News articles/clips
The following are some articles and clips related to Don’s life and death.
MEMORIALS, etc
photos and coverage of the Jan 1 candlelight vigil for Don Belton
Brigitta Wagner’s video documentation of the Don Belton vigil
WHAS coverage of Don Belton vigil (note: vigil was not an IU or IU-sponsored event)
ANALYSIS
Don Belton and the power of narrative, analysis of public reaction to Don’s death.
Pam’s House Blend analysis of media bias in Belton coverage
more aqueduct press analysis of online reaction to belton’s murder
Microcosm Publishing (link at bottom of page): http://microcosmpublishing.com/
BIOS, OBITS
Windy City Times (Chicago glbt newspaper) article about Don, with quotes from IU faculty.
CRIME REPORTING + STATEMENTS
Suspect in killing claims sexual assault (msnbc)
Griffin pleads not guilty to murder (article may, at some point, require a log-in)
Additionally, the Herald-Times has been regularly reporting on the case but may require a log-in to view most of its articles. Now might actually be a good time to remind them why having such a policy does the public and their newspaper a huge disservice.
There was a very brief (and I thought woefully incomplete and misleading) story on ABC World News about this horrible event. I wrote about it at Pam’s House Blend and included a link to the story/video within my diary: http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=14674
The media bias is sickening. The Herald Times opening:
Griffin pleads not guilty to murder
By Abby Tonsing
331-4245 | atonsing@heraldt.com
December 31, 2009
A soft-spoken Michael James Griffin…
Soft-spoken? That’s the first thing Abby has to say about him?
Look, I’m a well-educated GWM, politically middle-of-the-road and certainly NOT one to jump on any kind of bandwagon. I’m not much of an activist…but I think it is vitally important there is justice for Don Belton. This case is just so incredibly outrageous. I took a break from media/internet in the past week or so and I’m getting caught up with the story. To find out they (Griffin & wife) knew Don months literally made my heart sink. The angle the press – and not only the local press given ABC’s shameful segment – is taking paints Don in almost the worst light possible, given the facts.
I remember being an impressionable 18 year old freshman, and having a gay professor flirt very aggressively with me. I admit I was somewhat non-plussed and perhaps a bit scared, but I certainly managed to reject his advances because I wasn’t interested in having a relationship or encounter of any kind with him. And we are to believe a 53 year old professor assaulted a 25 yr. old 6′ 220 pound ex-marine!? When they had invited him to their home for Christmas?! I can hardly think of anything more outlandish. It reads like an Onion headline.
And, finally, sometimes when the race card is played, I think it’s really stupid. That hot-headed Cambridge cop would probably have loved to arrest any Harvard professor, white, black, male, female or indifferent. I spent enough time in Boston to know the roots of that resentment are deeply ingrained. But in this case I have no doubt attitudes would be different if the skin colors were reversed!
On Thursday, January 7, 2010, BloomingOut @ WFHB/91.3FM discussed issues of homophobia and racism surrounding the murder of Don Belton with Professor Mary Gray, graduate student Bryon Craig, and myself. The podcast is currently available to the public for listening at: http://www.wfhb.org/news/bloomingout-january-7-2010
Another article in Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/mclemee/mclemee272