Beating Of Reporter Raises Questions About Race And Media
Late on Saturday afternoon, outside of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ hockey stadium, a crowd of left-leaning protesters brutally beat Ian Smith, a white KDKA TV cameraman, within fear of his life.
Multiple activists, both black and white, asked Smith to stop filming people of color engaging in vandalizing of a police car.
Drag Queen Alexa Chapman was behind them near the entrance to the PPG Arena.
At 5 ft. 6 in., 135 lbs., Chapman is a gay U.S. Army reservist in Aviation operations administration, and a native of Fajarado, a port city, a little over an hour east of San Juan.
A black Puerto Rican, she initially moved to Pittsburgh to study journalism at Point Park University four years ago and moonlights on the side at bars around the Steel City as a drag queen.