CNN Fesses Up for Editing ‘Burn Down’ Suburbs Quote From Milwaukee Woman to Make Her Sound Peaceful

By now you’ve probably seen the viral video of Sherelle Smith, the sister of an armed man who was killed by Milwaukee police this weekend.

In it, as reported Monday by Independent Journal Review, she calls for rioters to take their burning and looting to the suburbs:

“Burning down sh*t ain’t going to help nothing. Y’all burning down sh*t we need in our community. Take that sh*t to the suburbs. Burn that sh*t down. We need our weave. I don’t wear it, but we need it.”

Watch it below:

Video appears to show the sister of Sylville Smith telling rioters to “take that shit to the suburbs” http://pic.twitter.com/QtqD4O7a2L

— Justin Green (@JGreenDC) August 15, 2016

But what we originally covered as a minor point in the article has become a much larger story.

CNN had the clip, and didn’t use it. As first reported by Independent Journal Review, in footage CNN ran on Monday, they described her as peaceful. That was clearly inaccurate, as she was urging people to “burn” the suburbs:

CNN has the first half of that clip, which they ran with this chyron http://pic.twitter.com/sspHrd5YVU

— Justin Green (@JGreenDC) August 15, 2016

Now the news network is confessing their mistake.

Ana Cabrera, a reporter involved in the story, says they “shorthanded” the quote, and that it was unintentional.

We shorthanded sister’s quote. Unintentionally gave the impression she was calling for peace everywhere. Correction: http://bit.ly/2bzxrEx

— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) August 16, 2016

The new clip from CNN, rather than painting Smith as calling for peace, includes her saying that violence should be taken out of black communities and into the suburbs.

It also features a slide admitting their error:

It’s a distressingly common trend in the news media to fix mistakes without admitting wrongdoing, and while CNN clearly got this story very wrong, it’s at least nice to see them publicly admitting their error.

But without sharp-eyed citizens spotting that mistake and loudly pointing it out, we might have had yet another narrative that was grounded in “unintentional” mistakes, rather than objective facts.

The post CNN Fesses Up for Editing ‘Burn Down’ Suburbs Quote From Milwaukee Woman to Make Her Sound Peaceful appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Source: independent journal

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Mom Gives Daughter Unforgettable Lesson About Kindness By Squirting Tube of Toothpaste Onto a Plate

An inspiring social media post by mom Amy Beth Gardner about “back to school preparations” recently went viral. As powerful as the message in her post is, though, the story behind it is even more powerful.

She shared the tender details with Independent Journal Review, explaining that she and husband Paul, who got married in 2012, had struggled with infertility. While they were trying to conceive, the couple “decided to become therapeutic foster parents.” She says:

“We so wanted a child to pour our love into and we knew there were children all over the nation that need that type of love.”

After undergoing training, in 2014 Amy and Paul were able to welcome two foster children, eleven-year-old Breonna and seven-year-old Bridgett into their home and lives. A little over a year later, the couple adopted the girls:

Image Credit: Arlyne Vanhook Photography

Because Breonna is growing up so quickly, the Gardners feel the pressure to put all they can into teaching her to “become a loving, responsible adult.” Amy Beth explains:

“We use every opportunity we have to try to teach her to take personal responsibility for her words — and to teach her that her words have the power to do good in the world. With having half of the time regular parents have, every minute counts.”

It is here that the mom’s viral social media post and the “pre-middle school task that is far more important than the others” enters into the story.

Before Breonna’s first day of middle school, Amy Beth decided to teach her daughter the importance of being kind in a world of notoriously cruel middle schoolers.

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Amy Beth instructed Breonna to squirt toothpaste onto a plate and then asked her to put it all back in the tube. After allowing her daughter to finish declaring how she couldn’t do it, mom had an important message to share:

“You will remember this plate of toothpaste for the rest of your life. Your words have the power of life or death. As you go into middle school, you are about to see just how much weight your words carry. You are going to have the opportunity to use your words to hurt, demean, slander and wound others. You are also going to have the opportunity to use your words to heal, encourage, inspire and love others.

You will occasionally make the wrong choice; I can think of three times this week I have used my own words carelessly and caused harm. Just like this toothpaste, once the words leave your mouth, you can’t take them back. Use your words carefully, Breonna.

When others are misusing their words, guard your words. Make the choice every morning that life-giving words will come out of your mouth. Decide tonight that you are going to be a life-giver in middle school. Be known for your gentleness and compassion. Use your life to give life to a world that so desperately needs it. You will never, ever regret choosing kindness.”

Here are Breonna and Amy Beth:

Image Credit: Arlyne Vanhook Photography

Amy Beth has had a tremendous response to her post. She adds to the story by sharing that “Breonna and Bridgett are proof that love can change any circumstances and our hope is that they will take the love we have poured into them and use it to do good in the world.”

Breonna, Amy Beth says, has ambitions of becoming a foster parent herself one day.

The post Mom Gives Daughter Unforgettable Lesson About Kindness By Squirting Tube of Toothpaste Onto a Plate appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Source: independent journal

The post Mom Gives Daughter Unforgettable Lesson About Kindness By Squirting Tube of Toothpaste Onto a Plate appeared first on .@tonygreene113.

Great American Moment: Michael Phelps Teaches Katie Ledecky How to Wear Her Million Olympic Medals

This week’s Sports Illustrated cover is epic.

It features three of the most dominant athletes in the world, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, and Simone Biles, all showing off their Olympic hardware.

Image Credit: Sports Illustrated

While Phelps is certainly used to these types of photo ops and handling this much hardware, Ledecky and Biles are just on their first Olympics. 19-year-old Ledecky needed some coaching for how to properly display the heavy gold and silver, captured in this charming video:

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Thank you, Michael Phelps, for your invaluable experience.

Image Credit: Staff/AFP/Getty Images

And Ledecky says:

Image credit: Martin Bureau/AFP/Getty Images

The post Great American Moment: Michael Phelps Teaches Katie Ledecky How to Wear Her Million Olympic Medals appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Source: independent journal

The post Great American Moment: Michael Phelps Teaches Katie Ledecky How to Wear Her Million Olympic Medals appeared first on .@tonygreene113.