Recently, two tragic acts involving homeowners shooting at individuals on their property, have resulted in severe injuries and death. Within 72 hours The following news stories broke:
- CNN: ‘White homeowner accused of shooting Black teen who went to the wrong house in Kansas City will face 2 felony charges, officials announce.’
- ABC: ‘New York man charged with murder in shooting of woman who went up wrong driveway’
But the shooting of a teenager by an elderly (85 Year old) in Kansas City has blown up and taken social media, News, and Cable News by storm. Even the White House has gotten into the act.
Two kids were both tragically shot by homeowners after showing up at the wrong house over the weekend. One lived. One died. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris only Tweeted or spoke to the families of one of them ( at the time of this writing), as well as inviting just one of their families to the White House. Why?
It is a given that this writer is not justifying any criminal act or diminishing any victim or any victim’s family’s suffering. However, a pattern yet again emerges following these types of events from the media and politicians that is disturbing. Both incidents are still under investigation and only some of the initial reports about the incidents have been made public. Often more than not we have witnessed media reportage of breaking news which when updated at a later time ends up retracted or providing context for erroneous facts. We all should hope that both cases have fair investigations, full due process, and justice is the outcome.
For this article I wish to focus on how the media chooses to report crime and what agenda might that choice serve. There is a clear distinction between how the news is reported if it involves a black victim versus a white victim. The same applies if the perpetrator is black or white. MSM is keen on using descriptives that indicate race in what can only be observed as a manipulative, gaslighting, race-baiting way to communalize the event. This ‘Race” twist can be observed in the two articles’ headlines above. The imperative to identify the race as black when a white person is a perpetrator is not applied when the opposite is apparent. Nor when writing about black-on-black or white-on-white violent crime. The majority of violent crime in the United States per FBI stats is black-on-black crime.
Allow me to emphasize examples of how the news media and so-called “Credible” organizations like The Guardian, CNN, NBC, BBC Reuters, etc., choose to paint an entire Ethnicity with the same brush based on one incident in contrast with their hypocrisy in reporting similar criminal incidents.
Here are a few more headlines from the aforementioned News Media websites:
The Guardian headline states “Police Charged White man for shooting black teen who had wrong Address.”
The Guardian headline states “Woman shot dead in New York state after friend drove into wrong driveway.”
The CNN headline puts it out something like this “White homeowner accused of shooting Black teen who went to the wrong house in Kansas City will face 2 felony charges, officials announce.”
The CNN Headline addresses the NY case as ” A 20-year-old woman was shot and killed after her friend turned into the wrong driveway in upstate New York, officials say.”
Reuters puts it out like this “White Kansas City man, 84, charged for shooting Black teen who went to wrong house.”
Reuters rolls the NY case of woman being shot by not even posting it up on their website headlines nor is it on their Twitter feed.
NBC lays it out this way “The White homeowner accused of shooting a Black teen who rang his doorbell turns himself in to face criminal charges.”
NBC tackles the NY shooting like this “A New York man is accused of fatally shooting a woman who pulled into the wrong driveway.”
BBC lays it out as “Ralph Yarl: Black teen shot at doorstep after ringing wrong doorbell.”
BBC report on NY shooting like this “Kaylin Gillis: Woman shot dead in New York state after friend pulled into wrong driveway.”
Of course, the media’s job is to tell the public all the known facts including victims’ and perpetrators’ descriptions even names once confirmed. However, only a day before these tragic shootings the media outlets reported on a mass casualty shooting in Alabama that happened at a Sweet 16 Birthday Party, leaving several dead and many more injured. This was black-on-black violence and if you are wondering…the answer is no. The media reports did not highlight the race of either the victims or the perpetrators. There was no communal narrative about the black race implied in the Alabama reporting.
These examples are not outliers. This selective practice is the norm and is done so on purpose. Our country’s media complex is supposed to serve and inform the public, with facts and context applied. It is one of the main pillars of democracy and must function with full transparency and independently. Yet, it is abundantly clear our media has become a tool for those in power who wish to push narratives for personal and political gains. Racial gaslighting soared to new heights during the Summer of Floyd Protests and violent riots. Media propaganda and cherry- picked narratives worked to destablize our culture and was used as a political cudgel over the 2020 election and President Trump.
The agenda is followed through by the Democrat party rhetoric which matches up with what the media pushes. They work in tandem to stoke racial division. The goal is to link all black deaths at the hands of white people, no matter if non-criminal acts, such as in self-defense, as some evidence that White Supremacy is on the march. And by proxy, the so-called “Credible News Media” communalizes any incident as described above by playing the ” Race Card.” Oh, and that card is laid smack down on Republicans, White Christians, and MAGA’s heads because the media presents these factions of citizens as one race – White, and racists white at that!
Despite the stats which validate that most violent homicides and attacks in America are black-on-black crimes the media continues to harp on the false narrative that black men are being hunted down by police and black Americans are being murdered by racist white Americans in what gets labeled for effect as a – hate crime. Ask yourself when is the last time you heard the media or a prosecutor, much less the Justice Department, charge a black American with a racist hate crime against a white American?
This video was taken a few nights ago when massive crowds of roving black youths began tearing up parts of Chicago, looting, and becoming violent. Do you imagine these black youths will be charged with a hate crime for viciously attacking this white woman and her black partner? Take a guess if liberal MSM covered the story other than Fox…nope.
WATCH: Couple attacked and robbed by a mob of young people in downtown Chicago speak out for the first time.
— America Reports (@AmericaRpts) April 18, 2023
They join us now to describe what happened in their own words and thank the Good Samaritan that took them to the hospital.#AmericaReports pic.twitter.com/sCFEb6Epg8
In a country like ours, it’s far too easy for these media platforms to wash their deceptive actions like dirty laundry in the stream of Freedom of Speech, but its high time “we the people “stand up against this nefarious propaganda to demonize an entire race based on a few isolated incidents. All the while, totally ignoring the violent crime rates of other races by omission. It is unfortunate that the editors and producers of The Guardian, CNN, Reuters, and the rest, didn’t stop to consider how divisive and dangerous their brazen communal headlines truly are. And how focusing on the white race ( Caucasian) as a bad racially motivated criminal has caused cumulative damage to our culture over a decade. But the bigger question should be why did we not check the media’s behaviors?
But I will ask conscientious Americans to start DEMANDING these purveyors of misinformation and gaslighting racial tension to act in the affirmative. Citizens must use their first amendment rights and let these outlets know their bias with impunity is now checkmated. Stay on point with complaints and political pressure and take nothing less than a newspaper’s editorial board front-page apology, and the same goes for opening monologues of news hosts. All Americans of all races must unify against this unjust and selective attack on one segment of the population. After all, we are the consumer of their information, and we can choose to just stop partaking and being complicit.
If this latest spree of headlines by the MSM taking advantage of tragedies in our communities does not stir you to act, what will? If we cannot stand up to this manipulative indoctrination to insert bias, bigotry, and racism, where none exists, one can be certain that only a further divide will occur. Violent crime will continue to be a symptom of a country being ripped apart by flaming racial tensions, economic stress, and the breakdown of the family. Society will give way to no cultural norms and like in the Wild Wild West and Civil War times, more innocent citizens of all races will be harmed. Why would our media Talking Heads and politicians want to sow such divisiveness? Hold that mirror in their faces and feet to the fire to answer that question.
We must force our media outlets and politicians to tell the truth and call them out for trying to segregate our beautiful country. Our country is full of Americans shoulder to shoulder – not race, gender, religion, or class first.
These are fragile times in America. Choose to commit to standing between those who wish to break us down and pit us against one another. Perhaps in doing so we also break free those in our culture on a path to act out violently and hateful towards others.
Thank you !
By Yogi Salsa
