Brian Eason Does a Drive-By on Councilman Quentin Whitwell

City Beat Reporter Brian Eason recently penned a patented Clarion-Ledger drive-by on Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell.  The blog post, entitled Jokes Reign at latest Occupy Jackson Hearing, attempted to highlight alleged bad behavior by Mr. Whitwell at a recent City Council meeting.  That's an ironic title, considering that the only "joke" arising from this meeting was Eason's post.

During the meeting, the full City Council considered the shower-education awareness group Occupy Jackson's request to set up a commune in Smith Park.  Mr. Whitwell spoke against the request, generally citing "law and order" concerns.  Whitwell made no personal attacks or insults in his pithy comments.

When Whitwell concluded his remarks, Ward 2 City Councilman Edwin Taliaferro Chokwe Lumumba made the obligatory (and completely irrelevant) reference to race.  Sticking to his lifelong race-baiting schtick, Lumumba said of Whitwell's remarks, "Senator Bilbo couldn't have said it better."  The insulting comparison to Bilbo, a vile racist, was a blatant and inflammatory personal attack on Whitwell.  After Lumumba finished his remarks, Whitwell attempted to object to the inappropriate comments.  The chair of the meeting, Council Vice-President Tony Yarber, repeatedly spoke over Whitwell to prevent him from making his objections.  To make matters worse, SoJack's finest made no attempt to reprimand or caution Lumumba not to make such statements.

Despite the deplorable behavior by Lumumba, and gutless behavior by Yarber, Brian Eason made up a story that falsely stated that Whitwell acted inappropriately during the meeting.  Here's what Eason wrote:

He (Whitwell) and Ward 2 Councilman Chokwe Lumumba exchanged heated words at the first meeting, and the Council Vice President, Tony Yarber, got on Whitwell repeatedly for speaking (and occasionally shouting) out of turn.

Any reasonable person who reads this would get the impression that Whitwell acted inappropriately at the meeting, and had to be jerked back into line by the Principal.  There's only one problem with Brian Eason's claim:  It's a complete fabrication. 

Thankfully, we don't have to accept Eason's claim that Whitwell shouted, because it's on video.  Watch the video, and decide for yourself whether Mr. Whitwell was "shouting."  (Note to Brian Eason:  If it's easier to hear Whitwell than it is the others, it's not because he was "shouting."  It's because he was speaking directly into a sound amplification device commonly referred to as a "microphone."  The purpose of this device is to assist members of the audience in hearing the speaker's words.  For more information regarding this cutting-edge technology, click here).

Eason's claim that Whitwell was "speaking out-of-turn," is not exactly accurate either.  In Legislative bodies, it is a common and accepted practice for members to respond to inflammatory statements and personal attacks by other members.  This allows the member to ask the chair to strike the inflammatory comments or admonish the offender.  This practice is sometimes referred to as a "point of order."  Evidently, Tony Yarber and Brian Eason are not familiar with this procedure. 

Eason's blatantly false jab at Whitwell is compounded by the fact that he didn't say one word about Lumumba's inflammatory remark.  He didn't even mention it.  Comparing a fellow councilmember to Bilbo is inappropriate by any standard.  Despite having this clear evidence of inappropriate conduct staring him in the face, Eason ignored it.  Instead, he makes up a story that it was Whitwell who acted badly. 

Why would Eason do this?  Why couldn't Eason bring himself to even mention Lumumba's remarks?  Why go to the trouble of making up a story about Whitwell, when he had clear proof of obvious bad behavior by a notorious race baiter? 

Eason's half-ass attempt at drive-by journalism would be bad enough had his dishonesty-by-omission ended there.  But it didn't.  Later in the post, Eason described the Planning Committee meeting that took place the next day.  During the meeting, Lumumba showed his behind again and walked out of the meeting.  Inexplicably, Mr. Eason did not think that was worthy for inclusion in the post.  Once again, Eason neglected to mention Lumumba's conduct.  And once again, we ask why.

Mr. Eason, why did you fail to mention Lumumba's deplorable comments in this post?  Why did you fail to mention that Lumumba injected the irrelevant race issue into the discussion?  Why did you fail to report that Lumumba disrespectfully walked out of the Planning Committee meeting when he didn't get his way?  Why did you overlook all this actual misconduct, and instead fabricate a story about Whitwell acting inappropriately?

In other words, Mr. Eason, why are you covering for Chokwe Lumumba?