Trophy - Julie Rybarczyk (CC)

In the category of Investigative/enterprise:
First place to Jill King Greenwood for “Epidemic,” an examination of the causes and effects of black-on-black homicides.

Is this a real surprise? The article talks a lot of the black on black violence that occurs in the inner city. If we were to write about the black on white violence we would be called racist for bringing it up. The story goes on to talk about how drugs are what caused the decline in the inner city neighborhood, mainly blaming crack cocaine. We also get a comparison to the number of black men killed by the Klan over the years. The story goes on to tell of a young black man trying to avoid the street gangs that roam the streets like packs of wolves looking for a victim. I can’t leave out the part that says how “going to jail is like getting a college degree” and “It’s considered a badge of honor to shoot someone or go to jail”. Finally, I have to mention the hero, Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper, a black man that spent most of his career on the streets as a narcotics investigator. I have to ask, when you read the story does it really tell us any information that we don’t already know?

In the category of Spot news story: First place goes to Jeremy Boren and Adam Brandolph for “Mother alleges son brutalized by police.”

When dealing with awards to honor excellence in journalism coverage of the African-American community we have to have a case of police brutality and this is that story. An 18-year-old black male was beaten by 3 police officers after not complying with their orders. Well that is no surprise there but this story has a twist. The teen in question here had performed for the First Lady Michelle Obama during one of her visits to Pittsburgh. The incident took place in the Homewood section of the city at 11:00 PM in a poorly lit area. For those of you that may not be familiar with the City of Pittsburgh let me explain it to you in simple easy to understand terms. I am legally permitted to carry a concealed weapon and I do very often. You would not catch me walking the streets of Homewood anytime of day and I try to avoid driving through that area as well. In the end though all charges were dropped against the teen and all 3 officers were reinstated to their regular assignments after the U.S. Department of Justice declined to prosecute them. So a story of no wrong doing and no guilty parties won an award.

In the category of News feature: First place goes to Margaret Harding for “Living with homicide”

After some research I was unable to locate this article so in all fairness I will not comment on it.

In the category of Feature story: First place goes to Chris Togneri for “Glimmers of hope”.

This is honestly a good story of one man’s idea with the help of God trying to make change. The Imani Christian Academy takes troubled kids that no other school wants and tries to make something out of them. This is great, one man working to make a change and truly is. However, I noticed in the video with the article all of the students shown are African-American. Well, I guess that is to be expected when you’re dealing with troubled inner city youth. But I have to ask, what if this was an all white school? Oh yes, the federal government would step in and scream that we can’t have an all white school, they must be intermixed to make it politically correct. Now maybe I am wrong and the Imani Christian Academy has a few white students and they just were not shown in this article so that the writer could win an award so he and his employer could not be called racist. I do wish the best of luck to the leaders of the Imani Christian Academy.

In the category of Sports feature: First place goes to Scott Brown for “Second chance”

Again, I was unable to locate this particular story. When searching for it I located numerous stories by Mr. Brown in regards to second chances. So once again in all fairness, I will not pick this article apart.

In the category of Column: First place goes to Nafari Vanaski for “Should anyone use the ‘n-word’?”

Um yeah…..okay after reading this article I am kind of at a loss for words. Really? Writer Nafari Vanaski got an award for telling us something that every white person in America already knows? FACT: If a white person says the “n-word” in any context we are racist. It’s okay for African-American people to use it as the third word of every sentence but if a white person says it one time he must be a member of the Klan right? In fact, I am pretty sure that if I even spell the “n-word” out in this article I will get yelled at by the people above me so I won’t use it (this is very difficult for me to do being I normally speak my mind not caring who I upset along the way). But I promise I won’t do it even though I am tempted. On that note, being the proud white male that I am I have to ask. Why is it okay for African-Americans to use terms such as “Cracker”, “Honkey”, “Whitey”, “White bread”, “Wonder bread”, “Wood”, and “woodie”? I as a proud white American male am offended by these words. Oh that’s right; I forgot we don’t matter because we are “white devils”. There are many more names white people are called but I didn’t want to waste your time by listing them all. I mean really, I will guess that 99% of you that are reading this are “crackers” and know the other names we are called. But then again stating the obvious has once again won another award for the Tribune-Review and that makes them less racist. Does writing about this whole thing make me more racist?

In the category of News photo: First place goes to Andrew Russell for “Family braces for horrifying news”

If I come across as a cold hearted person here, I don’t mean too. I’m sure the people in this award winning photograph just found out some of the worst news they will ever receive. However, if it was white people in the photograph would the pictures still have won an award? Do the people grieving in these photographs know that one of the worst moments of their lives was caught on film and won an award? You want to see grieving blacks? Turn on the 6:00 news. You want to see grieving white people? Turn on the 6:00 news. I’m sorry but these photographs didn’t say anything to me. The first thing I noticed was the Steeler jersey. I don’t know maybe I am wrong, do white folks grieve? I’m sorry but, if my family is grieving and I see some clown taking our picture, all he is going to get is a close up of my fist into his camera. Many times I have been tempted.

And finally, in the category of Business news: Second place goes to Chris Ramirez for “Curiosity spurs a Roots cause”

Once again I am unable to locate this story, so being the nice guy that I am, I will leave it alone.

Now as a proud and loud white American male, would happen if I created the David E. Duke White Journalism Competition? To start things off I am pretty sure I would have a long line of people calling me many of the racial white discriminatory names that I listed above. While that does not bother me, I am bothered by the fact that I can not be a proud white. What bothers me even more is that media both written and broadcasted have to prove that they are not racist. Why is it necessary for media to prove they are not racist? In fact, I feel it makes them more racist, yes that’s right. They are bending over backwards to show the black communities and African-American Organizations that they are not racist against blacks but end up leaving the white people in the back of the bus. Yes I am aware that it’s no longer the 1940’s and that in the 1960’s there was a civil rights movement giving African-Americans their rights but what about my rights? What about the right of every American to vote? When President Obama ran for his current office the Black Panthers intimidated many white voters in Philadelphia. The outcome of this was nothing. Americans once were tough and strong people but much of that America no longer exists. Today, too many Americans are more concerned about what other people think and do. If something goes wrong we blame the system. We must be politically correct. Well, if that’s the way you want it then let’s be correct. I am sorry to tell the African-American people that you are not the minority. In fact, the real group of minority people in America today is the American Indians. Yes, that’s right. In fact, I am sorry to tell the African-American people this but if any group of people have a right to be pissed of at white people it’s the American Indians. They led a simple easy life until we took over their land forced them into reservations, introduced them to disease and almost forced them into extinction. It is because of the white man that the American Indians became very angry people wanting to fight off the white man.

While the white man or the politically correct term European Americans may be the majority in America, we are made to feel as the minority. We have to watch the communities we go into, watch the words we use, we can’t celebrate being proud of our white heritage and we have to bend over backwards to prove that we are not racist. Thanks to groups such as the Pittsburgh Black Media Foundation they have made the task of proving you are not racist easier. As a proud white male I will continue to show my pride. While my family fought for the South in the War for Southern Independence and they were not slave owners I will continue to show my pride in my ancestors standing up and fighting for their land, the land they worked hard to get and keep. I believe in writing the truth. I believe in telling stories and history the way they are meant to be told. I will not write a story that I don’t believe in and I won’t write it to be politically correct. I will tell you it as it is no matter who I upset. Much of the media in America today have lost track of this. They are so worried about what other people will think that the truth gets lost. I am what I am and if that makes me a racist because I am proud of my heritage than so be it, call me what you want. I will promise you this, no matter what color your skin I will tell you when you are wrong and when you are right. With what the media is doing today, I say it is wrong. If a young black man is beaten by three police officers don’t twist it into a hate crime. The facts are the facts. He didn’t obey the orders he was given by the officers and he resisted them. I don’t care what color your skin is, if you resist them they have the right to use force. When those same three officers are cleared of all charges then the same media that accused them of brutality should print that they were cleared. When I searched the story of “Mother alleges son brutalized by police” I found it all over the internet in a matter of seconds. However, when I tried to find out what happen with the three officers involved, well that took a little longer to find. This kind of stuff doesn’t just happen with newspapers such as the Tribune-Review, its all of the news media. Fox News calls themselves “Fair and Balanced”. Well, while I do watch a lot of Fox News I am sorry to tell you that you are not always fair and balanced. I am sorry to inform the media that none of you are fair and balanced. Every news media outlet out there sways to one side or the other. I will give Fox credit; they are fairer and more balanced than many of the news media companies out there. Someone once said, “The truth hurts”. They are very right and maybe that is why the media wants to try to make everyone happy so they don’t hurt people’s feelings. Maybe this is what has led many Americans to become weaker as people. Maybe the media feels that by being politically correct nobody will get hurt. Well, let me tell you this, hurting people’s feelings is what toughens them up.

In closing I would like to congratulate the winners of the 2011 I Am Not a Racist Awards. I hope that every night you go to bed telling yourself that you are not a racist and I hope that you don’t dislocate your shoulder patting yourselves on the back for proving it. I want the winners to remember one thing, while you are writing to prove what you are or are not and working on winning your fancy awards there are people like me working in the shadows to spread the truth. The people like me that are not afraid to tell people the way it is no matter what color of skin they may have. If you are right we will tell you and if you are wrong we will call you on it and if we hurt your feelings, well maybe that’s because the truth hurts and you need to toughen up a little bit.

We’ve all played the little game “what if” at some point in our lives. Let’s take a moment to do that with this. What if the media didn’t start frothing at the mouth over the whole budget issue in the first place? What if reporters and news networks didn’t run willy-nilly all over the Hill begging for a moment of the politicians’ time to comment on the budget? What if instead of scaring the hell out of the citizens of this country by reporting what terrible things would happen if the government shut down, the media had instead pointed out a very obvious truth – no one in Washington could afford a shutdown?

It’s a simple concept, but it seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. When Karl Rove came out saying that the shutdown during the Clinton Administration was “good” for the president, that should have been a big honking hint. That was arguably the one thing that made the whole situation almost bearable for me. The epic failure of the media to figure out precisely why he said it was just plain depressing. Now, I could be wrong, but at the point that comment came out, the right-wing was running about self-satisfied, even chanting for a shutdown because they were misguided enough to think that there was absolutely no chance that hanging up the budget talks on a pittance for Planned Parenthood was going to blow up in their faces. Little hint folks – more likely than not, it would have. Sorry, but we’ve long since passed the point where the people at large are willing to suffer financially for their principles. And bluntly, that would have been a battle of principles, since we’re at war. Did anyone seriously think that there was a vast majority of people out there angry enough at Planned Parenthood getting a minuscule sliver of the pie that they were willing to tell our military families to suck it up and do without their pay? I hope not! If that is the case, then we’re worse off than I thought!

The picture above is from Bleeding Kansas. To brush up a bit on our history, that was when there were bloody battles over slavery in the western territories. This was obviously a real and legitimate reason for citizens to be at each others’ throats, and drawing arms. Fighting over minuscule portions of an extremely bloated Federal Budget is not, no matter how much the media might want to make anyone think it is. The bottom line is that it is all posturing by politicians making use of hot button issues to get everyone in a frenzy. That is not newsworthy. Whether or not these little things end up in the budget is meaningless, simply because they account for such a small portion of it anyway. Bluntly, particularly in the case of Planned Parenthood, not paying that minuscule amount is likely to cause greater expenses down the road – in welfare benefits, child protective services, and the criminal justice system, unless someone magically caused human nature to change. People that don’t want children, but are forced to have them because the government impedes their ability to make informed choices on reproduction, are more likely to not take care of them well. Sad, but true. And anyone that suggests that adoption is the solution right now is living in a fairy tale world, if for no other reason because of the mess that is our current child adoption system. There’s a very good reason why many couples looking to adopt look overseas – less legal trouble, and practically no chance that natural parents will show up later to reclaim their children. But I digress.

Regardless of the inner-workings of the budget debate on the Hill, the bottom line is that this was a Hollywood moment for Congress and the Senate. Arguably, there was never any real intention of causing the government to come grinding to a halt, if for no other reason because of the military pay freeze that would have necessarily occurred. That just isn’t how these people want to go down in history – as a bunch of petulant children that willfully forced hardship on the families of soldiers for their own political gain. This should be a teaching moment for the media. Think twice when dealing with politicians, and make sure you are reporting the story – not creating it.

Then there are the security issues that the public really doesn’t need to know, and usually they don’t. We don’t need to know whether or not air security personnel are on the look out for particular people – or types of people. We don’t need to know about every homeland security alert, and we usually don’t. Finally, we don’t need to know about security concerns in air traffic control when there wasn’t an incident as a result of it.

What is the common thread in all those issues that we don’t need to know about? It’s fairly simple. They are all situations that we don’t want our enemies to know.

Call me paranoid if you like, but when I saw the reports about the kids in the control towers parroting their dad’s transmissions to pilots, I kept thinking “Oh great! Now every wacko with even a slight idea in their heads about messing with JFK is thinking about it more seriously!” And that thought was quickly followed with another – “And now everyone from every other country in the world can justify their contentions that we’re stupid!”

Yes, it was a mistake. Yes, action should be taken, and apparently is. That should be the end of it. There is no earthly reason why this story should still be in circulation on the news networks – and no, I don’t consider the “new” development that the idiot air traffic controller in question did it more than once with two of his kids worthy of reporting. The “story” never should have been out there in the first place, and is a classic example of the media’s failure to properly determine whether or not something “should” be reported.

So, for future reference, please don’t report stories that tempt terrorists to attack because they think there might be new gaping holes in our security, and make our country look like a bunch of mouth-breathing idiots to the entire world.  There’s plenty of stories out there that make us look like idiots, but don’t also tempt terrorists. Stick with them!

Of course the same could have been said by the conservatives about CNN during the last administration, but that’s neither here nor there.

What is most disturbing is the rabid nature of the latest round of attacks – some aimed at me, but most seem to be aimed at Jake Tapper for bringing this up in the first place. First, I don’t care about what people say to me – I already have a fair collection of “love notes” from people who were far worse, and decided it was a good idea to make threats against my life in the past. What bothers me is the level of intolerance that I am seeing from the people who have been screaming foul against Fox News for precisely that offense. The hypocrisy threat level is orange, inching toward red!

Yesterday via Twitter I was informed by Markos Moulitsas that the administration declaring that Fox News is not a legitimate news organization does nothing to that organization’s ability to exercise its rights under the First Amendment. He is right, but only because the amendment addresses the actions of Congress alone. No matter how much anyone wants to deny it, the White House denying the network access has repercussions far beyond the briefing room. I can see a future of fewer posts on DailyKos because without Fox News, they wouldn’t have as many people to call on their BS.

However, the contention of various people around the Web that this statement from the White House was appropriate on any level is absolutely wrong. As I keep saying, perhaps the message is accurate, but the messenger shouldn’t have said it. The White House is meant to be in the news, not control it – and denying Fox News like this is controlling that network’s ability to cover news. When members of the press report false information, other members of the press call them on it. The press is the watchdog of both the government and itself.

Quick on the heels of the White House statement on Fox News, I ended up with emails from MoveOn.org urging members to encourage actions that would ensure the demise of the network. Silencing opposition apparently has become acceptable to them?

Senator Lamar Alexander knows just a little bit about the dangers of government dabbling in this sort of behavior, and he isn’t off-base comparing this to Nixon’s enemies list. Even The Huffington Post thought Alexander’s comments merited a page on their site. If worrying about our supposedly free press becoming a progressive echo chamber – at least where television news networks are concerned – or the White House taking steps similar to those we saw during the Nixon Administration is politically incorrect now, then I have absolutely no hope of ever being accepted by the new left.

The wheel has turned folks. Those of you on the left who have been crying for years about being ignored by the beastly right-wing, and are now rejoicing in the possibility of shutting down a news network have become what you despised. If someone had told me four years ago that the GOP had any hope of becoming a righteous party again, in the midst of the dirty tricks being played by Bush, Rove, and Cheney, I would have laughed them out of the room. But right about now the left is offering the GOP a golden opportunity – time will tell if they take it. Amazing what a little time and power can do to even the best of people. Thank you for making it so much easier for me to state publicly with pride that I’m a Goldwater-conservative – it was depressing having to whisper it at times!

Everyone knows what Fox News is about – just like everyone knows what the tabloids we see every time we go through the check out lines in the grocery stores are selling. Just remember, you call them on their false statements and absurdities – you don’t silence them!

As someone who is regularly accused of being a RINO because of my obvious distaste for the neo-conservative party line, particularly where social issues are concerned, I know it is difficult for some people to remember that underneath it all, I am still a conservative. I tend not to agree with the opinion programming on the Fox News network, but that is primarily because of the generally inflammatory nature of them. Promoting hatred and intolerance was never part of what I consider being a conservative.

During the Bush administration, there was an environment of fear that kept the media from honestly questioning the policies and decisions that were handed down. “That’s un-American” was echoed regularly, purely because we were supposed to be united in a fight against terrorism. Eventually the questions came to light, and the media seemed to have regained a sense of its purpose – watchdog for the people.

Now, like it or not, Fox News is in the position of being watchdog. The media in general is supposed to have accepted standards of practice, and should be capable of reminding their fellows when they step out of line. It is not the job of the White House to do this, period. When President Obama took the oath of office, he swore to defend the Constitution, including the First Amendment. Until Fox News is dragged into court for going beyond the protections that the First Amendment affords, the government in general has no business making statements about the legitimacy of the organization as news source.

I said yesterday that defending the rights of others to speak freely is part and parcel of having that right. As it stands now, the White House has set itself on a dangerous course that leads to a government-run press. And before anyone starts screaming foul against that statement, consider this. While it might be tempting to say that this is repayment for the Bush years, or the turning of the political wheel, the relative silence of the liberal press after 9/11 was largely self-imposed. What flavor of fear – fear of the administration, terrorists, or financial losses for speaking against a highly popular president – caused it doesn’t matter in the final analysis. The bottom line was that the media chose to turn a blind eye on a myriad of sins over the years. The books depicting them are still trickling out of the presses.

The difference now is that the administration is doing the talking, and making a call that should have been made by the people or the rest of the media. Fox News is free to say what they want as long as they are not committing slander, libel, or a criminal act in doing so. Conversely, everyone else is free to call out the errors, problems with research sources, or any other issues they may have with what Fox News says. The administration is overstepping its bounds by refusing to make itself available to Fox News, period. The sad part of it is that there are far too many people thinking that this isn’t a problem – or worse, a good thing.

Disagreeing with what a news organization has to say is not grounds to state that it is not a news organization.

A while ago Christian Toto explored the issue of journalists not dealing with bias in the media appropriately at length. Every word of what he said there is absolutely true, and should become the introduction for every textbook on journalism from this point on. I pine for the old days of the GOP, when the attitude of the party toward most social issues was that they were for the people to decide on their own, privacy was a real concern, and smaller government was a real goal. I also look back longingly on a time when calling a collection of journalists “ladies and gentlemen” meant that was precisely what they were, and politicians maintained a love/hate relationship easily with the media – as in they never actively stated they would be unavailable to the press (except when they were in trouble), and used editorial pages and similar venues to voice their concerns when they disliked coverage on them.

There used to be a line between the media and government – journalists kept their suggestions for how to govern on the opinion pages and programs, and politicians stayed out of the business of journalism until they left office. The line has faded, but isn’t completely gone – yet. I hope I never see the day when it completely disappears, because that will be the true death of our free press.

The public fascination with seeing “real” life on the small screen has been a cash cow for the networks, and scores of shows have been created to feed the obsession. It shouldn’t have been surprising when people started doing outrageous things in the hope of getting their own shows.

When it became clear that Octo-Mom was apparently looking for television contracts, no one was surprised. Obviously she just wanted to take a piece of the same pie Jon and Kate Plus Eight had been feasting on. Since their troubles, perhaps she’ll end up with more than just a piece – she might need it, since her OB/GYN is apparently under scrutiny for helping her create her brood.

Whispers about a reality show on Michael Jackson’s children have been floating around. There’s probably a line of television executives salivating over the concept.

Apparently there wasn’t enough controversy surrounding the concept of parading young girls done up with more make-up and hairspray than most women use in a year, so they created at least a couple shows on pageants. Even if it should have been considered extremely disturbing, the public just gobbled up the idea of watching toddlers dressed in evening gowns.

Then we got balloon boy. Finding words to explain the logic of letting a large helium balloon loose and claiming a child is on board to authorities is beyond difficult.

And the saddest part is that I’m only scratching the surface.

This is beyond a “this is what is wrong with society” situation. We have fallen so far, it is difficult to figure out how to begin to dig ourselves out. We can sit here and say that the regular exploitation of children on television and in the media in general is the fault of the parents and guardians of those children, but that’s just a rationalization.

It is our fault.

We create the market for this atrocity.

We watch the shows.

We encourage producers to find more bizarre and dysfunctional families to feature for our amusement.

We created the environment that caused a six-year-old boy to be used in a ploy to get the attention of those producers.

We made that boy physically ill on national television.

But, we can switch the channel, stop watching, stop buying from the advertisers, write to the producers, write to the networks – we can state that the exploitation of children is not entertainment.

But will we?

However, I am a very big fan of the First Amendment. I think I was forced to read the Constitution from beginning to end sometime in my grammar school years – between 4th and 6th grades. From the beginning, I understood that it was a “cool” thing that we had the right to speak out (something that we couldn’t do in our Catholic School classrooms.) Needless to say, I had some very strict teachers, and one thing I definitely remember is that they drilled it into our heads from the very beginning that freedom of speech also meant that we had to defend that same right even for people we didn’t agree with.

When I read Jake Tapper’s exchange with Press Secretary Gibbs today, I was more than a little annoyed. The knee jerk response was, “Who the hell do they think they are?!?!” Granted, that was probably magnified by the fact that I’d been debating Obama’s acceptance of the U.N.’s resolution on free speech elsewhere, but still.

I don’t care how silly, out of bounds, or anything else that Fox News is or becomes. The White House has no business stating outright or otherwise that it is not a news organization. It is not in the job description, and bluntly, those who did it may as well go to Constitution Center and defecate on the Constitution itself!

I snapped a few pictures as they approached, and then talked for a short time with one of them. It was a colorful group, literally – Tibetan flags and gold t-shirts. Others in the group noticed my interest, and offered pamphlets and cause bracelets as they passed.

It was largely business as usual on the rest of CMU campus at that time. Security was a little more visible than usual, but not obtrusively so. The students had displays in the quad, and some were selling G-20 themed shirts. Two appeared nearby selling white shirts with just “Apathy” printed in black on them. “Wear your ‘real’ cause” was their sales slogan – it earned them at least a few laughs from passersby and steely glances from students supporting homeless rights.

As I walked down Forbes Ave. from CMU campus to the Pitt campus, I started getting the idea of what I was meant to show people about the G-20, and more importantly, Pittsburgh. It hit me as I saw the intersection for what is arguably my favorite street in the Oakland neighborhood. Craig St. is filled with small businesses, from specialty shops to independent booksellers, to ethnic restaurants. It is a “dream street” for anyone who works with community redevelopment projects, because vacancies are few and far between. Shops may change, but the atmosphere remains the same – a quiet, but busy side street. That day it was quiet, and with fewer shoppers than usual. But outsiders would never guess what was happening in the rest of the city if they looked only at Craig St.

Farther down Forbes Ave. the atmosphere was obviously different. From the covered windows and statues in front of the Carnegie Museums, to the barricaded intersection by the Cathedral of Learning across from Schenley Plaza, it was obvious that the city was preparing for the worst. Another group of protesters was gathering in the Plaza, but they did not appear as peaceful as their Tibetan counterparts. The local ABC affiliate had a camera crew there, and ACLU legal observers were on the outskirts of the group. “Education is a Right” was their chant, but all the students milling around didn’t receive it very well. It wasn’t a radical response, more like incredulous glances, perhaps because the university students, who worked very hard to be accepted at Pitt and were putting themselves in debt for their educations, weren’t pleased with the idea of “just anybody” getting what they had without having to do the same.

As the group began to march, a group of police officers across the street formed a line on the sidewalk to prevent the marchers from going down Forbes Ave. The leaders of the group quickly realized they were meant to go up to Fifth Ave., and switched direction with no incident. The media watching all of this quickly lost interest once they realized there wouldn’t be a confrontation between the protesters and law enforcement. If I’d seen this immediately after getting off the bus, I may very well have reacted the same way the other members of the media had – at that point, I ended up rolling my eyes at them. The news of the day for them would be the violence and vandalism that would occur in the path of the protesters that gathered in Lawrenceville later that day. Smoke bombs, broken glass, protesters with masks and bandanas over their faces, and arrests would be the majority of the coverage. Shots of protesters lying face down at the feet of police officers would be their “news.” It’s the nature of the beast, not to say that the beast is right.

“In the last more than 50 years of Chinese illegal occupation of Tibet, over 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed, thousands have gone missing and still several hundred languish in prisons…Neither has China been cooperative on resolving global economic issue in any means nor does china have any intention to sincerely contribute their thought to upgrade of global economy…The continued gross violation of human rights in Tibet, East Turkistan and mainland China proved against Hu Jintao’s previous commitments of promoting and safeguarding world peace and seeking a harmonious society. China’s leaders should stop making rhetorical statements and false commitments to the world…Regional Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey (RTYC NY&NJ) while reiterating its stand for the complete Independence of Tibet appeal to the UN and the world leaders to raise the issue of Tibet through these G-20 Summits to the leaders of People’s Republic of China. We also appeal to the international community to not remain indifferent to the sufferings of the Tibetan people and to continue your support for the just struggle of the Tibetans.”

Excerpts from a white sheet of paper I was given by one of the “Free Tibet” protesters, the previous words were the only succinct, coherent statement I could find from any of the people taking to the streets to be heard. It is a simple request offered with legitimate, verifiable evidence supporting it. And, unfortunately, in spite of the fact that it would be relatively easy for world leaders to actually attempt to grant it, the request either didn’t reach them at all, or fell on deaf ears. The Tibetans gathered very little attention from the press, probably because they weren’t very boisterous, and didn’t break anything. It is hypocrisy, because on one hand the press claims they don’t want to see violence, but when they see peaceful protesters, they pass them over for the rabble-rousers. I have managed to tell others what the Tibetans want, but it’s a pretty fair guess to say that the media covering the violent protesters couldn’t tell anyone a single thing about why those people were in the streets in the first place – other than to raise hell.

Self-proclaimed anarchists were gathering in Lawrenceville, and their answers to why they were protesting were either ambiguous generalities about society, or were radical statements on capitalism that no realistic individual would ever believe that the leaders meeting at the G-20 Summit would even consider implementing. Some have simply stated that they are against “everything G-20.” Pittsburgh residents who are annoyed with the disruption of their lives have been pointing out the hypocrisy of these groups in places like Twitter – fancy cell phones and video cameras are fine, but materialism otherwise is bad. Add the fact that anarchists came out publicly shortly after three Pittsburgh police officers were killed stating that the shooter was “right”, and it is no wonder that these protesters are being met with resistance not only from law enforcement, but also from the citizens.

There have been several high-minded analyses about why Pittsburgh was chosen for this summit, but beyond economic and geographic factors is one that I can’t help thinking was the deciding one – the people. Pittsburgh is not a hot bed for political unrest. That is not to say that there aren’t politically active groups at all. It is to say that the “regular” citizens far outnumber the activists. Also, there will always be a general attitude that Pittsburgh is a strong city made up of smaller communities that have a definite idea of who and what they are. This strong sense of identity isn’t easy for outsiders to tear down, so while the residents aren’t impervious to whatever may happen in the streets, the bottom line is that within a week or two after the G-20 is over, all signs of it will either be gone, or well on the way to being removed. This isn’t a “be all, and end all” situation for the people – it is an annoyance, a spectacle, a diversion, an excuse to work from home, or even an excuse to party.

There’s even a decent chance that Pittsburghers may make the same observations that I am now. They may condemn the media for blowing everything out of proportion, and giving far too much attention to the people who caused harm to their city. They’ve already started talking about the militaristic presence of law enforcement in the streets, however they are largely thankful for it – several broken windows, and under 100 arrests on day one is far less than most anticipated. Beyond any of the economic issues being discussed during the summit, they are concerned about the state of their hometown businesses, particularly in the downtown district. They may poke fun at the mayor for complaining about the lack of patrons downtown, since getting there is not very easy.

The real story about the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh is about people. It isn’t about boisterous and violent protesters, confrontations with law enforcement, or world leaders coming to the city to talk (or act like they are talking) about world economic issues. It is about people muddling through in spite of all of that, finding their own ways to stimulate their local economies, trying to voice their concerns coherently to the powers that be in the hope of promoting real change, and learning to accept what they can’t change even if it involves cleaning up after someone else. No matter what decisions are made by world leaders during the summit, the people will continue on with their lives – hopefully it won’t be in spite of their leaders.