A Story That The Mainstream Media Thought We Couldn't Handle.

If you live outside of the Knoxville, TN area you may have never heard about the heinous murders of Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and Channon Gail Christian, 21.

You were probably being deluged with stories about Anna Nicole Smith, Don Imus or Paris Hilton. But a story like this that combines the elements of race, murder and rape is not going to quietly fade away. Now the story that network news was afraid to tell us is being posted on blogs, YouTube, social networks and widely circulating via email.

By avoiding this story the mainstream media has acknowledged that it just doesn't know how to handle "black on white" crime without making it an issue of race. And by their silence, the media has fueled the fires of racism and feelings of victimization in the white community.

The media itself missed the opportunity to give Americans the opportunity to judge the individuals in this case by the content of their character and not as a reflection of their race, religion or ethnic group. Dr. King's dream is still not a reality.

It's hard to find articles on this story but both Wikipedia and Snopes.com provide very good synopses.

Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia post. Warning the following is a graphic depiction of the crime:

According to news reports, Christian and Newsom had gone on a date at a local restaurant on Saturday, January 6, 2007, but did not return home. During their night out, the couple was "hijacked, bound and blindfolded and taken back to Lemaricus Devall 'Slim' Davidson's rented house on Chipman Street."

Christian's parents found her abandoned Toyota 4-Runner two blocks away from the Chipman Street house on Monday, with the help of her mobile phone provider. An envelope recovered from the vehicle yielded fingerprint evidence that led police to Lemaricus Davidson and 2316 Chipman Street. When police went to the address on Tuesday, January 9, they found the home unoccupied and Christian's body in a trash can in the kitchen. Christian had been strangled to death. According to the grand jury presentment, Christian had also been raped vaginally, orally, and anally. One of the suspects, Vanessa Coleman, later told police that "she witnessed Christian's mouth being cleaned with a bottle of some type of cleaner," in an attempt to remove DNA evidence Coleman also said that she had seen "clothes that were stained with blood and smelled of gas being put in the washing machine at the house." Newsom was shot three times, "his body wrapped in a blanket, set afire and dumped alongside nearby railroad tracks." He had also been anally raped.

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My prayers are with the family of Hugh Christopher Newsom, Jr., 23, and Channon Gail Christian, 21 and I hope that justice will be served.