The Mainstream Media Roots for Systemic Racism

Zach Catanzareti – CC BY-SA 2.0

Remember about a year-and-a-half ago when actor Jussie Smollett alleged he was assaulted by two white Trump supporters who yelled racial slurs? The media, of course, promoted wall-to-wall coverage of this story as proof of systematic racism in America. Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker likened it to modern-day lynching. But it turned out that Smollett planned the attack on himself only for it to later come out that he staged the attack to make it look like a hate crime. 

The same type of incident happened with NASCAR’s Bubb Wallace, who claimed someone committed a hate crime against him in retaliation of his Black Lives Matter activism by hanging a noose in his garage.

The media, once again, ran with the story.

From the Washington Free Beacon’s David Rutz:

Network and cable television figures pushed the unsubstantiated allegation that someone committed a hate crime against black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace by putting a noose in his garage. . . CBS This Morning host Gayle King called it a “disturbing backlash” to Wallace’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement and for his support of NASCAR’s recent ban on displays of the Confederate flag. On MSNBC, liberal Atlantic writer Jemele Hill said it was a “very stunning, shocking, appalling, disgusting reminder of who this sport is for,” and anchor Andrea Mitchell called the situation a “dreadful turn.”

Axios reporter Alexi McCammond said it was an example of recent “overt and egregious acts of extreme racism,” and MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing said she looked forward to discovering the “coward” who “committed that heinous act.”

NBC reporter Sam Brock said Wallace had to deal with a “symbol of hatred off the track,” MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle called it a “dark moment,” and CNN anchor Jim Sciutto said, “that this happens in the year 2020 is just beyond belief.”

Some hosts mentioned the skepticism that greeted the initial story, including MSNBC fill-in host John Heilemann, who said Tuesday he found conservative doubts “infuriating.”

But, as the stories go nowadays, the noose never existed.

More from the Free Beacon:

Following a report Sunday that a crew member found a noose in Wallace’s Talladega garage, media members credulously reported it as both true and a clear retaliation for Wallace’s Black Lives Matter activism. Two days later, the FBI reported no hate crime had been committed and the “noose” in question was a garage door pull that had been placed in October, well before anyone knew Wallace would use that particular garage. 

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson wins the award for best analysis if this hoax:

“Every few months, there appears to be new hysteria over nooses discovered somewhere off in a public place, and almost inevitably, the hate crime we are warned about turns out to be fake. The story has been told again and again and again, but our authorities never learn the obvious lesson, this isn’t a very racist country. Sorry, Democratic Party.

From the beginning, there were a few who expressed public skepticism. Bubba Wallace, who never produced pictures of the noose, had a message for anyone who questioned his story. They were stupid and they were racist.

The FBI bought the story completely. They’ve done nothing to arrest the people who are burning police stations or tearing down monuments of George Washington, but the FBI sent 15 agents to Alabama to investigate the noose and, after days of investigation, they discovered the noose was, in fact, a rope with a loop used by work crews to pull down a garage door.

One of these nooses was present in every garage at Talladega. Once again, authorities rushed in to believe an absurd story because it could be used to advance a political agenda.”