Racist Killings and Racist Blogs

The Connection between Media and Alleged Racist Killers

On June 22, 2015 the Department of Justice (DOJ) sponsored a hearing on Race and the Media. It was a lively event.

Before the start of the hearing the Progressive Labor (PLP) and the Massachusetts Human Rights Committee held a small rally outside of Worcester Technical High School. They stepped on and destroyed a battle standard of the Confederacy flag and expressed solidarity with the people in South Carolina in their struggles against racist terrorism. The group also passed out fliers saying that racist terrorism could also be found in Worcester MA.

                                Courtesy of Mass Live

At the discussions during the hearing there was talk of how race was portrayed in the media. It was said that some stories in the media lack context and allowed the false inference that all so called people of color were bad or inferior people. There was also a curious exchange between a Black man and a White woman about the racism found in the Worcester Telegram. He said that the Telegram editorialized that groups such as Black Lives Matter, NAACP, CUC, and White Liberals should not attend the DOJ hearings. She said that although the editorial was racist in substance, there was no evidence that the Telegram was racist.

A TV host from TV3 said that the Black Columnist at the Telegram received racist comments to his column. Some of the comments could be considered threatening. A person at the table then said that many people in the community, especially the community of color, have been intimidated by such racist comments as they do not have the resources and experience to fight back.

A member of PLP tried to make the connection between the media and Dylan Roof who has been accused of gunning down nine unarmed Black people attending church. It is known that Mr. Roof used the electronic and social media to re-enforce his views about killing Black people. It is clear that he made his decision to kill Black people after listening to the rants of racists who celebrated the death of an unarmed Black teenager, Tray Von Martin. The PLPer said that some malleable person listening to the racists rants like Turtleboy could like Mr. Roof come to the conclusion he should kill people based on their race.

The event became more curious as there was a public announcement made about “renegade fliers”. The so called renegade fliers attacked a racist blogger and the racist actions of the City government. The implication of the announcement was that the people running the discussion on race relations were defending the racists.

From what I could see there were no new ideas. Although these events make good theater and even good press, there was nothing added to public policy.