News Views - Guns in High School

Take your pick.

Tonight on the local TV news the report of a police drug raid on a South Carolina high school framed it thusly: The town's citizens are squarely behind the police action, as are the parents of the students. The same story covered by Dan Rather on the CBS national news was framed thusly: Parents of students are furious over a police raid on the high school.

Both shows aired the film from the schools hallway monitoring cameras. Only the national news program had interviews with some parents, a student, the high school principal and the police. The police and principal, who both defended the action, were white. The student and the parents, who objected to the action, were black. There were white kids in the school. Did CBS not find any white parents who were upset? Did they frame the story so as to (not so) subtly pit blacks against whites?

Whatever the news slants or intentions, the video, and the results speak very clearly. No drugs were found. (The story was that there had been some sales by students of marijuana and pills in the corridor.) High school students were lying on the floor in the corridor, while one police officer is seen yanking a student off the floor from amongst other kids and throwing him down in another area. (It appeared to be the one black sudent CBS had interviewed.) Several other police officers (hard to tell - approximately 5) were scuffling about with guns drawn and pointed at the students lying on the ground.

Neither show had video of the beginning of the incident, so there may be something that triggered such a reaction by the police.

Without some serious triggering incident involving students with guns (and it seems likely that if there were, it would have made the news), if I were one of their parents, I would be more than furious.

An investigation is underway.