Killing of Miriam Carey brought up in hearings concerning the Secret Service fiasco

By Scotty Reid

A recent study revealed Hispanics and Black people do not trust corporate news sources to report news related to their communities and they feel that they help perpetuate stereotypes. Up to three-fourths of Black news consumers and two-thirds of Hispanics, do not trust the so-called mainstream media to report accurately when it comes to their communities, according to a study published this month by Media Insight.

The recent news involving the Secret Service incompetence concerning not just one major security breach at the White House where an armed man made it just outside the Green Room, but now the corporate news media is reporting several breaches of security so incredulous some are coming to the conclusion that it is willful neglect on the part of the Secret Service to protect a Black first family. Nevertheless, there is another disturbing aspect to these stories in that it appears to be the willful neglect of the corporate news media to include the 2013 incident at the White House that resulted in an unarmed Black woman being killed.

In case you did not hear the news in 2013, an unarmed woman by the name of Miriam Carey traveled to the White House with her daughter strapped in a car seat in the back of the vehicle. There has been some speculation that Ms. Carey may have been suffering from some mental impairment due to postpartum depression or a head injury she suffered from a fall. However, only Miriam Carey was aware of why she traveled to the White House and she can no longer speak for herself.

I have been watching corporate coverage of the White House Security breaches, primarily on MSNBC, just waiting for them to mention Miriam Carey’s story in the context of the outcomes of several stories they have shared. After two days of coverage, there has not been one mention of Miriam Carey and how after she bumped an White House outer barricade with her vehicle, she was surrounded by Secret Service agents with guns drawn who fired at the vehicle containing her child in the back seat as she drove away. The Secret Service and Capital Police chased Miriam Carey down and caught up with her 12 blocks away where she was immediately gun downed including shots to either the back of her head or neck area.

As a person involved in the production of news as a independent producer, how does a news producer not include Miriam Carey’s shooting and killing in a segment about security breaches at the White House and the extreme actions of the Secret Service compared to how an armed man was allowed to run all the way across the lawn, enter the North Portico doors and run through several rooms before being tackled by an off duty Secret Service agent. Unfortunately, I cannot answer this question but I find it awful suspicious that the corporate news media and only one member of Congress to my knowledge has brought up the incident involving the killing of unarmed Miriam Carey in the current hearings.

However, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., did not mention Miriam Carey by name but only referred to her killing by stating, “some criticized the performance of the Secret Service while others praised their quick action.” Considering how Cummings was heaping the usual sycophantic praise on the Secret Service, which is expected from politicians, it appears he was in the camp that felt killing an unarmed woman 12 blocks away from the White House was justified.

The news website World Net Daily has been one of the few news outlets to cover the brutal killing of Miriam Carey and they are reporting that they have reached out to members of Congress about Miriam Carey’s killing and have not received one response. The Justice Department led by Eric Holder reviewed the killing and cleared the Secret Service and Capital Police but refused to make the report public describing why deadly force was used against an unarmed woman with a child in the car who no longer posed any sort of threat to the President, his family or staff.

It seems to be beyond simple oversight on the part of MSNBC or any of the other big corporate news outlets that have not made Miriam Carey’s killing part of the news narrative on the Secret Service; it feels more like deliberate exclusion.

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