Link found on BlackFeminism.org
In March, Spartanburg Public Safety officials said that they had identified a “person of interest” in the case. At the time, investigators said the man, a former bank robber, was related to a Spartanburg apartment building where authorities found traces of Huston’s blood in January.
Investigators said a set of keys found in Huston’s car led them to the apartment building.
Friday afternoon, Public Safety Director Tony Fisher said that Christopher Lemont Hampton, 25, has been charged with murder. Fisher said recently uncovered forensic evidence indicated that Hampton was responsible for Huston’s death.
I still have to wonder whether they would have found Hampton quicker if she had been young, middle-class white and blonde and featured on Nancy Grace/CNN/MS-NBC.
Remember?
While the cases of Laci Peterson, Lori Hocking, Natalee Holloway and other young white women dominated cable news networks, Huston got almost no national attention for nearly a year after she went missing. When her case finally got significant coverage, the stories were mostly about the national media’s lack of interest, compared to cases involving young white women.
No, not just young white women. Upper/middle-class to rich young white women.
The arrest may also have led to the discovery of Huston’s body Friday. The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reported Saturday that at some point in the day Friday police were led by Hampton to some woods in the area where human remains were found. The newspaper said authorities hope to positively identify the remains, which may be Huston’s, by Monday.
I guess when it is black on black crime, people don’t pay much attention. But what if it was your child? Murder is murder, no matter what color the assailant or the victim. But it makes for better press for that woman in peril…
At least Tamika’s poor mother will find some release. But it is her–as with any mother’s–worst fears realized.
Huston’s aunt, Rebekah Howard, is spokeswoman for the missing woman’s family. She said Friday the family feels some relief after Hampton’s arrest but feels “as if we’re only halfway there. We still don’t know where Tamika is and we know it will be a lengthy process before he’s ever convicted.”
The last confirmed sighting of Huston was May 27, 2004 in Spartanburg. Family and friends became concerned several days later when they realized she hadn’t been to her apartment for some time. Huston’s dog, Macy, had given birth to puppies in the apartment and it was clear no one had been there for the births or to care for the animals.
Rebekah Howard, in passing, is the white in-law of Tamika Huston. A public relations professional, she knows what it means to wear out phones and trying to get people to tell your story.
Now, one might think that with a white or light-skinned spokesperson representing a concerned mostly black family, that doors might open more easily, and opportunities might be forthcoming.
Not on your life.
Howard related recently on NBC’s Sunday newsmagazine, Dateline, that most, if not all of the national and local news outlets–electronic and print–weren’t interested. Including Dateline. This interview, of course, had to include NBC News’ chief Neil Shapiro’s disclaimer:
“Our mission is to try to cover America,” Shapiro said. “And that means all facets of America … and when our coverage doesn’t reflect that, it distresses me. That said, I think it’s important that people in the industry talk about it. I think the fact that Dateline NBC is devoting airtime to it (Tamika Huston case) means we take it seriously.”
Yeah, right. It took that long for you to take it seriously. And frankly, Shapiro, America is NOT JUST WHITE. Until people started to talk about the media’s double standard of spotlighting middle-class young white girls in distress, you weren’t interested.
Do you know what the reality is regarding missing persons?
The stories also noted that young white women are by no means the “typical” missing persons: Slightly more than half of missing adults are men and nearly 30% are black, even though blacks account for just 13% of the U.S. population. The FBI has nearly 50,000 active cases involving missing adults.
Makes me wonder whether lynching has gone underground.
Steam is still going off at my ears…
Don’t people realize that once any child is grabbed, your child could be grabbed, too? Ain’t no time to say, ‘glad it wasn’t my baby, nyah, nyah, nyah.’ Or, ‘these girls have different home training than my girls.’ This is patented bullshyt that doesn’t protect anyone, leaving the pervs to run at will.
All of these young women deserve to have the same kind of round the clock coverage until the girls and the perps are found.
Thanks for the diary — I’m glad to hear the killer has been caught. I don’t know if I agree that I’d like to see wall-to-wall national coverage for all of these cases because I don’t believe it would help. An unbelievable amount of people disappear every day. It would be all we’d see all day. Also, sometimes the publicity gets in the way of investigations.
What is often left out in these discussions is that the Laci Peterson case that sort of started this media “fad” did not happen spontaneously because people were riveted to the case. It started because there was a political agenda pushing it. The right used that case to push through Connor’s law enabling a charge of murder for the fetus — further eroding abortion rights and establishing fetal rights.
That said, the media’s obvious bias about who does and does not count is sickening. My heart goes out to Ms. Huston’s family and I hope they find some peace.
It started because there was a political agenda pushing it. The right used that case to push through Connor’s law enabling a charge of murder for the fetus — further eroding abortion rights and establishing fetal rights.
Unfortunately, they’re only interested in prosecuting people who kill white babies and mothers, it seems. Remember the massive hunt for Lori Hacking? Latoiya Figueroa (see link in diary) has been missing for a month, and from what I’ve seen on the local news, it appears to be mostly her family and friends doing the searching, and not too many police helping.
Meanwhile, we keep hearing about Natalee…
Yes, I’m well aware and am in no way denying there’s a problem. My point being that equal opportunity hyping may not be the solution and may, in fact, cause more problems than it addresses.
Has all the coverage of Natalee accomplished a single thing in that case?
Now if local authorities are not doing their jobs, then that is a separate issue and needs to be addressed. But I thought we were talking about national coverage here in which case I don’t think the hype helps anything.
There’s a serial killer in Houma, Louisiana killing young men. Several of the men were from the same, extended, African American family. The white cops, when interviewed on TV, said something about a drug connection. I suspect camaflouge on the part of the cops, because they don’t know how to deal with it. You wouldn’t state the drug connection on TV if there was one being actively investigated, would you? Made no sense. I’m hoping that they aren’t reducing the value of those black lives from that same family, writing it off as drug related, and the killing goes on.
Drugs-that seems to be the catch all phrase when anyone of color or anyone poor is murdered, evidence be damned. Cheap and disgusting, that’s my take on the whole coverage of crime on most main stream news outlets. And the allocation of police resources? Is there any data on how much money/how many people are working on black/working class victim investigations vs. white/middle and upper class victims? It would be interesting to see numbers.
And when men disappear without a trace, the police insist that they just decided to ditch their responsibilities for a life in the tropics, no matter how implausible (I’ve actually experienced this). Then they pretend they never said such a thing when the body turns up.
Here is the latest on Latoyia. Its still getting local coverage in the Philadelphia paper and the TV stations. The most recent news is that a woman has come forward who believes she has seen her.
This might lead to something, it might not.
I hope the police have finally found the person responsible. I don’t care what the national news people say, the underlying problem is and unconscious racism or what is called institutional racism. Most people simply don’t want to face up to that fact, that racism just simmers below the surface here in far too many peoples attitudes. We still have segregated proms in some places in the South for pete’s sake.
I know I linked to an article about Tamika Huston many months ago on some diary-probably had something to do with Laci Peterson(although I don’t really remember)pointing out that there was no national coverage or outcry for this young woman. And I unfortunately rather doubt we’ll see any change in more equal coverage any time soon. Unless bloggers keep stories like this going and force the media to pay attention.
Some years ago at the same time of the much reported Polly Klass abduction and murder, a 13 year old black girl disappeared about nine miles from where Polly was abducted. Her murder received almost no coverage and has never been solved. The young girl apparantly went willingly with her abductor rather than being taken out a window like Polly. A local policman continues to doggedly try to find her killer when he has time. The difference in coverage was astounding and remains so.