Updated: 5/17/2007 8:05:46 PM
The murders of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom have been a tragedy for the Knoxville community.
They have also become a hot topic for hate groups all over the country, with some making the claim that the crimes were racially motivated.
However, Police Chief Sterling Owen, IV says race did not play a role in the killings, and city leaders say they just want to keep the peace and assure a fair trial in Knoxville. All are concerned by threats from some white supremacy groups to hold rallies in Knoxville to protest the crimes.
City leaders acknowledge the groups have First Amendment rights, and say that only one application has been submitted for a rally to demonstrate against race-related crime in Knoxville.
However, no permit was actually necessary for that rally because it's supposed to take place on public property, and wouldn't interfere with traffic.
White supremacy websites and WBIR.com's comments section have suggested that other rallies might be held in Knoxville this weekend and next month.
Those who support the rallies say the crime hasn't received fair attention as a race-related incident.
Chief Sterling Owen says that's because authorities have no evidence to suggest that the fact that the suspects are black and the victims were white is anything more than a coincidence.
"We have no evidence to support the fact this crime was a race crime," says Owen emphatically. "It appears to have been a random violent act."
Despite the chatter surrounding the case on many websites, statistics show that in Tennessee, white people are more often the crime victims of other whites. Whites also commit more crimes.
Mayor Bill Haslam says he believes most of the attention on the race of the suspects in this crime is coming from people who don't live in Knoxville.
When asked his opinion of whether he would welcome the protests, Haslam said, "Let me put it like this, I think we have a lot of people here, working to make relationships better and solve problems, and my feeling is you have some people here from out of town that are trying to not solve problems. I'll just leave it at that."
Chief Owen is also concerned that focus on race could cause problems when the case comes to trial.
"One of the reasons we're trying to be prepared and don't want something to happen (is that it) might turn into a basis for transferring the trial," says Owen. "We want the venue for this trial here, and things of this nature can cause problems with that."
The president of the Knoxville chapter of the NAACP is concerned about the threatened rallies, but says he's primarily saddened for the victims' families.
"We definitely feel the pain and sorrow for a family that has lost their children," says Ezra Maize. "We cannot stop others from coming into the city to rally and march. I do hope and pray that if there is a protest, if there is a rally or a march, that it's done in a peaceful manner.
"If that's what you choose to do, we are not trying to add fuel to the fire," Maize added.
He said the NAACP has no plan to counter protest. 10 News Online Extra
What follows is an analysis in general crime trends relevant to this story and a breakdown of white and black crime. These numbers come from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's crime data clearinghouse, Tennessee Crime Online and include calendar years 2001 to 2005.
If you are white or black and the victim of a crime, the numbers show it is overwhelmingly likely the perpetrator will be a member of your own race. A white victim of a crime has about 5 times the chance of having a white perpetrator as the chance of having a black one. A black crime victim has 12 to 13 times the chance of having a black perpetrator as a white one. Black offenders do commit crimes against white victims at a higher rate than white offenders commit crimes against black victims, but it remains that the vast majority of crimes committed against white and black victims are committed by a member of their own race. Tennessee's most recent population estimates from the Census Bureau indicate there are approximately 4.8 times as many white people in Tennessee as black people; black offenders commit approximately 4 times as many crimes against white victims as vice-versa.
If you are the victim of a crime, the odds are overwhelmingly against the perpetrator being a stranger to you. About 4% of the crimes against white victims each year are listed as perpetrated by a stranger. About 6% of the crimes against black victims are committed by a stranger. Within the category of crimes committed against a stranger, about 1.7 times as many of those crimes are committed by black offenders as are committed by white offenders. Likewise, a black criminal looking for a stranger victim has approximately 4.8 times as many white victims to choose from as s/he has black victims. The numbers stack up to 6 to 7 times as many white stranger victims of a black offender as there are are black stranger victims of a white offender. Crimes against a stranger remain in the vast minority of crimes, and generally, all appearances are that a criminal looking for a stranger victim tends to stick to his or her own race, if not through conscious choice then through convenience sampling.
Each year, white people are offenders in approximately 1.4 times as many criminal incidents as black people. When adjusted for population, this results in a higher rate of criminal incidents in the black population, approximately 3.4 times the white crime rate. The vast majority of these crimes will be committed against members of one's own race.
The crime categories of murder, abduction, and rape show a greater number of black offenses against white victims. Nonetheless, the vast majority of victims of these crimes are made victim by a member of their own race.
In the wide data pool of Tennessee's crimes, the contention that black-on-white crime happens beyond what would be expected from population ratios and general population-wide crime rates is not easily supported.
What follows are tables produced from the TBI's statistics from 2001 to 2005.
CLICK HERE for a table of all crimes committed by white criminals and black criminals against white and black victims.
CLICK HERE for a table of all crimes against strangers, separated by race.
CLICK HERE for a table showing the low rate of crimes committed against strangers.
CLICK HERE for a table showing the number of criminal incidents committed by white and black offenders.
CLICK HERE for a table of racially separated murder, rape, and kidnap victim numbers.
