Fake News can mimic reality in such a way that people begin to incorrectly dismiss actual reports. Take this headline from the station WHNT-19 in Alabama: “Jasper officers suspended for alleged ‘white power’ gesture.” The headline is paired with an image of the symbol known widely as an “O.K.”
As ridiculous as the report may sound to those who flagged it on Facebook as potentially fake, the account is accurate.
The original article, which the Alabama station reposted, comes by way of the Associated Press. “An Alabama mayor says four members of his city’s police force have been suspended for making a hand gesture that some say is a hate symbol,” the AP reported.
The photo in which these four officers made the gesture was taken by a photographer from the Jasper Daily Mountain Eagle after the local police force conducted a drug bust on Wednesday. In an email to the Alabama news outlet AL, Jasper Mayor David O’Mary said that the officers in question have been suspended without pay for a week and will have to undergo diversity training.
According to the AP, Mayor O’Mary “says he hasn’t asked the officers what they meant by the gesture, but says they showed ‘poor judgment.’”
The hand gesture in question has been under debate for the last few years, with some in the Alt-Right/Alt-Lite (please, don’t ask TWS Fact Check to differentiate the two) using the gesture in pictures. However, the Anti-Defamation League does not currently recognize the symbol as a white-power gesture. (In fact, the ADL goes so far as to call this suggestion a “Hoax.”) It’s unclear what additional evidence O’Mary may or may not have demonstrating the intention of the symbol from the four officers.
Regardless, the article—however it may appear to some readers—is accurate.
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