable narrative. If anything, the story will be "good boys gone wrong, hard-working immigrant parents baffled, blame arrests on racist cops and 9-11 stress factors."
Just watch and see if that isn't the way it goes down.
Van | 06/02/06 at 01:05 PM | Categories: Competing narratives
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Comments
this was not a hate crime why would they go all the way to manhattan when they can go to jewel avenue and pick a jew? the howard beach crime was a hate crime because everyone knows you cant step inside howard beach and talk to their girls if you are not italian. its obvious italians in howard beach hate niggers atleast their upfront with it un like the jews pretending their are not racist they are racist their just not stupid to take a batt and wack someone overthe head with it however the muslim kids that did this crime i know them they where my childhood friends i use to pick on them i still cant believe they did this to the poor guy. i would like to also relate the katherine genovese case to these two interesting stories email me back if you really want to know more
Asadullah Esmati | June 5, 2006 02:58 PM
What happened on the 21st of may was a big accident by all the suspects. I am sorry for the guy the passed away, may the heavenly father have mercy on his soul!!! But you can not charge them with hate crime because it wasnt a hate crime. As we all know Whitney was drunk, so he probably made a remark that these kids didnt like, and so it begun. While one loses his life, the others suffer in jail. It wasnt intentional, we all know it. This has nothing to do with muslims or whites or blacks, its all about money and the step they took to get it. Robbing is wrong and killing is unforgivable, but to blame them for something such as hate crime is not fair. You call them racist, I call them a bunch of unfortunete kids trying to survive in this hell we call earth. Whiteny is in heaven, while these kids are in living hell we call jail!!! so at the end who do we blame. lets all blame adam and eve!!!!!!! 1 love to all
harles knight | June 5, 2006 10:23 PM
the three individuals that did not committ the murder but used the dead mans credit card should simply be deported back to their countries if they would of committed these crimes in their own countries their heads would have been chopped off already by a muslim cleric in the honors of the dead persons parents but the three that actually killed thomas whitney should not be deported they should be sentenced for life or the death penalty by the electric chairs not needles they need to suffer just like thomas whitney did that night who the fuck do these people think they are comming here and living for free they dont deserve to have houses in long island and queens in a wealthy jewish neighborhood thomas whitney \s parents should take over theses monsters businesses houses what ever valuables they own away from them
Mahmood Qurbani | June 6, 2006 05:30 PM
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