Gunn-Baraka-Holmes Story Count

As I have since June of 2003, I checked the Lexis-Nexis database for stories on Sakia Gunn on the monthly anniversary of her murder. Gunn, 15, was stabbed to death on May 11 in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Witnesses told police that Gunn and four female friends, aged 15-17 were fighting off a man who tried to take one of the girls after he and another man made sexual overtures to the group. In rejecting the men's advances, the girls declared themselves to be lesbians.

For reference, I have also been tracking the number of stories on the murder of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming college student who was tortured and beaten to death on October 12, 1998 in a bias attack that shocked the nation. Because of the volume of stories on Shepard, my totals are only for major newspapers.

Five months after Matthew Shepard's murder there had been 569 stories in major newspapers, according to Lexis-Nexis. Five months after Sakia Gunn's murder, there 19.

Gunn's accused killer, Richard Mc Cullough, 29, has plead not guilty to charges of bias murder. Under New Jersey's hate crime laws, a bias murder conviction carries an additional penalty.

Last month, I began tracking stories on Shani Baraka and her partner Rayshon Holmes as well. Baraka, 31, and Holmes, 30, were found shot to death on August 12 in the home of Baraka's sister, Wanda Pasha. Baraka's father is poet Amiri Baraka. The family believes that Pasha's former husband, James Coleman, 34, also known Ibn El-Amin Pasha, is responsible for the killings. Coleman surrendered to police several days after the murders. He has been indicted on charges that he beat, threatened and terrorized his ex-wife. The police have not yet named him as a suspect in the murders, and he has declared his innocence. Two months after their murders, Lexis-Nexis has catalogued 32 stories on them.


Incidentally, yesterday was the fifth anniversary of Shepard's murder. There have been 19 stories on the anniversary in the previous week, according to Lexis-Nexis, including an October 13 USA Today commentary in which Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard, lamented that progress against homophobia has been stalled. According to Judy Shepard:

"It is as if we are living in two Americas -- one that tunes in to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy but turns a blind eye to the injustices gay and lesbian people still face.

"It is evident that with progress comes inevitable attack by those who are threatened by our work. In 2003, more than 30 cities and towns reported crimes against gays. Most of them do not garner national headlines like my son's murder did. Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old lesbian, was fatally stabbed in Newark, N.J., on May 11 this year. F.C. Martinez, a Navajo, transgender 16-year-old, was murdered in a hate-motivated attack in 2001. The list goes on and on..."

Bryan Robinson tried to account for the differences between the attention to Shepard's murder and other victims of gay-related hate crimes in an October 10 article on the ABCnews.com website. According to the article, David Tseng, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said,"I'm not sure whether it could be the news cycle, race, class, socioeconomic status or what. When was the last time you saw any story of national significance come out of Newark [Sakia Gunn's community]?"

Since their children's slayings, all of the victims' families have become involved in advocating for stronger anti-violence measures. Latona Gunn, the mother of Sakia Gunn, along with Amiri and Amina Baraka joined forces with the Newark Pride Alliance to inaugurate a Newark chapter of PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The Barakas have also founded a group called S.H.A.N.I.-A.C.T. (Stop Homophobia and violence Against women, Nationally and Internationally-Anti-Chauvinism Task Force.) They are also working together to build a community center in Newark that will particularly serve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth of color.

At an October 4 rally on the grimy street corner were Sakia Gunn was killed, Baraka and other speakers linked homophobia, domestic violence, military aggression in Iraq and racism. They urged supporters to register to vote in next month's state-wide elections, and to hold local and national candidates accountable for their positions on these issues. Speakers at the rally included GLSEN's Tseng, Cory Booker, who is preparing for another attempt to unseat Sharpe James as Mayor of Newark, the city's deputy mayor and Shani Baraka's brother, Ras Baraka, and James Harris, representing the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  Representatives of PFLAG and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the Newark-based People's Organization for Progress also made statements of support. (In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that I read a poem, "A Libation for Sakia.")

The story totals included here do not include the gay press or some local papers such as the Newark Star Ledger, which is not in the Lexis-Nexis database.

A table detailing the story count over the last five months is available here.