CNN Describes Freddie Gray as ‘Son of an Illiterate Heroin Addict,’ Twitter Goes Nuts
A CNN article detailing the first day in the trial of one of six Baltimore police officers indicted in the death of Freddie Gray has sparked outrage online. Why? Because of the manner in which CNN journalists Ann O’Neill and Aaron Cooper referred to Gray’s mother.
Following an otherwise straightforward lede, O’Neill and Cooper described the deceased Gray as “the son of an illiterate heroin addict.” The paragraph goes on to suggest that Gray’s death “made him a symbol of the black community’s distrust of police,” much like the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner.
Yet what most readers can’t get past is the descriptor “illiterate heroin addict,” which indicates Gray’s mother, Gloria Darden. Hence the numerous reactions to these specific seven words.
Journalists and activists alike took to Twitter to respond to, as one reader put it, CNN’s attempt to put “Freddie Gray on trial in the murder of Freddie Gray.”
https://twitter.com/lukeoneil47/status/671433982806986752
One reporter alluded to the suspension of CNN reporter Elise Labott, who criticized the GOP for its anti-Syrian refugee backlash in congress.
https://twitter.com/Kyle_Feldscher/status/671433734973956096
The reference to Darden’s prior drug habit and lack of education most like stems from information that came out during court proceedings in April. According to the Baltimore Sun:
Darden said she helped her son learn to count, but “that’s it, you know. I can’t teach him nothing else. … I can’t help him with nothing else but raise him.”
Under questioning, she said she began “sniffing” heroin when she was 23, according to the deposition transcript. She said she had used it perhaps once a day but then entered treatment.
“Now I don’t do it,” she said. “Since I went into a program and I’m doing good now.”
In terms of what is factually known, Gray’s mother admitted to using heroin and being illiterate while under oath. What this has to do with the trial of Baltimore police officer William Porter remains to be seen.
As of this writing, the passage in question remains on CNN’s website.
[h/t CNN]
[Image via screengrab]
