In journalism “burying the lede” means hiding the main or most important point among distracting details.

Here’s the transcript of this episode:

I’m Ed Thompson and I’m happy to be here talking to you on May 16, 2022.

This is the first of my Buried Lede podcasts which are intended to be a quick look at specific current events relating to education. It’s for those times when I just can’t let it go.

I read an article about parents in small town USA – actually it was Wentzville, Missouri, but it could have been any small city or town in America. The parents there were upset about the assignment content used in a high school government class. The question presented to students was as follows:

“Teresa has heard in the news about the fatal shootings of unarmed African American men by police officers but does not think it is necessarily due to racism. Teresa is MOST likely a:”

The choices were, “Democrat, black woman, Republican, Democrat-leaning woman.” According to the online exercise, the correct answer is Republican.

The parents contacted lawmakers and district officials believing the question was framed with a political agenda in mind. They also believe it’s divisive and not instructional.

Ya think? Talk about loaded. At the very least, it’s an obvious, ideological slant intended to paint Republicans as racists.

But here’s the insidious buried lede. The very question itself assumes as fact that police killing unarmed black men is a major problem and an epidemic in America.

Is that a valid assumption? The facts don’t support that at all. Statistics from our own government law enforcement agencies show quite the opposite. First, the actual number of incidents is very small, especially compared to the number of violent encounters police deal with each year. The police actually show incredible restraint when it comes to shooting anyone. And the true data shows that proportionally blacks are less likely to be shot by police than whites.

And that doesn’t even touch on the fact that 99 percent of black homicides are committed by other private citizens.

There IS a problem. Homicide is the number one cause of death for young black men. There is a horrible, unacceptable epidemic of shootings, but it is not being done by the police.

So, the idea that police are racist and out murdering unarmed black men is provably and decidedly false.

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