ABC Tweet Claims BLM Protester Died from 'Luxury Car' Hit, Excludes Fact That Driver Was Black
Liberal activists, especially those in the media, are masters at skewing language in order to further their narratives.
Guns, for example, are often the “killers” in homicides where the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators are among race or class groups which are inconvenient in furthering those narratives.
That is especially true if the victims of the crimes are also among the media’s desired demographic — which includes racial or other minorities.
As a former establishment media social media manager, I know the rules.
There is an unspoken general rule for social media managers in newsrooms: If a minority person commits a crime, the reporter more often than not focuses on the weapon that was used in crafting the story.
If a potentially dangerous criminal is on the lam, omit a description if that suspect happens to be non-white.
In similar crimes, ones where the perpetrators of violence are white, it is the individual, or the individual and the object, who are guilty.
Objects used to hurt other people are personified through subtle language when headlines are crafted, and it is done to tell you a story about how dangerous white Americans, especially white American males, are.
That logic now also applies to cars, or so it seems.
ABC News demonstrated that on Twitter this past weekend.
Two demonstrators, who were participating in a Black Lives Matter protest and who found an interstate in Washington state an appropriate place to demand justice for perceived social and racial inequities, were struck by the driver of a car.
Authorities say 24-year-old Summer Taylor and 32-year-old Diaz Love were struck by 27-year-old Dawit Kelete in the early hours of July 4 while both protesters were standing on I-5 in Seattle, according to The Associated Press.
Taylor later died, and Kelete has been arrested and was being held on bail.
But the apparent problem for ABC News is that Kelete is a black man.
What did the fine people running the far-left legacy network’s Twitter account do?
It looks very much like they improvised.
“A young protester has died from injuries she suffered when a luxury car plowed into her and another woman during a Black Lives Matter protest Saturday on a Seattle freeway that has been shut down for days due to the civil unrest, police said,” ABC News tweeted Sunday.
A young protester has died from injuries she suffered when a luxury car plowed into her and another woman during a Black Lives Matter protest Saturday on a Seattle freeway that has been shut down for days due to the civil unrest, police said. https://t.co/4VN3VeDMcK
— ABC News (@ABC) July 5, 2020
The car was described as a “white Jaguar” in an ABC News story linked in the Twitter post.
In the absence of a white driver, or a weapon to sensationalize, the network narrowed in on the car.
Is there anything more privileged than a white Jaguar?
Here are two pictures of the suspect vehicle that struck two protesters on I-5 this morning. Investigation into motive and point of entry in to I-5 are still under investigation. pic.twitter.com/gU1QH6TFTu
— Trooper Rick Johnson (@wspd2pio) July 4, 2020
The social media caption was so blatantly skewed that ABC News was roundly criticized by those who saw right through it.
I guess ABC used “luxury” car because they couldn’t say Black driver hits White BLM protester
— Black, White & Grey (@NBfromLB) July 5, 2020
If the driver was white you can bet they wouldn’t have written “luxury car”. When they can’t use race they use class to add fire to their narrative. So unbelievably biased.
— Kevin Hermes (@bluemangos) July 5, 2020
If you can’t divide through race, divide through class, status, or money.
— Matthew Wilson (@mtwilsonlaw) July 5, 2020
“Black man strikes white protesters who were standing in the middle of an interstate” wouldn’t have helped to shape any opinions in favor of the left’s endorsement of the Black Lives Matter movement.
It is difficult to even find an image of Kelete posted online by a verified Twitter account.
ABC News certainly hasn’t posted one, though journalist Andy Ngo did:
Summer Taylor, a non binary Black Lives Matter activist who was hit by a car while protesting on the I-5 freeway in Seattle, has died. Dawit Kelete, who is black, is accused of being the driver & was arrested. pic.twitter.com/Lr6Jp3BkzO
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) July 5, 2020
The social media caption ABC decided on was also more than likely no error.
Maybe the network hoped its followers would associate luxury cars with wealthy white males.
Perhaps the Disney-owned activist news organization hoped those simply skimming the post would make such an assumption.
It isn’t that far-fetched.
The media, broadly speaking, wants to tell you a story.
It’s just not always the real story.
They want to tell you a story that is framed in a way that furthers their narratives and their interests.
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