After careful review of Keith T. Barber’s interview with Forsyth County District Attorney Tom Keith, we have determined that Mr. Keith was misquoted in a single instance.
The piece ran in the Aug. 26 edition of YES! Weekly under the headline, “Forsyth DA: Racial Justice Act inherently flawed.”

The quote we reported:

“If you’re African American, you’re six, seven or eight times more likely to have a violent history. I didn’t go out there and put a gun in your hand and say, ‘You commit eight crimes and I’m a white man and I’ll commit one.’ That’s just instincts, that’s how it is.”

The actual quote:

“If you’re African American, you’re six, seven or eight times or some figure more likely to have a violent history. I didn’t go out there and put a gun in your hand and say, ‘You commit eight crimes and I’m a white man and I’ll commit one.’ That’s just statistics. That’s how it is.”

The differences between the two quotes have been noted with italics.

YES! Weekly regrets the error. Audio of the full interview will be available here at the YES! Weekly blog momentarily, soon to be followed by a full transcript.

Yes, the statistics/instincts error is definitely significant. The misquote was covered by other local press. Here’s the offending article, which has been corrected.

Thanks, Jason!