One of Emancipate NC’s three primary strategies is our work to shift the public narrative on mass incarceration. Our mission statement reads:
“Through community education, narrative shift, and litigation, Emancipate NC supports North Carolina’s people as they free themselves from mass incarceration and structural racism. . . . The mainstream narrative that criminalizes Black and Brown people must be transformed – so that we can all get free.”
A core piece of our work is to assist the public to think critically when they see news stories about “crime” and “criminals” and to provide a counter-narrative.
Traditionally, the mainstream narrative about “crime” in North Carolina has been a toxic one. The media and our politicians have told us stories that suggest that crime is a very big problem that poses a serious danger to us, and the result of “bad people” who deserve to be “punished.”
The narrative is a racialized one, too, because the media is much more likely to tell these harsh stories about crime and punishment when the defendant is Black or brown. When the defendant is white, the media is more likely either to not tell the story at all, or tell a story that humanizes the defendant and lends sympathy to his personal circumstances.
The media about the trial of Lester Kearney is a prime example of this phenomenon at work.
This spring, Lester Kearney, a Black man, will face a capital trial for charges that he murdered an elderly white woman in a gruesome Lake Gaston home invasion in 2018. He maintains his innocence, and last summer, his lawyers filed a detailed bond motion arguing that compelling evidence of his innocence meant that he should be released pretrial. That motion was denied.
Notwithstanding the weak evidence of Mr. Kearney’s actual involvement in this crime, however, the media has repeatedly covered the case in salacious terms, assuming Mr. Kearney’s guilt and repeatedly describing Mr. Kearney’s past criminal acts and making him out to be a very dangerous and scary individual.
Emancipate NC, through the work of our advocate, Cierra Cobb, has worked to support the family of Mr. Kearney as they go through this absolute nightmare – having their loved one arrested and charged with a crime that he did not commit. We created space to give the family a forum to share their stories about Mr. Kearney.
As a result, multiple outlets have published sympathetic stories that humanize Mr. Kearney and lend credence to the possibility of his innocence.
The purpose of this narrative intervention is for the benefit of the public at large and to assist their understanding about (1) the fallibility of law enforcement actors and (2) the one-sidedness of many media stories about crime.
See examples of the coverage:
The case, itself, must be tried in the courtroom — with a qualified jury selected without racial discrimination and with a robust presumption of innocence.