Politics

People Are Fed Up With The Way Right-Wing Media Treats White Shooters Compared To Black Victims

"Scary to watch Australian right wing embracing a kid in America who gunned people down, a day after an Australian terrorist was sentenced to life in prison for gunning people down in Christchurch."

by Rachael Conaghan  1 September 2020
Rittenhouse media shooting

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Last week police in the US grabbed a black man by the shirt and shot him in the back as he was getting in the car. Days later in the same city, police allowed a white teenager who had allegedly just shot and killed two Black Lives Matter protesters to walk away.

The police response to Jacob Blake could not have been more different from their response to Kyle Rittenhouse — and it’s a dangerous double standard that’s only being exacerbated by some of the media coverage.

People have been quick to call out how differently the media treats Black people who have been the victim of violence, and white people who perpetrate it.

The shooting of Jacob Blake has sparked days of riots in Kenosha, Washington, where Black Lives Matter protesters have clashed with gun-wielding militia members.

Black Lives Matter protesters have long faced criticism from the All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter Movements, both designed to distract from the fact that Black people are killed and incarcerated at disproportionate rates.

But in their determination to stick to their contrarian point of view, right-wing commentators have found themselves claiming the teen who travelled from a nearby town with a gun and allegedly opened fire on protesters “did nothing wrong”.

First, What Happened To Jacob Blake?

On August 23 Jacob Blake, a Black man, was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Video shows Blake walking away from police and opening his car door, where three of his young children were sitting, when officer Rusten Sheskey grabbed him by the shirt and shot him repeatedly.

Related
Police Will Face No Charges For Tanya Day's Death In Custody

The circumstances leading up to the shooting are still being investigated — police say they were trying to arrest Blake as part of a domestic dispute, while other reports say he was trying to break up an altercation he had nothing to do with.

What is clear is that shooting a man at close range, in the back, seven times, in front of his children, as he walks away, is a wildly inappropriate response from an organisation that claims to “serve and protect”.

Blake managed to survive the shooting after being airlifted to hospital, but has been left paralysed from the waist down.

What Has The Response Been?

The video of Blake’s shooting quickly went viral, as so many videos depicting police brutality have in recent years. Protesters took to the street in peaceful mass demonstrations by day, but by night many businesses were looted and burned in riots.

Local Kenosha leaders have admitted they struggled to respond to the unrest, as self-confessed militia members and armed vigilantes flooded into town. On the third night one of those vigilantes — 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse — allegedly shot at protesters, killing two people and injuring a third. In a statement Rittenhouse’s lawyer Lin Wood said they’ll argue he acted in self-defence.

Video captured earlier that night shows Rittenhouse at a vehicle dealership where he explains he’s there to “protect” the business. The New York Times has traced his movements using available footage, which at one point shows him running away after his victim tried to “engage him“. A plastic bag is thrown in his direction, a loud bang can be heard, and then Rittenhouse turns and appears to shoot the unarmed victim in the head.

A nearby reporter from conservative outlet The Daily Caller told investigators he thought the victim was trying to grab Rittenhouse’s gun when the teen fired.

After seeming to make a phone call Rittenhouse tries to flee the scene, but trips over. As a group of people rush towards him he opens fire again, hitting another two people. He then walks towards police who are stationed a block away, but they ignore him and drive towards the victims, even as bystanders tell them he was the one who’d shot them.

He was arrested the next day at home in Antioch, Illinois, a nearby town about half an hour away. His social media accounts have since exposed him as a supporter of Donald Trump supporter and the Blue Lives Matter movement.

On Friday Blake’s father, Jacob Blake Sr, spoke at the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks rally for racial injustice in Washington DC, where he pointed out the stark difference in how his son was treated compared to Rittenhouse.

“There are two systems of justice in the United States,” he said.

“There is a black system and a white system and the black system isn’t doing so well. I’m tired of looking at cameras and seeing these young black and brown people suffer.”

Media Slammed For Racist Coverage

The two incidents have received widespread coverage, but people have noticed a distinct difference in the way the media have framed them.

Despite the fact that Jacob Blake was the victim, for example, outlets have widely reported that investigators found a knife in his car. Details of his criminal history have also been widely shared, despite having absolutely no relevance.

Related
Here's Why Elijah McClain Is The Latest Focus Of The Black Lives Matter Protests

In contrast, the teenager who has been charged with murder has been praised for cleaning up graffiti before the shooting occurred. Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson went so far as to defend him, saying he “decided to maintain order when no one else would”.

The New York Post — owned by News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch — has also been singled out with some particularly egregious comparisons.

The headlines are part of a pattern often seen in the media — where Black victims have negatives from their past dragged into the debate, as if that somehow makes it okay for police to kill them.

People are also tired of seeing white perpetrators being absolved by good deeds they’ve done in the past — as if Rittenhouse scrubbing off some graffiti lessens his culpability for shooting three people.

A similar tactic was used in the wake of George Floyd’s death, when Floyd’s drug use somehow became a headline. Here in Australia our very own Pauline Hanson described the murdered man as a “criminal and dangerous thug”.

It’s not just American conservatives jumping in to defend Rittenhouse. Australian Daisy Cousens, a Sky News and Courier Mail contributor, has been slammed locally for posting that he did nothing wrong.

As the global Black Lives Matter protests have gained momentum, commentary like this has attempted to discredit the movement by casting a sympathetic light on those involved in violence against black people.

Meanwhile, the family of Jacob Blake are praying that he’ll one day walk again.