#CecilTheLionMatters

#BlackLivesMatter
by Alatenumo
http://www.scribd.com/Alatenumo/documents

#CecilTheLionMatters
#BlackLivesMatter
After glancing at the headline "#BlackLivesMatter - Another One Bites The Dust." Roger Hall
turns his gaze towards Mary Truscott, his Copy Editor and says, "We can't use this headline
for tomorrows front cover page. Why do you find this story so compelling?"
Mary replies, "Taliqua Johnson's death while in police custody is a developing story and
people in the black community are getting agitated. I understand they are planning a week of
rage in a couple of days. We need to get a head start before the other papers cover it."
"But if Taliqua was murdered," Roger says as he examines the 12 faces displayed on the
front page, "Why are you including the images of other black people?"
"Her death fits perfectly into the narrative of blacks getting killed every day by the police
in different parts of the country," Mary says.
Roger gets up and paces up and down his office. Scratching his bald head, he says, "With all
due respect Mary, I think this article should be in the middle pages. The murder of Cecil the
Lion is of greater significance. It should be our cover story."
"Some of the sub editors had the same view, but we eventually decided not to feature it
as Cecil is just an animal."
"Just an animal? I don't think you are reading the pulse of our readers."
"How?"
"When you have been in this business as long as I have, you will realise that headlines
such as Black Lives Matter touches a nerve. Focusing on such issues will only alienate our
readers."
"So a dead lion on the front cover would be more appropriate?" Mary says.
"Absolutely, take a look on social media and see what the number one trending topic is.
Cecil was gunned down in cold blood. He is the most important figure to come out of Africa
after Mandela and his namesake Cecil Rhodes. Everyone is talking about it. Even the
Governor wants the flags on all government buildings to be flown at half mast. I even
understand a minute silence will be held in Cecil's honour at the beginning of all baseball
league matches this weekend.
"But....."
"There's even a petition calling for Cecils killer to be extradited to Zimbabwe," Roger
says, "It has been signed by nearly 400,000 people."
"Thats why we should concentrate on the Taliqua story. Only 8,000 people signed a
petition calling for her killer to be arrested."
Roger stands up, "Doesn't that tell you something? People aren't interested in whether or not
a black person is killed. We hear about it everyday. I wonder why the fuss about Black lives.
We don't hear these black people scream when blacks kill blacks."
"White on white crime happens more often than black on black crime," Mary says, "The
only difference is the media and politicians don't call it white on white."
"Okay let me ask you a question. What do you think is the first thing that comes to the
mind of our readers when they see an image of say a dead black woman?"
"Sympathy."
"And after that?"
"You tell me." Mary says.
"They'd probably think she was rude to the police or was not properly dressed. However,
when an animal is killed people are more empathetic because they imagine it being their own
cat or dog." Roger says.
"Can't believe what I'm hearing."
Roger continues, "There is this innocence about animals which you don't see in black people.
If you had a choice between saving your cat or a black person stuck in quicksand, whom
would you rescue?

"That's racist."
Rogers face turns red, "If you were black, I would have said that you were playing the
race card. Im not a racist after all, my best friend is black and I was even happy when
Serena Williams beat Sharapova at Wimbledon."
"I think you are being so insensitive. How can you value a lion more than a human
being?"
"As far as human rights and animal rights are concerned, I'm neutral. Since you fail to
see things from our readers point of view, perhaps I should educate you on what they really
think."
Mary folds her arms, "I'm all ears."
"There is a hierarchy of rights. At the top of the pyramid are human rights for rich white
people and people from Western Europe, North America and Australia." Roger says, "A few
white Africans living in countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa are also included in this
group."
Mary shakes her head, "Are you having a laugh?"
Property rights are also important. People are free to protest but when property is at
risk, many of our readers expect us to focus on the damage done to property. Properties have
to be respected. Why do you think CNN goes nuts whenever these black protesters start to
attack properties?
"Even if their relatives have been killed unlawfully?"
Ignoring her response, Roger continues, "We should also focus on animal rights. As long
as all these rights have not been breached, we can devote our energy on the rights of black
people."
An insect crawls on Roger's desk. Mary reaches out and hits it with a magazine and flicks it
to the ground. Roger looks disapprovingly.
"So what you are telling me is that all lives matter, but some lives matter more than
others." Mary says.
"Don't put words in my mouth."
"It doesn't make sense," Mary says, "A couple of months ago, when a lion killed a
woman in Africa, where was the outrage? Whenever an African lion is killed, there is so much
noise, but when a person of African descent is killed there is silence. Has the world gone
mad?"
"Lions are cute animals. If we allow poachers to kill all the animals in Africa how will our
readers be able to enjoy their holidays? Do you expect them to start talking to the natives?"
"Are you for real?" Mary says.
"Calm down. Even from an economic perspective, it still makes sense to feature Cecil on
the front cover. We will get more clicks on our website. Let me show you something on my
computer."
Mary walks over to Roger's desk. He logs on to topsy.com website and types
#BlackLivesMatter and #CecilTheLion
"What can you read from this graph?" Roger asks.
Black lives don't matter."
Touching the screen, Roger says, "Look at the trend. Throughout the month of July,
#BlackLivesmatter had 706,061 mentions whereas in three days, #CecilTheLion has already
got 725,507 tweets."
Mary stares at the screen
"Still not convinced? Let's go to the NITPIC basics. This Cecil story is Novel, it has a high
Impact on the readers and it meets the Timeliness, Interest and Conflict criteria."

Mary says, "You conveniently omitted the "P" criteria? In terms of proximity, Taliqua was
murdered within 10 kilometre of our office whereas Cecil was killed in Zimbabwe, which is
thousands of kilometres from where we are.
"Mary, lions are endangered species. There are only 30,000 lions in the world down from
almost 200,000 in the 1980s, whereas there are millions of blacks....."
"Stop playing the animal card. I've had enough." Mary says, "You know what? I don't
fucking care what you write. You can make the headline All Lions Matter for all I care." Mary
walks out of Roger's office and slams the door behind her.
Selah.

Alatenumo 2015