Houston: Blacks call for boycott of Channel 13

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Oct. 3, 2002, 11:16PM

Leaders allege double standard By CAROL CHRISTIAN Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle

In the wake of news stories about alleged wrongdoing by prominent African-Americans in Houston, black leaders called Thursday night for a boycott of KTRK-Channel 13 newscasts during sweeps week next month and other acts of protest.

The television station's investigation of Kid-Care Inc., a social service agency that provides food for children, is indicative of a wider trend to hold black leaders to a higher standard than whites, speakers told a town hall meeting at the SHAPE Center, 3815 Live Oak.

Minister Robert Muhammad of the Nation of Islam laid out the first few months of a yearlong action plan to battle what he called the mainstream media's double standard.

Local leaders, he said, plan to deliver a minimum of 100,000 complaint letters to the Federal Communications Commission office in Washington, D.C., in January.

DeLoyd Parker, SHAPE Center director, invited Kid-Care organizer Carol Porter and Constable Perry Wooten, who has been indicted on charges of abuse of official capacity, to join him in front of the crowd of about 150.

"Our purpose is to say to the media, 'This is our family and they are innocent until proven guilty,' " Parker said.

John Britton, a professor and former dean of Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas Southern University, said the indictment of Police Chief C.O. Bradford on a charge of perjury was an embarrassment to the city and a poor use of resources.

"The district attorney should never have presented this to the grand jury," Britton said.

Organized by activist Quanell X, the meeting was attended by City Council members Carol Mims Galloway and Ada Edwards, former Councilman Jew Don Boney, state Rep. Ron Wilson and representatives of various organizations.

-- Anonymous, October 04, 2002


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