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How the police got away with murder: A linguistics study

Most of the time when you read an article regarding a murder the journalist focuses on the victims and the details surrounding his or her case, however, that is not what happened in the case of Botham Jean. After sitting in his home, comforted asleep by his living room chair, a woman ‘mistakenly’ entered his home and shot the unarmed, sleeping, Black man dead. Being a citizen who was impacted enough to read this article you would expect the journalist to report the facts and only the facts; you would not want to read how people felt about the his character nor would you want to read about any drugs found in his apartment, as that has little relevance to his murder. Unfortunately, that is what happened with Botham Jean, his article instead of being focused on what its title suggests is mostly composed of quotes that attest to his character. The use of these quotations among other things make it seem as though there is an intentional desire to smear his name in order to justify his death and not indict the true responsible party. The use of passive voice, register, the ideological square, and bias in this article is justifiable proof that the police and the journalist (to some extent) attempted to smear the victim’s reputation by backgrounding key pieces of information and shifting the blame on the victim rather than properly convicting Amber Guyer for her crimes. These types of articles and cases continue to cause harm to the Black community and perpetuate the stereotype of “Black community versus The Police” adding to current racial tensions.

In order to understand my claim, it is important to point out the change in the titles from the time the article was originally released unto the time the internet created enough fuss to have Fox go back and change the titling to reflect a more “non biased” wording choice. The original title of the article was as following:

DEVELOPING: Search warrant: Marijuana found in Botham Jean’s apartment after deadly shooting.

It is important to note certain features of the article’s original title background a lot of important information. For instance, the only name being presented: Botham Jean, is the victim’s name, however the words: search warrant and deadly shooting, which are very incendiary terms, are also in the title. If you had not opened the article the choice of words would most likely lead you to believe that Jean committed the shooting instead of being shot. The omission of information and the use of passive voice is a common problem that occurs when a Black male is the victim. It seems that just by the title alone there is a deliberate attempt to smear his name by intentionally not placing needed information with the use of passive voice. The title could have easily been worded using active voice as following:

“Following the shooting death of Botham Jean by the hands of Dallas Police Officer Amber Guyger, multiple search warrants were executed at Jean’s apartment as part of the investigation.”

Which ironically enough is the first line of the actual article. It also avoids the victim blaming that the title has, and the use of Active voice clearly conveys what exactly happened that night while still leaving the “I want to read more” element Fox attempted to do with this first title. Most of the time writers tend to steer away from using passive voice because it leaves to many gaps that the reader themselves would have to fill in along with the opportunity to for misinterpreting information. Journalist especially tend to negate using passive voice unless they want to emphasize the action instead of the actor or subject, which is what is happening here witt the emphasis being on the drugs found in the apartment instead of his death. By using the active voice, the journalist would have to insert a vehicle which he is, suspiciously enough, attempting his hardest not to do.

The reworked title also further proves a smear tactic when it is changed to:

Lawyers "disgusted" by release of search warrant showing marijuana found in Botham Jean's apartment.

Kept the same is the ideology that Botham is the criminal. By placing the word lawyer where it is placed it makes it seem as though the lawyer is disgusted by the fact that his client’s criminal history was leaked instead of the lawyer being upset that sensitive information was leaked at an inappropriate timing and/or the relevance of the search warrant being issued for the victim’s apartment. There is also a clear vehicle of anger, which is being carried by the lawyer instead of the victim’s family, who would logically be the most affected by the dehumanizing release of information. This may induce a pattern of thinking that the lawyer is unjustly hot headed especially since the family shows zero traces of anger, negating the fact that the families are often advised not to speak while cases are pending as to avoid angry emotional responses that may jeopardize their cases. Although it should be noted that Jean’s mother, Allison Jean, did speak on her son’s death but it is not included in the article “To have my son smeared in such a way I think shows that there are persons who are really nasty, who are really dirty and are covering up for the devil Amber Guyger," and “It is time that we recognize that lives matter. My son’s life matters,"/ "At 26-years-old, he had done so much so if you extrapolate what he could have done had he reached my age, then you would have seen how much I have lost.” Both of these emotional quotes are in reponse to the smear campaign however neither of these are mentioned in the article. The quotes provided are more so to argue his character rather than anything the family nor the lawyer felt in reference to the drugs being found in the apartment. (Please note that the above quotations come from an article written and similarly titled to the Fox article I have chosen to write on!) Furthermore, the second line of the article is: “Attorneys for Botham Jean's family are outraged that the document describing drug evidence became public on the same day of his funeral.” Which the use of active voice clearly conveys the justness of the lawyer’s anger which the changed title does not do an efficient job at.

Along with the passive voice of the titling of article, the use of a register is also a reason to argue for smearing of the victim. The thing that strikes me the most is that the search warrant is referred to as “THE document” several times in the article. This may not seem like a huge deal but when looking at the etymologies of the words warrant and document there’s a clear distinguishable difference. The swapping of these word leaves no doubt in my mind that this is intentionally done to make people believe the search warrant isn’t as big of a deal as the lawyer is making it out to be:

Warrant: Sense evolved via notion of "permission from a superior which protects one from blame or responsibility" (early 14c.) to "document conveying authority" (1510s).

Document: Meaning "written or printed paper that provides proof or evidence" is from early 18c., hence "anything bearing legible writing or inscription."

Note the phrase "anything bearing legible writing or inscription.” A document could be anything with writing on it while a warrant conveys authority However people do not need a etymology dictionary to know there is a difference in these terms. The word warrant has a much more authoritative sound than the word document, which is why it is used, to take the heat off of the police department. The use of warrant is also used whenever there is reference to the case or to the items found in Jean’s apartment. Warrant is used four times specifically when bringing up the criminal offences and items found in his apartment, once in the direct quote by the ‘hot headed’ lawyer. Document is used twice and the word “it” is also thrown in the mix implying the detachment of the importance of the search warrant in the first place.

There are also certain trigger words that are not swapped out during the article at all. Marijuana is used instead of word weed or drug as both of these terms have less of a harsh sounding tone. Hypothetically the use of the word Marijuana would bring about an ethos reponse from most civilians who were raised on the thought that drugs are bad (which is most kids because Red Ribbon week is implemented across the united states in elementary schools) or people who have lost someone to drug abuse and/or the gang activity that is strongly correlated with drug usage or distribution. The words deadly shooting instead of killing are also used to invoke a reponse from people who have lost someone from drug violence. This definitely raises an Us vs Them sentiment which the passively voiced articles also play into. Albeit it’s not stated explicitly, the undertones of the title suggest that Jean had some sort of criminal past or current behavior which warranted him being shot: “Marijuana found in Botham Jean’s apartment.” and that as citizens who trust the police to protect us, we should rally behind the them instead of the side of some kingpin drug dealer.

This brings me to the last claim I am trying to make to prove victim shaming. For this to be an article about Botham Jean, the only focus on him is when there is a discussion of what was found in his apartment, which for reference, is a bunch contraband. This proves a bias because the journalist is choosing to foreground what people are saying about the victim and backgrounding any information that would highlight what the article should actually be about, as one would think the title of the article should portray its overall subject, yet in this case it portrays opinions of other people who debate his character instead. The journalist of the article inadvertently forms a second Ideological square: The family of the deceased and the lawyer versus the Department of Police and to some degree the journalist, himself. The way the journalist chooses to write the article not only proves he has a bias but also confirms the police have a bias toward their colleague: Amber Guyer which he may have been attempting to avoid making that known, but by backgrounding the facts of the case and focusing on quotations, he inadvertently proves both biases.

The Department of Police’s bias is confirmed when they refuse to specify who the items found in the apartment belong to: “The document does not say where any of the items were located in the apartment or who the items belong to.” They implicitly are admitting that they don’t want to confirm or deny who the items belong to because it may confirm that Amber Guyer did indeed kill Jean unjustly and this would cause them to lose face with the citizens in a time of great civil tensions. It is also important to mention that the police refuse to release her toxicology report ,the 911 phone call that was made, and several other things:

“According to the Dallas Morning News, other records that police and prosecutors refuse to release include: Guyger’s personnel file, records related to her shooting of a man she said took her Taser during a struggle in 2017, Guyger’s clock-in and clock-out times the day of the shooting, Guyger’s annual salary, previous administrative leave with the department, other 911 calls about the shooting, Guyger’s work schedule, body camera and dash camera videos, and any off-duty jobs she was approved to work. They have also refused to release the results of her drug and alcohol tests the public was told she was given that night.”

Although they seem to have no problem in releasing information about Jean what so ever. This reaffirms my claim that there is an attempt to smear the victim’s reputation as it is the journalist’s duty to provide all the facts of the crime and unfortunately Fox has a record of being an extremely biased source. The police also have a long historic record in smearing victims in order to save their own skins (think of the sprinkling crack on a victim’s body troupe). These things along with this article make it hard to believe there isn’t an intent to smear Jean’s name in order for Guyer to get off scotch free.

By reading the claims I have made, I think it is justifiable to think the police and journalist attempted to use lingustics tactics to smear the victim’s name in order to cover their own arse. To the untrained eye these tactics may have been missed but to someone with ample training in these factors it is easy to spot. The journalist used many quotations and register in order to background information regarding the victim and this is furthered with the use of passive voice in the title. The police downright hid things from the public and from Jean’s family who are only seeking clarity in their relative’s death. It is sad that this is common but maybe if more people took lingustics classes they would be able to catch these types of smear campaigns and bring these issues to attention. Hopefully then we can work on changing a system that supports criminals because they are in authority and corruption.

Works Cited

“After Smearing Botham Jean, Police Now Refuse to Release 911 Call Made by His Killer.” The Free Thought Project, 3 Oct. 2018, thefreethoughtproject.com/ambger-guyger-911-calls-release-refused/.

“Document (n.).” Index, www.etymonline.com/word/document.

“Warrent (n.).” Index, https://www.etymonline.com/word/warrent.

Drayton, Tiffanie. “Fox Station Called out for Trying to Shame Black Victim Killed by Cop with Marijuana Found in His Home.” The Daily Dot, 14 Sept. 2018, www.dailydot.com/irl/fox-botham-jean-marijuana/.

KDFW. “Lawyers ‘Disgusted’ by Release of Search Warrant Showing Marijuana Found in Botham Jean's Apartment.” KDFW, http://www.fox4news.com/news/search-warrant-marijuana-found-in-botham-jeans-apartment-after-deadly-shooting.

vivian-kane. “The Blatantly Racist Character Assassination of Botham Jean, the Man Killed in His Home by an Off-Duty Cop.” The Mary Sue, The Mary Sue, 17 Sept. 2018, www.themarysue.com/racist-attacks-on-botham-jean/.

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Calling all etymologists

Where does the phrase "Go fuck a duck" come from?

What is the story behind this...?

This is a serious question--all you etymologists out there, get over here and answer me!

Please?

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