“If you kill one of us, it’s time for us to kill one of yours.” — Kenosha protester
This article contains news with liberal commentary.
Those incendiary words were snarled into a bullhorn by a black speaker at a protest rally in Kenosha. There’s no disputing it; it’s on video. The question is whether it should be reported by news media or ignored. The complete quote is:
“I love being black. I love black people. I know some of you may not want to say that … You tell us how to behave when you have taken our lives. The black man is worth something. His life is worth something. I have to say god damn it – if you kill one of us, it’s time for us to kill one of yours. I know everybody don’t want to hear that. But damn why are we the ones who have to keep burying ours and got to keep clean for you to see us as being human? We ain’t never did nothing to nobody.”
The Kenosha News reported it, prompting a black reporter to quit (that story here), but the guy did say it, so news media have a prerogative to report it. (Whether they should is a different question; see below.)
Before I go any further, I condemn that rhetoric. There’s no excuse for it. It’s head-up-rear, immoral, and un-Christian Old Testament eye-for-eye dogma. (Christ, you may recall, was sent to repudiate Old Testament teachings like stoning, etc., and introduce more civilized behaviorial norms.) Not to mention idiotically counterproductive because it will turn decent people away from his cause.
From a journalistic viewpoint, an angry rant by someone who isn’t a public figure generally isn’t newsworthy if nobody pays attention to it, but becomes newsworthy if the person is an opinion leader or it might incite something. In defense of the Kenosha News, the unidentified speaker was introduced as “our president,” so their editor would be justified in concluding he spoke for a group. Their story mentions he went off script, i.e. “strayed from the message,” and they couldn’t be more fair than that to the group or their message.
Meanwhile, it’s all over the rightwing grapevine. If you Google the phrase, you’ll get dozens of hits, all of them alt-right websites. Read them and you’ll find yourself in a sludge pond overflowing with faux outrage. I say “faux” because it’s no different than what some of their speakers say about liberals.
Look, people get carried away, especially when they’re upset, which this guy obviously is. It happens everywhere, in all settings, and most of the time you just ignore it and wait for things to cool down.
Now, my question: If it’s okay for Donald Trump to blow off steam, and gun nuts to talk about killing liberals, then why isn’t it okay for a pissed-off black guy to do the same? If you condemn him, you’ve got to condemn them. Anything else is hypocrisy.
Photo credit: WISN Facebook Live, from Kenosha News
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