Now This May Be a Race-Based Problem with Which a Tennessean's Cultural Reporter Might Find Traction

The African American parents of the Salemtown teen who was shot in an allegedly gang-related incident on Friday night say that police still have not contacted them to write a report or send a detective out on the crime. Assuming that parties may not have just missed each other, how can the Metro Police allow almost 3 days to pass without at the very least sending an officer to Salemtown to write a report a detective on what was nearly a homicide?

Of course, it's not exactly like the mainstream media has itself paid attention to this news. That raises another question: does the Tennessean care to cover black-on-black crime?


CLARIFICATION and UPDATE: An "initial" report on the crime was filled out at the hospital where the teen was treated, but when the parents went to pick up a copy of the report, they discovered that they had been given the report number of another case, a domestic violence case. They also say that when they tried a police telephone number they were given to call regarding the incident, the voice mail box at the other end was full of messages.

Metro Police told the neighborhood association tonight that the initial report was sent to Youth Services, and they are not sure what the delay in getting a response is. What's going on at Youth Services that they do not feel compelled to send a detective to investigate while everything is still fresh? There were frustrations expressed at tonight's association meeting that Metro is dragging its feet on this case for no good reason.