A lot of the narrative is down to electioneering, I fear. The Obama team was looking for a racial incident to highlight early in 2012 to help motivate African-American turnout. Trayvon was in the wrong place at the wrong time in Florida, but in the right place (a swing state) at the right time for the Obama campaign. Ferguson in 2014 (right before midterms) confirmed this pattern of campaign activity. Jump on a well-timed incident and create a narrative that need not pay much attention to fact. They tried it again in 2016 in Charlotte, once again picking an incident where facts really didn’t support the narrative. The traffic stop shooting in Minnesota around the same time had much more egregious and narrative-supporting circumstances, but Minnesota isn’t a swing state and there were plenty of progressive activists already on the ground in North Carolina and ready to go. Needs must. Of course we had George Floyd in 2020, where at least the facts of this horrific incident fit the narrative. The reality, though, is that nationwide protests were already planned (as was the “defund the police” meme)….merely waiting for the trigger incident that would be used as the focal point. What the police did to Mr. Floyd was horrible and unforgivable, but there are a half a dozen incidents like this every year with more innocent victims (remember the boy on the swing in Cleveland?) that don’t trigger a year of riots….at least not in a year without an election. Obama proved that getting people riled up with hate was a winning strategy. No surprise that Trump and Biden copied this with their supporters. Pols may not be very bright, but they know what works. Cooler heads can prevail only in odd-numbered years.
A lot of the narrative is down to electioneering, I fear. The Obama team was looking for a racial incident to highlight early in 2012 to help motivate African-American turnout. Trayvon was in the wrong place at the wrong time in Florida, but in the right place (a swing state) at the right time for the Obama campaign. Ferguson in 2014 (right before midterms) confirmed this pattern of campaign activity. Jump on a well-timed incident and create a narrative that need not pay much attention to fact. They tried it again in 2016 in Charlotte, once again picking an incident where facts really didn’t support the narrative. The traffic stop shooting in Minnesota around the same time had much more egregious and narrative-supporting circumstances, but Minnesota isn’t a swing state and there were plenty of progressive activists already on the ground in North Carolina and ready to go. Needs must. Of course we had George Floyd in 2020, where at least the facts of this horrific incident fit the narrative. The reality, though, is that nationwide protests were already planned (as was the “defund the police” meme)….merely waiting for the trigger incident that would be used as the focal point. What the police did to Mr. Floyd was horrible and unforgivable, but there are a half a dozen incidents like this every year with more innocent victims (remember the boy on the swing in Cleveland?) that don’t trigger a year of riots….at least not in a year without an election. Obama proved that getting people riled up with hate was a winning strategy. No surprise that Trump and Biden copied this with their supporters. Pols may not be very bright, but they know what works. Cooler heads can prevail only in odd-numbered years.