midst of discussion about degree of "gang involvement" by Nehemiah Steverson,
blog post by John Hoff
What We Do
This blog doesn't sugarcoat bloody, ugly facts. This blog doesn't nominate each semi-random victim who dies in the street of acute gunfire for automatic sainthood and then instinctively begin a public process of ignoring and whitewashing key facts while hyping up others.
Why does the mainstream media do this? Are they afraid of...
...offending an entire demographic who will then take it out on well-heeled advertisers? Are they so consumed with some kind of hysterical blindness brought on by the trauma of suburban guilt that they immediately kow-tow to any deity of untimely, youthful death placed upon an alter by MADDADS and so-called "leaders" in the community? (Sarcasm font in the course of a hypothetical prayer to the Almighty) OH, GOD, WHY? Why did you take this young man who was Facebook friends with so many known gang members? I, a mere mortal, cannot understand your sense of divine justice or even rational, secular cause-and-effect! Please, God, explain it to me how something so unpredictable and unexpected like this makes sense as part of your divine plan. (End font, and God have mercy on my soul)
Hang Your Head In Shame, Mass Media
No, really, I am truly mystified. And comments I see from readers both in a public and private context tell me the same thing. Members of the North Minneapolis community are literally being killed by kindness in the mass media and it makes no sense at all. Why lie? Why whitewash the truth? Why wallow in the sweet-smelling offal of political correctness instead of just doing what the media is supposedly supposed to do, and publish the truth and the relevant facts and let the chips fall where they may? Is covering up key facts about the appallingly bad lifestyle choices of murder victims and their dubious associates going to stop the NEXT all-too-predictable murder of a youth? LET THAT NEXT ONE BE ON YOUR HEAD, MASS MEDIA.
Star Tribune. I'm looking right at YOU. KSTP, you're not much better but being a television station I expect shallow coverage. The Star Tribune, a print media publication with a history going back forever, has no excuse. No, not even in the age of bare bones budgets because social media is killing "dead tree media."
Well, that kind of thing doesn't happen here. When somebody dies, this blog will fearlessly follow where the facts lead. In the case of a dead youth, examining the lives of the parents is usually a great place to start. In an article published today, ("Fight breaks out at slain teen's vigil") the Star Tribune named Randy Donnerson as the father of Nehemiah Steverson. Thank you, Star Tribune, for THAT much.
Let's see where that name leads...
Hardly A Career Criminal, But NOT An Upstanding Citizen
Donnerson's record would definitely raise eyebrows with any employer and makes anybody wonder what degree of support he could provide his 17-year-old son with this kind of rough life happening. Here is his rap sheet, as follows:
27-CR-95-061842
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
07/19/1995
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
27-CR-95-086223
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
10/05/1995
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
27-CR-98-041675
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
04/24/1998
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
27-CR-02-033740
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
04/29/2002
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
05/01/2002
Wright
Moving - Misdemeanor
Converted Closed
27-CR-02-087582
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
11/01/2002
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Brookdale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
27-CR-02-094735
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
11/26/2002
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
27-CR-05-073411
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
11/29/2005
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Ridgedale
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Closed
Comment: INCARCERATION COMMENT: CHANGE TURN IN DATE TO 5/26/06 AT 0900 HE IS AUTHORIZED TO SERVE HIS TIME ON WEEKENDS. FAMILY HARDSHIP PER MODICATION (sic)
70-VB-06-19319
Donnerson, Randy Continal
05/31/1973
08/14/2006
Scott
Crim/Traf Non-Mand
Closed
27-CR-08-34342
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
07/11/2008
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
| 07/16/2008 |
|---|
DONNERSON, RANDY CONTINAL
05/31/1973
10/14/2010
Hennepin Criminal/Traffic/Petty Downtown
Crim/Traf Mandatory
Under Court Jurisdiction
Red Lights On The Road Of Life
Well, that's an anti-climactic ending to this rap sheet, except that Donnerson still owes $128 on this charge and it appears "collections" has thrown its hands in the air, closing the referral. Rather than end upon an anti-climactic note, I present the following musical tribute.
"Red Light" by Jonny Lang. This song seems to be about taking a moment to ask if your life is on the right track, to ask (this line is in the song) "Am I drinking too much?"
I am sorry Randy Donnerson lost his son. And I'm sure plenty of people don't care for my hard-as-nails style of airing ugly, undeniable facts. (And then there are those diehard fans who tell me they LOVE it and I must never, never stop)
But to my way of thinking, this kind of "lacking the coating of sugar and substituting a coating of salt" bloggy media coverage is only halfway about the facts surrounding the shooting. The other half is a burning question...
HOW ARE WE GOING TO START PREVENTING THIS MURDER AND MAYHEM IN THE STREETS OF NORTH MINNEAPOLIS instead of sitting around arguing about what it all means and what facts should be aired, versus what facts should be...
White washed by the media in the name of political correctness? A literal "killing with kindness" of young men?
15 comments:
Of the one hand, it makes sense to show how having run-ins with the law might make it more acceptable for the son to have run ins with the law. Of the other hand, despite Nehemiah's gang connections, he doesn't seem to have done anything criminal himself. One could ask "what's a 17 year old doing out at 2:00 AM?" But I've had my kids BS me with excuses about staying out too late because of losing car keys, etc. The whole thing is damned sad. I'm very sorry for his family. On balance, it's better to show the facts the way you're doing, Johnny. Some parent might learn that spending 30 days in the hole could leave their kid on his own just when he needs the parent. Teenage kids seeing the photos of kids clowning about being gangsters is serious business. Twitter wars have erupted into deadly violence. Even clowning about thug culture works to glorify thug culture, and that works to foster thug culture.
Johnny,
What you fail to acknowledge is that when you grow up in NoMi it is inevitable not to know or know of gang members. Do you really think an impoverished child would have access to utopia suburbia? Come on let’s be realistic. When you come from an impoverished area you either become a product of your community or you seek education to find a way out of the community to a better life. Nehemiah was going to school to try to better his future. Most gang members drop out of high school to live the outlaw life; if Nehemiah was a gang member wouldn't he do the same?
To answer your question “HOW ARE WE GOING TO START PREVENTING THIS MURDER AND MAYHEM IN THE STREETS OF NORTH MINNEAPOLIS?”
You can help by blogging about real news and events that pertains to a whole demographic area, not just African Americans. You exploit African Americans and spin irrelevant “facts” that have little to no credibility or substance to cases. And these “anonymous tips” by “people” that happens to be stuff YOU made up, which misleads the public to thinking that people are “snitching.” When have you ever solved a murder case? Whatever your mission is in life it appears to be oppressively evil to African American. You should be more empathetic instead of sarcastic and help solve the murder instead of thinking of ways to keep gossip going between gangs which creates more violence and mayhem within the community which in return gives you more to write about.
Also, what does Nehemiah’s father’s criminal record have to do with his son’s murder? Please explain? Most of his convictions were nonviolent. Keep in mind that this was an innocent child that was murdered. He may not have had good judgment with the choosing of some of his friends, but who did that age?
What if Nehemiah was your child? Would you post your criminal record as well and link it as a possible clue to your son’s murder even if he wasn't born at the time of most of the convictions.
I would love to see JNS news on tv, just couldn't imagine getting real info from the television. Was using this story as an example the other day to prove to a friend how bad the news sugarcoats things in nomi. Keep it up Johnny!
First I truly enjoy reading your blog and the leg work that you do behind the scenes to provide a true in site into North Minneapolis and the daily crimes that go on. However i found this post to be a little ridiculous. The guy only has one violent offense on "record" and bunch of moving violations. Seems like the old man wasn't that bad of an individual to me. However, as i said at the beginning i truly appreciate this blog it not only provides good reading material but actual facts of the daily life of living in "NOMI".
I would guess that it can only get worse with Hodges at the helm; I already predicted it. Anyhow, keep up the honest digging up of the facts ,John, the dwarf star and so called tribune are afraid of a lawsuit and you are correct when you talk about them losing advertiser's who love to suck the life out of the Black community.
What kind of scumbag attacks a mourning father by releasing information like this? You did the same thing to Mr. Lewis after his kids died in a tragic fire. You are a bottom feeder, you are the scum of the earth, you are an immoral social misfit.
I'm not even calling him a bad guy.
I'm questioning what kind of parenting Nehemiah received from this guy, what kind of support Nehemiah's mother received, and how present in the life of this child was this father figure, and what was the effect of that?
And, finally...
I'm wondering aloud how this is a "lesson learned" to be applied to stopping the next death of the next youth in North Minneapolis.
To the commenter who doesn't grasp what a (likely) lack of fatherly involvement and positive fatherly moral guidance "has to do" with a young man getting murdered in the streets...
Even if I explained it to you, you would act like it wasn't "relevant" or you didn't grasp it.
So I won't bother. But please, continue with your articulate points, wrongheaded as they are. This is the kind of conversation that needs to be happening to get ANYWHERE. Please, get all your fallacies about how the whitewashing of facts should continue OUT THERE where your points can be rebutted.
To the "Of the one hand" commenter.
Thank you. You totally get what I'm doing.
I'm so bored with the anonymous comments accusing you of hating black people every time they're a subject of a story. You pick on Jill Clark and Stinky Pete the most and they're white. Save your accusations of racism for those who deserve it and stop cheapening such a serious & harmful charge.
Where the reports bout u white mtf killing y'all kids in shit in Hasting, Blaine etc u a racist stay off the N side in that little green truck
Try a blog in Hastings (note spelling) or Blaine. That's not really my beat. I reserve the right to write about anything, anytime, but I can also look at something and say, eh, not my beat.
How about YOU go and write about the atrocities taking place in Nigeria? Make yourself useful.
http://www4.co.hennepin.mn.us/webbooking/chargedetail.asp?v_booknum=2015002728
"Full Name: DONNERSON, RANDY .CONTINAL
Booking Number: 2015002728
Date of Birth: 5/31/1973
Sheriff's Custody: RELEASED FROM CUSTODY ON . 1/31/2015 . 16:41
Housing Location:
Received Date/Time: 1/31/2015.. 05:17
Arrested By: EDINA PD
Case/Count 1/1
Description of Charge DWI
Charged By EDINA PD
Reason for Arrest PROBABLE CAUSE
Severity of Charge PROB CAUSE
State of Charge BOND POSTED
Bail Information $1,200
BOND POSTED JAIL
Court Appearance Date/Time
Court Appearance Location
..
Thank you for that info. I am writing a blog post with that info.
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