Following the deaths of two black men at the hands of police officers and the subsequent mass shooting of police officers in Dallas, there were several prominent Republicans who joined with spiritual leaders, law enforcement officials, and Democrats to urge for calm, unity, and solutions after a week of senseless deaths. None of them appeared on Fox News, which - to put it mildly - collectively lost its minds.
While the nation reeled from the tragedy, the right-wingers on Fox did everything in their power to smear the Black Lives Matter movement specifically and black people in general. Rudy Giuliani lectured black kids to avoid hanging out with other black people lest they get murdered. Bill O’Reilly, the whitest guy on Earth, upped the ante by speaking for Martin Luther King Jr.
How badly did Fox behave after these tragedies? They left nothing in the tank. On Monday night, they shocked even their own audience by posting a horrifically offensive meme on Twitter that suggested black people were looking to murder cops. The meme was found on an obscure Facebook group, wasn’t affiliated with any social activist group (including Black Lives Matter), and was hardly even seen before the “most watched news network” decided to blast it out to their millions of fans.
Terrifying image of cop being killed goes viral after Dallas attack https://t.co/jdedrsixUo pic.twitter.com/8mmNgJ84X8
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 12, 2016
Let’s set aside the fact that much of what you can find on any given comment section on Fox News’ website is equally menacing and oftentimes directed specifically at President Obama and his family. What makes the right-wing network’s attempt to fear-monger about black people particularly ill-conceived is the timing. On the same day it was trying to convince Americans that cops were being put in danger by the peaceful protesters in the Black Lives Matter movement, a white guy in Michigan shot and killed two court officers and injured another officer in a mass shooting they ignored.
Michigan courthouse shooter who killed 2 bailiffs identified as Larry Darnell Gordon of Coloma, MI. @ChuckGoudieABC7 pic.twitter.com/FACyZtpIwh
— Ben Bradley (@BenBradleyABC7) July 12, 2016
Larry Darnell was shot and killed after grabbing an officer’s gun and going on a rampage. He was already in prison and was in court for the day so it seems highly unlikely that he came across any anti-cop memes or was influenced to kill by Black Lives Matter.
Will Fox News pin the deaths of those officers on an “anti-cop culture” in white communities? It seems unlikely. Instead, they will chalk it up to Darnell being a mentally disturbed lone wolf. Not a terrorist. Not a social activist. Just a “who could have known” tragedy.
Hey Fox, your racism is showing.
Featured image via 7 Action News
