Two unarmed protesters were shot while attempting to disarm a white supremacist gunman in Kenosha. They were shot while protecting their community from white supremacist violence, during protests against state-sanctioned white supremacist violence.
In the US we call them "race riots," hiding the truth that we have a long history of white supremacist vigilantes working with white supremacist police to commit white supremacist violence and terrorism. It happened in Rhode Island in 1824, in Chicago in 1919, in Tulsa in 1921.
The list of US "race riots" i.e. white supremacist terrorism goes on and on and on. And yet so much reporting on #BlackLivesMatter protests ignores the US's long history of state-sanctioned white supremacist violence - the very issue that BLM is working to end.
In this way the corporate media values property over life and perpetuates the white supremacist narratives that stoke white supremacist violence and terrorism in the US.
US papers & media stoking white supremacist violence is not a bug but a feature in US history. Research US "race riots" and for every incident you will find a local paper fanning the flames and working white supremacists into a frenzy. tulsaworld.com/news/tulsa-rac…
There are of course many variables that led to last night's white supremacist violence in Kenosha - like Trump uplifting armed white supremacist vigilantes during his party's national convention. But a key takeaway must be this: if we want peace, we must work for justice.
And in the US working for justice means confronting white supremacy in all it's forms - in our policies, in our reporting, in our discourse, in our actions.
In the second decade of the 21st century our nation is once again being asked to reckon with white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Let us come together for justice, and let us win peace by dismantling white supremacy once and for all.
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