Wesley Autry did a brave and praise worthy thing jumping onto those tracks to save that fellow as the train was approaching. He also sets an example of a good citizen. Perhaps what he is saying is that he was doing what any person would be morally (and in some States legally) obligated to do.
There is something much more sinister going on. He is getting the extensive coverage, talk show appearances, checks in the mail, scholarships for his kids......because he is Black. The media (NBC, ABC, Donald Trump, and others) are exploiting the situation and using this single individual's identity to atone their sense of guilt about racial relations in the US and try to expunge the stereotype that a Black male living in an inner city is only capable of crime. It also reeks of marketing.
I am from New York and have lived in the city since I was a teenager. This is not the first time something like this has happened. Of all of the timesit has happened, to my recollection the "hero" was White and the story got no more than network news coverage. I am not saying there is an unfairness in the coverage, but just another form of racism from using his race and socio-economic background for their own purposes.
The man clearly did a brave thing. But the media should stop exploiting it and simply cover the story for what it is. Checks, cash, scholarships, TV appearances, etc. is not going to address the shame in our past no more than does preferential treatment, quotas, African-American Student unions on campus, and changing the name of every expressway in every major city to "Martin Luther King."
And like anything with the media and the private life of one individual, it is out of his hands now and has taken a life of its own.
2007-01-04
19:25:54
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4 answers
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asked by
Jc L
1