Where Are Ribbons, Rage for Violence Against Latinos?

“Hello, Mr. Parsons, my name is Michelle. My grandfather told me that if anyone could have any possible answers to my questions, it could be you.”

That’s how her letter began, and the poignancy of her thoughts jumped off the page.

“Could you please explain to me why every time there is an article concerning crime and gang activity, the Steve Woods case is always singled out? What was so special about this incident? And why was there such an outcry of public anger and police response to catch the people responsible for his death? Don’t get me wrong. I feel what happened was very tragic. Was it because of the circumstances that surrounded his death that made it this way? You know, him being white and the defendants being Hispanic gang members?”

She went on to write: “Let me explain why I am so angry. Only six months ago my friend’s 17-year-old son was viciously murdered. His name was Eddie Sanchez. He was on his way home from shopping at the indoor marketplace here in Anaheim when the car he was riding in stopped at a little store not too far from home. A guy at the store came up to the car and exchanged words with the female driver of the car. When Eddie spoke up and asked that there be no trouble because they had a baby in the car, the guy took out a gun and shot Eddie point-blank between the eyes. Eddie never stood a chance. He left behind a family and friends who loved him very much. He also left behind his girlfriend and unborn son. . . . Where was the public outcry for him? Where were the demonstrations and ribbons? Was it because he was Hispanic? He wasn’t a gang member but the person who took his life was.”

Michelle mentioned two other cases involving Latinos who were killed and who she thinks received only modest coverage compared to the Woods incident. She concluded by saying: “I don’t know if you can help me, Mr. Parsons, but I needed to get my feelings down on paper and let someone know that there are some of us out there that are outraged not because of just one incident, but because of all the senseless violence out in the world today.”

Michelle is right in saying that the Steve Woods incident received much more attention than other violent deaths allegedly linked to gang activity. Woods was the 17-year-old San Clemente High senior who died in November after his head was pierced with a sharpened paint-roller rod while he and friends were leaving a South County beach. Several people who police say are self-acknowledged gang members are on trial for his murder, but their attorneys have suggested Woods’ group of friends provoked the trouble and that the death was an unforeseen outcome of the resultant antagonism.

I met with Michelle, and she laid her cards on the table: She’s of Anglo heritage but has a 3-year-old son by a Mexican man who still is an active gang member. She says she once ran with gang members but has severed those ties. She lives with her mother in a modest, well-kept Anaheim neighborhood.

From a journalistic standpoint, I told her, the nature of Steve Woods’ death and the published X-ray photos of the rod stuck in his head undoubtedly accounted for much of the public interest. In addition, the beach where he was assaulted hadn’t been known for violence and that, too, contributed to the magnitude of the coverage.

Whether it sounds insensitive or not, news coverage is driven by circumstances and/or setting. If either or both are noticeably different from the norm, which they were in the Woods situation, an incident tends to get increased coverage.

But I couldn’t escape Michelle’s central point. Did it get more attention because Woods was white and his alleged assailants Latino? Was his death more tragic or more worthy of note than those involving Latinos that occur with numbing regularity in larger cities like Anaheim and Santa Ana? Does it matter that a paint-roller was used to kill someone instead of a gun? Are bullets in the head no longer considered gruesome enough to warrant extended coverage?

I couldn’t give Michelle an emphatic answer. All my journalistic training tells me the Woods incident was a big story. Textbook, you might say.

But that doesn’t mean it squares with personal feelings that tell me the death of an innocent white teen-ager in San Clemente is no worse than the death of an innocent Latino teen-ager in Anaheim.

Sad to say, I told Michelle, but murders in known gang territory come with such frequency that they are less newsworthy. And it’s a fact of life that the shooters and victims are disproportionately Latino. The victims usually aren’t white.

“And that’s why it stands out if it happens in San Clemente?” she said.

“That’s an explanation, not a defense,” I replied.

I left, telling her she had raised some legitimate issues. Pretty lame response on my part, but I’m not sure I know what the truth is. Or whether there’s a moral question here or not.

“I’m coming at it from a parent,” she said. “If my son was ever injured in any way, I would not want my son’s life forgotten. I guess it angered me that--bottom line--one case is getting all the hoopla, everybody’s angry, that’s all everybody talks about and that’s what’s getting all the attention.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.