Racism and a Failure to Do Investigative Journalism

Hank Unplugged: Essential Christian Conversations

The Christian Research Institute

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

5 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 3 October 2022

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hank Hanegraaff, president of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Answer Man broadcast, comments on a recent news story that turns out to be another example of failure to do due diligence in reporting. Duke University women’s volleyball starter Rachel Richardson sent out a tweet saying that she and her “fellow African American teammates…were targeted and racially heckled throughout the entirety of the match” between Duke and Brigham Young University. Richardson’s Godmother, Lesa Pamplin, tweeted, “My Goddaughter is the only black starter for Dukes volleyball team. While playing yesterday, she was called a [n-word] every time she served. She was threatened by a white male that told her to watch her back going to the team bus. A police officer had to be put by their bench.” LeBron James tweeted, “you tell your Goddaughter to stand tall, be proud and continue to be BLACK!!!....We have her back.” Richardson’s father, Marvin Richardson, conveyed to the New York Times that “as the crowd got more hyped and the epithets kept coming, she wanted to respond back but she told me she was afraid that, if she did, the raucous crowd could very well turn into a mob mentality.” New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Sports Illustrated, NPR published articles without sufficient investigation—only a rush to judgment. Eventually, finally, BYU performed a thorough investigation, concluding, “From our extensive review, we have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at the Duke vs. BYU women’s volleyball match on August 26.”

See Jesse Singal, “How the Media Fell for A Racism Sham,” Common Sense News, September 15, 2022, https://www.commonsense.news/p/how-the-media-fell-for-a-racism-sham; Luke Hanson and Thomas Stevenson, “Exclusive: Racist Comments at BYU Volleyball Game Never Happened, Sources Suggest,” Cougar Chronicle, August 31, 2022, https://www.byucougarchronicle.org/post/exclusive-racist-comments-at-byu-volleyball-game-never-happened-sources-suggest; and “A Statement from BYU Athletics Regarding the Investigation of the Aug. 26 Volleyball Match,” BYU Athletics, September 12, 2022, https://byucougars.com/story/athletics/1300724/statement-byu-athletics-regarding-investigation-aug-26-volleyball-match.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Hank Hennograph, President of the Christian Research Institute and host of the Bible Incherman broadcast with another Hank unplug short.
0:20.0	This is aplug short.
0:24.0	This is a very troubling short.
0:31.4	It's really about a failure to do investigative journalism.
0:43.3	Simply piling on, not checking the facts, going with the most popular of narratives. This is a story about a tweet.
0:47.3	A tweet sent out by Rachel Richardson, an elite athlete, a Duke blue devil, a volleyball player,
1:02.2	who says she was targeted, racially heckled throughout the entirety of a volleyball match between Duke and BYU.
1:17.9	Heckled throughout the entirety of the match by racist bigots, her words.
1:28.3	And then she accused BYU coaches and game officials of having failed to take the necessary steps to stop this unacceptable behavior and to create a safe environment.
1:49.0	Well, Rachel's tweet was followed up by her godmother's tweet.
1:56.0	Her godmother, the very famous Lessa Pamplin, well known as a criminal defense attorney,
2:06.6	running for a judgeship in Texas, who said, my goddaughter, was called an N-word every time she served,
2:20.3	not just once in a while, but every single time she served.
2:25.3	She was threatened by a white male.
2:29.3	This in a big arena with thousands of people, she was told to watch her back when going to the team bus.
2:43.8	Of course, we know Lessa.
2:46.7	If you've followed this famous person as godmother to Rachel Richardson, you know she famously asked CNN why they consistently interview what she called dumbass white women.
3:04.6	Some of what she says in her tweets, I cannot say.
3:12.3	But you get the picture, she says, you poor white MFers.
3:18.5	You can't take it.
3:20.9	She tweets, white women and men always disappoint.
3:25.0	Imagine a Caucasian saying something like that.
	...

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