Unfortunately, Pilgrim is spot on with his observation. He lent as much tact as it deserves. If the two boys were white and the girl was black, national outrage from the black community, including a likely comment from the President about how the girl could have been one of his, would be all over the front pages of the news. People, mostly black, would be doubly outraged that the two have not yet been charged as adults, especially the 17 year old - they've been charged as juveniles, at least for now. The racial difference between suspects and victim would, absolutely, be well reported.
To date, I have read five stories, make that six now, about this tragedy, and not one of them have mentioned race in any way, shape or fashion.
It took some serious Googling skills to come up with news reports where the race of the two boys are made known, and not one of the stories I've found actually mentions race, but only shows pictures of the two boys. The stark lack of mentioning the race of the suspects is so uniform and ubiquitous so as to make it stand out. It's startling, frankly. All one need to do is compare this to the national media reporting of the Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman case to note the severe and flagrant nature of such an about-face in reporting details of suspects and victims.
It makes me trust the media's reporting even less than I already do.
