Black Reporter Blasted With Racial Slurs

Relatives Of Man Arrested On Murder Charges Attack Female TV Reporter On Camera

(CBS/AP)  A relative of one of the people charged in an attack on a television reporter denied that her family attacked the woman because of her race, saying Wednesday they were upset because the news crew was reporting on the arrest of a family member.

CBS affiliate WSPA-TV reporter Charmayne Brown was standing in the street near the family's home in Union, S.C. when family members began yelling and charged at her, news director Alex Bongiorno said. Brown was punched in the head. Cameraman Ti Barnes was also struck as he tried to pull family members off Brown, Bongiorno said.

Brown and other witnesses of the attack said the four people, all white, yelled racial slurs and profanities as they attacked the reporter and cameraman, who are both black.

Neither Brown nor Barnes were charged because they acted in self-defense, police said.

Speaking to CBS' The Early Show, Brown said, "For me, the physical pain of the attack has faded, but the mental anguish will be hard to shake."

"I don't believe that because we have biracial children in our family," Doris Taylor said. "The police had done left, the coroner had done left, and they done took the body. And they were just wanting time to do a little bit of healing. And they asked them to leave and they wouldn't leave."

Taylor's daughter, Billie Joe Taylor was charged with assault and battery after the incident in Union on Tuesday, along with Tousha Smith and Trina Vinson. A fourth person, Robert Lee Harris, was arrested later and faces the same charge.

A white camera crew from a different station filmed much of the fight and was not attacked.

Brown was reporting on the death of 73-year-old Tommy Howell, who was killed by a blow to the head after an argument, authorities said. His body was found Tuesday in his home. Police arrested his grandson, Shane Howell, and charged him with murder, Union Public Safety Chief Sam White said.

"These people were very upset," White said. "I guess they just took it out the wrong way."

Shane Howell remains in jail, and it is unclear whether he has an attorney.

South Carolina has no law allowing a hate crime charge.

[baronez111]

Watch the unedited version of this video on YouTube and then see if you feel the same way about this. Charmayne Brown was no blameless victim. What is edited out is Charmayne charging Ms. Taylor on Ms. Taylor''s side of the street, not where Ms. Brown was standing across the street before the cut in filming, with her fist balled up and upraised, in spite of her own photographer trying to pull her away. A true professional would have walked away, but Ms. Brown did not. Ms. Brown pulled Ms. Taylor down by her hair, then tried to flip her martial style, then was kneeling over her threateningly while her own photographer, another man and the other women were all trying to pull her off. After Ms. Taylor is peeled off the ground, Ms. Brown continues to cuss and gesture threateningly bowing up on them while her cameraman tries to persuade her to back off. The truth is going to come out eventually because there are other videos available that show it and no amount of spin is going to change that. Maybe you don''t care about Ms. Taylor or her family (and I do agree she is partially at fault), but would you want to be stalked and baited by this reporter while you were grieving two just discovered family tragedies? Would you be able to respond to an irrational and devastating event, rationally? Would you then like biased editing to delete YOUR side of the story? Wake up before it''s too late.

[libsrweak]

what you are doing is ''grandstanding''..its not helping any but making you into a bigger drama diva. so spare me

[mnmsj]

lladnars r u serious? Reporters lingering after the hype is over? The white students that shoot up the campus, how long do we endure coverage over these incidents? The white reporters were on the property. She wasn''t asking how it felt, or maybe I missed that part of the story. CBS, I now remeber why I don''t watch your station. Crazy things do happen everyday, treat them the same, no matter the color of the skin.

[parrot2ok]

Isn''t this the same state with the Clan shop in a building owner by a black preacher ?

[michellem99-2009]

We are told time and again what a great NATION the US of A is. Good God Allmighty we can''t so much be a PEOPLE of ONE NATION. THIS. This is what America is and has become. Hateful,self centred,greedy,etc. I am a Mainer and the hate has always been there from the beginning..We can''t so much as get along with each other..What the hell are we fighting in the Middle East - oil.. What are we as a PEOPLE telling the world. UK people call it an AMERICAN WAR. We can''t end this over skin colour. We have no business over there. We NEED to CLEAN house HERE. This use to be a great Nation. I said use to be. We are more like a 3rd world nation. Where the haves vs the have nots.

[alphaa10-2009]

SC is home to many bright, progressive and patriotic people. It is also home to some who still think like Strom Thurmond and a slave-owning, textile-mill economy of 175 years ago.

Thurmond''s beliefs are such a rank offense against American ideals, they brought trouble by the shipping carton for Trent Lott, who resigned as Senate Majority Leader after praising Thurmond for his "old time" politics.

The point of all this, we can suppose, is random violence by one group against another need not become a permanent blot on our future. As a people, we can and will work past it, because we are all in this together.

[vmcneal2]

I''ll admit that reporters can sometimes make a person mad enough to go off. But this was not the case in this situation. The women and her klan(family) ran across the street to attack the reporter while yelling out racial slurs. From the looks of the family, suing them would be pointless. The lesson to be learned from this is don''t marry your first cousin.

[grazinggoat]

Another pathetic story in the World of BibullBelt?

[zootallures2]

Ever wonder why the Bible says to kill all the Caananite Hee Haws?

[zootallures2]

Send the Hee Haw baboons to Boheimian Grove for a Hoe Down. How dare they send Blacks to film what baboons they are.

[corinne122]

Two points, beyond the obvious one that this is a heinous act on the part of these attackers.
1. The CBS headline has no mention of physical assault - what happened.
2. Rodriguez should apologize to Ms. Brown.
Rodriguez'' last question was for Ms. Brown to explain the thinking of these vicious attackers..."Why would they have just snapped?"...That''s right, ask the victim to explain the reasoning of crazed behavior...

[klingon69]

It would be better for the whole truth to come out now rather than later.
Posted by baronez111 at 02:10 PM : Mar 13, 2008
Much like the Rodney King video, the media only wants to focus on the sensationalism, not the background.

[klingon69]

Posted by Blkpanther43 at 01:44 PM : Mar 13, 2008
Try telling your lies to someone who will believe them. By your own handle you have proved that you are a racist.

[klingon69]

Holy cow...I think the reporter got off easy, because I''''m convinced Leatherface was in that house waiting to put her on the spit.
Posted by mkbjon at 01:16 PM : Mar 13, 2008
Nah, Leatherface was fom Texas. Probably doesn''t like dark meat

[clmonroe]

This is CRAZY! I don''t believe are actually taking the side of the family. No one deserves to be treated like that! CBS Morning Show is not any better. It''s like ya''ll were trying to get the reporter to say she provoked the family. If it was the other way around. White people would be in an uproar.

This is what happens when reporters descend on upset people. While the reporter had the right to be there that does not make it right that they lingered after the action was over. From reading your article it seems clear that everything was over. All of the authorities had left as had the body and all of the defendants. All that was left were the family that contained both the victim and the perpetrator. The press seems to think it is okay to jam a microphone is someone''s face and ask "how does it feel". Well maybe the reporter now understands how it feels to be cornered and pushed until someone snaps. This particular reporter may or may not have deserved this. But the bottom feeders of the profession certainly do deserve this.

[nolalou]

Posted by baronez111, if you have a site with the full video, tell us where it is! I have looked at several sites, and frankly your story that the reporter ''started it'' and had her fist balled up, etc, sounds like something you just made up! In other words, you are FULL OF BULL! Even the police chief''s statement said the attack was NOT PROVOKED!

[thgdriver]

lucybentley1

Hummmmm, seems I recall the Bently cotton plantation of a large Southern state. Any relation? Rhett Butler and his wife Scarlet were neighbors, as I recall.

[lucybentley]

Concerning the attack on the Black News Lady - As a Southerner, I am both embarrassed and appalled at the actions of these people. Please do not think that everyone in the South acts this way. As a proud caucasian Southerner, I am ashamed of these people for their actions and for portraying the South as an ignorant place. Please accept my apology on behalf of all decent and moral Southerners.

[roxanne371]

If this is another edited version, shame on you guys. Don''t just show what you want us to see - does ANYONE remember that news people are supposed to report all sides? (Not that I agree with them attacking this lady at all!) But I am sick and tired of being shown just what you guys want us to know so that we think along the same lines as you - remember land of the free?