Canoga Park Alabama Gang Is Not The Klan
01/17/2009
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Laurence Auster points to this story, which he says "gives so little information it hardly ranks as a news story."[TV station says black man was murdered for racial reasons, without giving race of the perpetrators]
Racial motivation in Canoga Park murder?

Thursday, January 15, 2009

By Miriam Hernandez

CANOGA PARK, Calif. (KABC) — It is a shocking crime in which an African-American man was allegedly murdered because of his race, and two men and a juvenile are under arrest.

Canoga Bowl is a place for fun, but that all changed three nights before Christmas. James Shamp, a beloved employee, was murdered.

"My heart felt like somebody put a stake through it," said Shamp's friend Ellen Eckard. "And I just — I still can't believe it."

Shamp was emptying trash when he was allegedly targeted by the Canoga Park Alabama Gang. The reason: He was black. [More]

The story doesn't give much detail, but it does name the street gang the accused belong to, the Canoga Park Alabama gang. (The accused are Richard Bordelon, AKA "Psycho." Martin Sotelo, AKA "Outlaw," and a juvenile, who the press unwilling  or forbidden to name, known as "Youngster.")

When I heard that that the gang was called "Canoga Park Alabama" I had a momentary fear that that they might me displaced white Southerners, (this would have been a much bigger story) but actually the gang started out as social club for Valley farmworkers in the 1930's, and has morphed into a 500 member Latino street gang with a history of violence and crime. [From social club to street gang |Canoga Park Alabama, once a Valley farmworkers group, has been targeted in L.A.'s gang crackdown.|Some question its actual threat. By Amanda Covarrubias and Richard Winton, Los Angeles  Times,March 21, 2007]

Their actions are part of the pattern of "ethnic cleansing" that Latinos are applying to American blacks who live near them, see Brenda Walker's coverage of the Jamiel Shaw murder, among many others.

Three theories about why reporter Miriam Hernandez didn't say this:

  1. She assumes everyone knows Canoga Park Alabama is Hispanic, like everyone knows the Mafia is Italian.
  2. She doesn't assume that, but is constrained by the AP Style Guide from disclosing it to the readers, because it's not "relevant."
  3. Her name is Miriam Hernandez.
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