On November 6, the Minneapolis ABC news affiliate, KSTP, ran what's being called
one of the most racist American news stories of 2014. #pointergate, as this story has grown to be called, is about nexus of racist stereotypes, police corruption and intimidation, and half-baked journalism.
As a quick summary, KSTP ran a news story claiming the mayor of Minneapolis, Betsy Hodges, was deliberately flashing a known gang sign with a criminal—and claimed she was endangering public safety in the process. Except the young man was a volunteer for a local voter registration drive and neither he or the mayor flashed any gang signs.
Below are four unanswered questions about the #pointergate scandal.
1. Why did the Minneapolis police delete this November 1 tweet of a photo of their police chief with Mayor Hodges and Navell Gordon on the same day the police claimed the mayor was flashing a gang sign with Gordon? Was it because it makes it a lot harder for the police to claim the mayor was endangering public safety when the police chief was a few feet away?
2. Why have KSTP and the Minneapolis police refused to comment on this video, which clearly shows Mayor Hodges and Navell Gordon (at 0:32) clumsily and innocently trying to figure out how to pose in a photo with one another? Is it because the video clearly debunks their narrative in a way that a still image just can't do?
3. Why have KSTP and the Minneapolis police refused to comment on this public photo of the mayor of Minneapolis using the exact same hand gesture in a different photo before this scandal ever broke publicly?
4. When will Jay Kolls of KSTP and the entire news division of KSTP apologize for
stating that Navell Gordon is a gang banger when
their own report states they never spoke to him and couldn't confirm he was in any such gang. This story should be completely retracted for the dangerous lie that it is.
What other questions do you believe need answering in the #pointergate scandal?