When Dylan Roof, a white supremacist,
murdered African Americans in a historically African American church in order
to start a race war, the media and government officials labeled Roof as a
mentally disturbed “lone wolf.” Yet when Omar Mateen, who pledged to the
Islamic State before the attack, murdered dozens of people in a nightclub, the
media and government were quick to label the attack as an act of terrorism. The
U.S. Code of Federal Regulations defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of
force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government,
the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or
social objectives.” Roof used violence to try to instill fear in communities of
color and to incite more violence in the form of a race war. So under that
definition, Roof would be considered a domestic terrorist, as well as Mateen.
In this country,
media outlets who have been controlled primarily by white people, have perpetuated
a narrative that gives white people the “benefit of the doubt” and dehumanizes
people of color. After the Watts riot, the Kerner Commission, along with discussing
inequality in education and income, discussed how the “media [had] failed
to analyze and report adequately on racial problems in the United States.” In 1992,
people were tired of the systematic racism and as a result, Los Angeles reached
a flashpoint. Even today, Donald Trump has made comments calling Mexican
immigrants rapists and criminals, but neglects to remember that this nation was
built on Europeans immigrating and committing the mass genocide of Native
Americans.
Percy Gallagher
No comments:
Post a Comment