Gary Reaves has the last word (for now):
I take it from your blog people are giving you a lot of grief. I don’t think you suck. I thought you were great. Because you are right, somebody needs to stand up and say out loud what lots of people are thinking. On this issue, it’s easy to get blacks [to talk on camera] and hard to get whites. I was amazed at how many people blame Laura Miller, so I had to deal with the deep dislike for her in the story, and give the US Atty an opportunity to respond. Which led me to show how they’d been even-handed in the past, which led to showing again how people look differently at the Lipscomb conviction. Throw in a little Schutze, and that’s my 2 minutes. I hope my interview didn’t scar you to the point you won’t do it again. I applaud your guts.
I told Gary he was welcome to scar me anytime. But I corrected him: save for comments about my admittedly lousy TV skillz, reaction today has all been positive. I’ve gotten a bunch of e-mail. I asked Gary if I could post his comments. He responded:
I guess that’s ok. When it comes to race, it’s such a total balancing act. I’m trying to be fair to both sides. At the same time, I know that many people in both groups go through life without talking across race lines on issues like this. I see my job as trying to give each side a look into the thinking on the other side. Both sides have good points. It’s my hope, when the story is over, that people have a bit more understanding of where the other group is coming from.
