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This article in The New York Times about the violence in Milwaukee is the perfect illustration of why confidence in newspapers has reached an all-time low:
“The burning buildings, smashed police cars and scuffles between police officers and angry protesters on Milwaukee’s north side over the weekend might have seemed like a spontaneous eruption.
But for many in the city’s marginalized black community, it was an explosive release decades in the making.
Milwaukee is one of the United States’ most segregated cities, where black men are incarcerated or unemployed at some of the highest rates in the country, and where the difference in poverty between black and white residents is about one and a half times the national average. There are barren lots and worn-down homes all over the predominantly black north side, while mostly white crowds traffic through the restaurants and boutiques downtown, or inhabit the glossy lakefront high rises.
Add to that the disrespect that many black people say the police show them, and many of Milwaukee’s African-American residents are unsurprised by the volatile response after a police officer fatally shot a black man on Saturday — even though, as it turns out, the officer also was black. …”
Let’s imagine for a moment if the roles were reserved: a White cop in Milwaukee shoots a White career criminal carrying a gun fleeing the scene from a routine traffic stop. A White mob assembles in the streets, engages in looting, sets several businesses on fire, and attacks the police. The White mob begins to shout WHITE POWER and GET THAT N****R and beats up every random black person in sight. Scenes of black people being targeted, pulled from their vehicles, and beaten up by a White mob are shared on social media.
How would The New York Times report the story then? Would they completely ignore the white-on-black mob violence and pretend it never happened? Seriously, if I was out there screaming WHITE POWER and inciting a mob to attack black people, what would be the reaction?